AmeriCorps: Service Portfolio November 14, 2014

Taylor Luneau

AmeriCorps Intern

Field EducationSchools

Teton Science

Fall, 2014

About Me

Table of Contents

wildlife biologist and further exploring the mountains of New England, I moved to Jackson to continue my

A local of the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont, I spent my formative years exploring the ridgelines of the Green Mountains and fishing and hunting the diverse landscape of New England. After high school I spent two years traveling and playing semi-professional hockey until eventually returning to Vermont to attend Saint Michaels College. While there, I became a prominent student leader for the Wilderness Program, guiding backcountry pursuits ranging from rock and ice climbing to backcountry skiing. After spending two years guiding professionally for Petra Cliffs Mountaineering School, completing internships with the USFWS fisheries division as well as an independent

"Thousands of tired, nerve-shaken, over-civilized people are beginning to find out that going to the mountains is going home; that wildness is a necessity; and that mountain parks and reservations are useful not only as fountains of timber and irrigating rivers, but as fountains of life." – John Muir

Pg. 1. About me

Pg. 2 Teaching Pedagogy

Pg. 3 Goals and teaching development

Pg. 6 Instructor feedback

Pg. 7 Leadership in science

Pg. 9 Children’s Learning Center

Pg. 10 Idaho Outreach

Pg. 11 Transference

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Teaching Pedagogy

As a passionate outdoor enthusiast I recognize the importance of land conservation and the necessity of passing on my passion for the out of doors to the next generation. It is in that sense that I draw from Abbey’s quote above. If my actions as an instructor influence the foundation for more defenders of our wild lands, than I have succeeded as an educator.

“The idea of Wilderness needs no defense, it only needs more defenders.” – Edward Abbey

In reflecting on my own education and development, I find that my most memorable experiences, and surely the most influential, were those where my instructor involved me in hands-on-learning with immediate reflection. It is within this guideline that I have strived to structure my teaching style. Teaching Evolution

When entering my internship at TSS I spent the majority of my teaching time learning behavioral management and curriculum development skills. Once I became more comfortable with these critical teaching components I was able to transition into more of a leadership role, instructing half and then eventually full days. Most importantly though was the shift in my approach to student instruction. My teaching abilities have been broadened

here at TSS, moving away from the constrictions of lecture style instruction and towards experiential science education. I have worked during this internship to develop a relationship with my students where their role in the classroom is more as participants, involved in active learning, and less as recipients of long lectures.

Because of this transition, I prefer to use teaching

practices that keep students highly engaged in the action of science and select activity based instruction which focuses on the groups interests. This approach allows students to get their hands dirty and fully immerse themselves in something much greater than the content knowledge of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem (GYE). This instead

“If my actions as an instructor influence the foundation for more defenders of our wild lands,

than I have succeeded as an educator.”

focuses on important cross cutting concepts like the scientific method while building a passion for the environment around them. This passion will far out live

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during faculty mentor meetings and direct support was provided from field

it not only in my teaching style but also in the approach to furthering my own education. The following SMART goals were regularly returned to

developing my instruction skills. Upon entering the TSS community, it was clear that the educators there had a new age philosophy on how to promote scientific literacy. I made it my goal from the start to learn this methodology and encapsulate

is vital to set goals to track ones progression of skills and competency. As a growing educator this was especially true for myself. Once my term of service began I set SMART goals (specific, measurable, attainable, realistic and timely) to ensure that I was

In any profession it

was spending a disproportionate amount of my time managing student behavior, rather than focusing on the content that I had designed for the day. What I found was that by setting a high student achievement expectation and consciously holding them to that

much and initially felt that I

management skills and successfully incorporate them in my field instruction.This was of particular concern upon my entrance into the science schools. I had not worked with younger students

Build strong group and behavioral

to achieve these goals.instructors in order for me

experience the ratio of behavior management time to teaching time to swing towards the latter. I needed to change several things in

thresholds like warning systems, I began to

expectation, student proficiency increased.Once I set this standard for behavior and learned to not succumb to ineffective

Goals and teaching

development“Upon entering the TSS community, it was clear that the educators there had a new age philosophy on how to promote scientific literacy. I made it my goal from the start to learn this methodology and encapsulate it not only in my teaching style but also in the approach to furthering my own

Students examine macro-invertebrate samples in

the Grand Teton National Park.

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Continuedorder to accomplish this such as learning when to really praise a student’s behavior or just acknowledge it. Furthermore, through the use of positive framing and non-interventionist behavior techniques, I found the order in my classroom and field groups to be at a level I had previously doubted possible.

Build a curriculum that can be used to independently direct my own lessons with effective assessments. The traditional paradigm in education can rely much to heavily on textbook coverage, forgoing activity based learning. But to simply have only activities for students with no thoughtful reflection is an equally flawed approach to curriculum design. My hope was to learn how to balance these two important pieces of education and incorporate them in a field week with my students.In approaching this goal I needed to familiarize myself with the spectrum of learning objectives for the different age groups that I’d be working with. Unlike a traditional classroom atmosphere, the field education program at TSS is highly dynamic and instructors are expected to provide the best possible

learning experience to a wide variety of ages that typically change weekly.When considering how to create the most exceptional learning experience for varying age groups I learned that reverse engineering was a successful technique for curriculum design. By starting with what I wanted students to learn, I could work backwards to identify reasonable objectives and then finally select appropriate activities to achieve those objectives.I would find that selecting reasonable objectives takes more thoughtful consideration than I initially assumed. Good objectives must contain two critical components; they must

be observable and measurable. Furthermore, it was critical to assess whether these objectives incorporated the pillars, goals and essential questions of TSS and how they fit into the Next Generation Science Standards. Once I’ve considered what my objectives for my lesson were, I can then answer three questions to help me design my days lesson:

1) What’s worthy and requiring of knowing?

