Assignment Impact

The other assignments I chose for this course have really helped me to better understand the curriculums and nitpick my personal teaching philosophy. In turn, this assignment has given me an outlet to reflect and think through my opinions of what I have learned and observed. The other assignments I chose were to observe 3 different curriculum models and to write a book review. As I've previously discussed, viewing the Waldorf and Montessori methods was extremely beneficial and inspiring! I've set a goal to eventually open my own preschool that combines aspects of the two methods into my idea of the perfect preschool! I have not yet had a chance to write my book review, but I have completed the book, so I'm going to take this time to state my perspective of it.

I read The Last Child the Woods by Richard Louv. It discussed how far education has gotten from outdoors and the importances of children having a connection with nature. I am a firm believer of outdoor play time, so this read only enhanced my thoughts. There were a few points that really struck a chord with me. One of them was the benefit of nature on children with ADHD. Children are increasingly becoming diagnosed with ADHD at the same time schools are taking away recess. What the school systems do not realize is that merely being in the presence of nature calms the soul. Not to mention being allotted time to run and explore freely, expelling excess energy. On top of that, the students are learning about their natural habitat's the flora and fauna. The medical benefits of nature were not something I had previously thought about, so I felt this a valid point worth further discussion.

I am a vegetarian and firm supporter of animal rights. Thus, I have always hated hunting and fishing, as it does harm to the animals. In the book, Louv discusses hunting and fishing as a way to connect with nature. In doing the acts, people are not only spending time out in nature, but they must become the animal. They use their senses to observe and learn the land. They are also helping with population control. Hunting and fishing are also excellent ways to introduce children to the life cycle and teach them about death. Getting meat in such a natural way, all elements of the animal are used, making the death worthy. After reading the book, I realize hunting and fishing are not bad. I may not partake, but I no longer think others that do are hurting the environment. They are actually helping it and learning along the way.

I've learned many other things from the book, I will discuss further in my upcoming book review. I've always felt using the outdoors as a teaching material would be beneficial to the students, the book gave me proven facts to that assumption. I will definitely be looking further into activities that can be done outside and ways to incorporate all subjects into outdoor learning. Again, reading this book allowed me to reflect on my own opinions, growing them stronger and even offering up a new perspective.