Week Five ~ Lauren

Our week at Woldumar was one of the best weeks of our year. Our whole team enjoyed it so much! It was just really nice to get out of the classroom and experience some great, authentic learning in nature. We learned about everything from Native Americans and Pioneers to Forests to Turtles to Mysteries! The learning really seemed to stick with the students too. They were so engaged in the activities and really just enjoying themselves. We were concerned heading into it about behavior problems and the logistics of everything. But, things went so well! Some of our students that have the hardest times in school really worked well and loved Woldumar. It was a cool lesson to me about the different ways that students learn and about how the classroom format is definitely not always the best/most natural format for all of our learners. This week also really showed the power of our classroom community because the students were looking out for one another and learning together so well. We came back everyday so impressed by our students. The whole experience was just really wonderful. On our last day we went on a goodbye walk and talked about some of the life lessons we had learned from Woldumar and the students came up with some really poetic and beautiful ideas. "The river taught me that sometimes you need to just go where life takes you" and "The trees taught me to move with the wind".

Now our thoughts are turning to how we can continue the amazing experience that started there. How can we keep that kind of authentic, engaging learning going on at school?