My continuous growth - goodbye to Spring 2023
- Aoyumi Jung
- Mar 5, 2023
- 4 min read
05 March 2023, 22:00
Reflect when the experience is still fresh.
“Who are we, just a spect of dust within the galaxy.” - Lost Stars
I am happily alive after three consecutive Experience Programs. This is a sign that I am growing out of my comfort zone. In my last appreciation circle, I told my group that I am proud of them for stepping out of their comfort zones. Now, I want to tell myself that I too have achieved something great.
The longest in-person program period for me was in March 2022, for three weeks in Bangladesh. It was a JUMP! School focusing on Sustainable Development Goals, which involved a different setting and energy consumption. In February 2023, I came to appreciate the strength of this small body and mind even more. I traveled to three different provinces in the West and East of Thailand: Ratchasima, Kanchanaburi, and Rayong, over a span of 27 days. I worked with three groups of students ranging from grades 6 - 8, a total of around 45 students from Stamford American International School in Singapore.
Developed professional skills of experiential learning within outdoor education field:
Group management: grab students’ attention, invite respect and collaboration, ensure safety and engagement
Debrief: Ask the right questions and facilitate the share of ideas to foster learning outcomes on determined goals.
Activity Organization for young learners’ learning experience: read students' energy to run activities opted to their attention span and memory.
Outdoor skills: caving, stand-up paddle, tent set-up, knotting, raft building.
Biodiversity knowledge: river hydrology, cave formation, sea turtle conservation, the interdependence of animal kingdom, the relationships of trees, plants and animal kingdom, impacts of humans on nature.
The ability to respond to unexpected events such as accidents, risks and changes.
I witnessed 2 significant events:
1, Glassdoor accident happened 1 hour after students arrived at the program location. It required the immediate arrival of emergency and further transfer of patient to advanced hospital. I cried to express my pity and fear for the student. Thanks to a flexible team and our Program Manager (Sondang), everything was handled without panicking the rest of the students. This accident left a strong footprint in my risk management history.
2, The hassles of changing campsite locations for excessive concern about an ongoing wedding, right after the first night. The situation was exaggerated, however, we must act upon the request and my morning was not peaceful. Thanks to our Program Manager (Shannon) and Campsite Manager (P’Tem), things got settled fast.
Things to improve:
Less dependence on the experts, the presence of Shannon and Intee’s knowledge about turtle - I admitted that I was not brave enough to run the conservation lectures on my own. I would try more next time!
Like Kai’s feedforward in December, I should do more big group’s activity. I did pretty well running the Bucket activity in the field and an Appreciation activity in SAS. Ever since, I hasn’t been leading any proper big group activity. I wanted to run the “Challenge O-Ra-Ma” but my signup was not considered, I guess I was also not dedicated for that. So I agreed to discuss with teachers about the plan. I like the idea of turning grouping students into an energizer: have them quickly find a group: from group of 3, group of 4 and group of 7. By that, facilitators didn’t have to force students into equal groups.
Camouflage! - it was a good one. I did well with a nice debrief. I just need better questioning and the use of language. In general, I was able to bring up the topics of how food is getting more scarce for the encroachment of human beings so animals become more aggressive for survival needs. It was a great activity in the hike!
Highlight of impacts:
45-minute long Conversation with Sofia (Grade 8) on the Truck after the Khao Yai Night Safari about family, self learning, decision making and personal growth; and engagement with student leaders, a super engaging debrief via my Dixit cards with the participation of the school director. I invited everyone to share about a challenge they overcame so far and something we looked forward to.
Wildlife management discussion during the Hike in Erawan Waterfall, Kanchanaburi and the reflection on the discovery and walk in Death Raiway Museum + Cementary- talked with Leandre (G7) - considering of different needs to design various considerate pathways of hiking; the appreciation of presence, privileges and empathy for the heroic labors.
Debrief of Basket weaving (G6) - the appreciation for natural resources, hardwork of people, ideas for sustainable development of traditional crafts, and linkage to replacement of plastic.
Favorite activity:
Cooking (Cass) - love the interviewing time with students and hearing ideas of their creative recipe
Kayak (Pao and Linh) - we crossed so many rapids and still found eddy areas to discuss ecotourism and man-made constructions.
Tab of Appreciation: (Krushna) humans are the most invasive animals but we have something special - compassion
Welcoming Circle and Raft Building (Georga): so friendly intro and professional teaching of knots!
Sea Turtle Lecture (Shannon): can we see ourselves in the next 20 years? Sea turtles come back to find their eggs… Always in awe by her lecture.
New inspiration:
Facilitation will give me the perfect experience and ideas associated with my coming instructional design job.
New people, new opportunities, new energy and thoughts on life.
Details of reflection will be shared in my final presentation at GSSE
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