https://padlet.com/bmgaasenbeek236/BGaasenbeeksBlog en-us 2019-01-15 19:20:50 UTC 2019-02-06 19:19:48 UTC hello@padlet.com bmgaasenbeek236 https://padlet.com/bmgaasenbeek236/BGaasenbeeksBlog/wish/320970934 Outdoor education has been coming to the forefront of modern practice. I would like to share a piece of history regarding my love for outdoor education. 

When I was a young boy, my parents thought it would be hilarious to chuck me into the middle of the woods to fend for myself. Of course, they were just around the trail and down the hill, but to the big brave adventurer that I was, it was the same as being left to my own devices. So of course, I channeled my inner Survivorman and attempted to create the perfect campsite. Needless to say, 6 year old Mr.G wasn't amazing at the finer points of camping. First, I couldn't get my tent set up on my own (short arms, ya know?) and it only went downhill from there. I fell into a creek and was soaked, so I tried to make a fire. After about an hour, I had a beautiful flame going. Alas, I forgot to collect wood so it quickly died out. For the second attempt, I almost burned down the forest when a stray ember caught on the wind. If that wasn't bad enough, I was starving. So I did what any brave adventurer would, I tossed a can of soup on the fire. No one told me that I should put it in a pot, or even open it for that matter! When the can exploded, I was busy grabbing more wood for the dying fire. It was at that moment I knew; it was time to go around the trail and down the hill to my parents. It was with great dramatic gestures I explained my predicament. I faced the wild, and I failed. I couldn't get a good fire going, I was still soaked, and my food was in a hundred pieces. My father, being the wild-man that he is, told me I did well to survive those trying 4 hours. He promised to take me out tomorrow and give it a try with some help. I absorbed all the information I could. The next year, when I went to try it again, I lasted 8 hours. The year after that, it was 1 day. Then 3 days. Then 2 weeks. You see, all I needed was experience and instruction to learn how to survive. 

It is the same as anything. Education takes practice. It takes a love for learning and a desire to overcome challenges. To be properly versed in the outdoors is to be soaking, burned, and down on your luck, and STILL find the will to continue. In education, the same methods must be applied. You will never do it perfectly the first time. Everyone needs assistance, and everyone needs help from time to time. As a teacher, it is my goal to instill that love of learning, and help foster that willpower in my students to excel. Just as in outdoor education, everyone starts somewhere. It is what you do with that earlier failure that defines your future. ]]> 2019-01-15 19:50:02 UTC https://padlet.com/bmgaasenbeek236/BGaasenbeeksBlog/wish/320970934