Stephen is one of my wife’s teaching colleagues. He is planning his first time ever overnight field trip for his high school camping club. He’s got a good plan: a short one night trip close to school. As the say in Kenya: Polee, polee, slowly, slowly.
Thinking it might help Stephen with his first high school level overnight experience, Patricia asks if I have an extra Expedition Book for him to borrow. I find a few up near the rafters in the garage.
FOR STEPHEN AND OTHERS FOLLOWING IN HIS FOOTSTEPS
My students wrote field articles that we published in book form for participants to read on every learning expedition. Each student was responsible for a 5 minute field lesson. In addition to student written articles, each expedition book contains a Leadership Training Workbook, a personal journal, a chapter of poetry and lyrics for songs around the campfire, and a chapter for training teachers for outdoor education (see Chapter 6 contents below).
I believe most important two pages of this book are found in the Student Preface written by Matthew Mori. His perspective as a 16 year old expedition participant is a rich insight into the complex stream of consciousness flowing through the minds of our students. (Scroll down.)
GUIDE TO THE TEACHER’S EDITION
The blue hardcover is the 1984 Edition of the Catalina Island Learning Expedition (one of several copies) in the library at Montebello High School. Imagine it’s Parent Night at school, Adriana Diaz and Robert Ramirez lead their parents into the school’s library. Ruffling through the card catalog, they find their family names as contributing writers and the title of their book: The Catalina Island Learning Expedition Student Field and Personal Journal. Imagine the parental pride as it dawns upon them that their child has written part of a library book!
That was the 80’s, about when I started to ask my school librarians to enter into their card catalogs a card for each of my expedition students so that their publications were available for parents and family in the school library. Today this could be published online.
The 2008 Teacher’s Guide Edition begins on page 191. What follows is a digital introduction until your copy arrives.
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GUIDE TO THE TEACHER’S EDITION
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Click on each document to magnify.
STUDENT PREFACE Rare it is to see inside the mind of a 16 year old genius. Matthew Mori is about to depart on his first expedition. To this day, I’m taken a breath by his insight.
There weren’t many rainy nights on our expeditions, but there were a few. When rain began of fall in the middle of the night, I would slip into my rain poncho and make the rounds of student tube tents checking for leaks, tightening tent cords, telling kids to push their towels to the uphill end of their tents to absorb incoming rain.
Matthew Mori, on that Morro Bay rainy night, was the only student, poncho clad, face dripping in the rain, to ever in my 36 years of expeditons, get out of a cozy mummy bag to help other students from spending a shivering night in water logged sleeping bags. I bet Matthew was raised in a polychronos culture.
Teacher Trainee Acceptance Letter
Blue arrow references an 8 1/2 by 11 inch large format expedition book option with wide margins for student artists and teacher trainees.
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