2) What is evidence of understanding?

3) How to accomplish that understanding?

From these three questions I learned to refine my days plan and create a curriculum that causes students to be engaged and provides them with a new set of tools and problem solving capabilities. At this point it was critical to re-visit the spectrum of expectations for different age groups and adjust to a reasonable expectation of content and application. This process of personalizing content to the groups weaknesses, strengths and interests each week empowered me as a strong curriculum designer and thoughtful educator.What was important next for me was to learn varying forms of effective

“Several times I would begin a day with high expectations of new student knowledge and would find from my diagnostic assessment that I needed to adjust my plans to meet learning challenges. It is because of this that I learned a strong curriculum must be flexible and formatted for a wide variety of learners.”

assessments to expose if my curriculum and teaching methods were making a positive impact on my students. My first assessment came at the beginning of the day which was strictly diagnostic in order to gather background information on the students. Several times I would begin a day with high expectations of new student knowledge and would find from my diagnostic assessment that I needed to adjust my plans to meet learning challenges. It is because of

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Understand the cross-cutting concepts behind placed based education and the philosophy behind the TSS teaching methodology.The notion of place-based education will be a concept that I continue to explore and work to understand my whole life. What I’ve gathered about this methodology from my time at TSS is multi-faceted and complex but the results are clear, it’s effective. Connecting students to place provides immediate feedback and a clear, engaging means of involving students in content based lessons. However student development will be stunted if they are only presented with content and an interesting environment. When students are provided with explicit and reflective instruction and engaged in the environment around them, the capacity of

their knowledge and comprehension is tremendously increased.While at TSS I’ve learned that their strong teaching methodology doesn’t stop with the utilization of place based education, it is simply one of the pillars that makes the TSS teaching strategy so effective. As can be seen in Figure 1, other important pillars to the TSS teaching methodology include: The Nature of Science,

where explicit and reflective instruction on the scientific mindset is provided

Stewardship where students are taught responsible action to preserve ecological and cultural legacy

Educating for sustainability where students learn intentionality and the value of their actionsAt the junction of each of these pillars are cross cutting concepts that

Continued

“When students are provided

with explicit and reflective

instruction and engaged in the environment around them,

the capacity of their knowledge

and comprehension is tremendously

increased.”

Figure1. Diagram of components in TSS teaching methodology

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Instructor Feedback

Allison Waring, TSS Lead Field Instructor

“You have a really great tone of voice and way of speaking to students, and used a great combination of positive reinforcement and appropriate discipline/behavior reminders throughout the night.”

“You did really well adapting to student needs and abilities. This was a tough group of students to control using traditional management techniques and you did a really great job at not getting frustrated and being able to try different techniques.”

o “It was great to see you trying to implement some techniques we had talked about the week before such as using quiet wait time to get their attention or “I’m waiting for two people”.”

“The activities you chose to do with the students were very appropriate for their ages and attention spans.”

“I could see you adapting your plan and adapting your energy levels to those of the students. You are also great at accepting and implementing feedback. I could actively see you implementing feedback from last

week. It’s clear that you are motivated at becoming a better teacher.” - Allison Waring

Elle Emory, TSS Lead Field Instructor

“Taylor is really thoughtful and organized in his planning and preparation for a program. Taylor took the time to get to know students and to determine where to meet the students in their development. Taylor taught lessons that were well planned and flowed well with the day. Taylor shares his ideas and concerns with his co-instructor with confidence and has great instincts for a collaborative teaching team.”

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Developing leadership in science education through the Murie Legacy.

"I hope the United States of America is not so rich that she can afford to let these wildernesses pass by, or so poor she cannot afford to keep them."

-Margret Murie

Scientific literacy and leadership development

While completing my service term with the Teton Science Schools, one of my tasks was to undertake a capacity building project for the school. In cooperation with one other AmeriCorps intern and the guidance of faculty members Colby Mitchell and Patrick Leary, I approached solving the question of how to develop curriculum that entails leadership in the context of science.At the onset of this project, it was typical practice to teach leadership principles in means often entirely

separate from scientific literacy. Tools such as the low ropes course were utilized but not framed to students within a scientific context. Reflection of these activities was focused chiefly on the leadership skills necessary to complete the task. It was thusly our goal to re-integrate the two ideas, merging leadership principles with the nature of science and create a framework for future instructors of TSS to utilize.In order to accomplish this goal we felt it appropriate to utilize a contemporary narrative, one connected to the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem (GYE), which would be overlaid on a series of tasks that

combined both leadership skills and scientific content to complete. With this approach we chose to utilize the legacy of Olaus and Mardy Murie to convey a direct example of leadership in science. From this point we developed clear objectives for our project that would help us meet our goals. They included:1) Create a modular curriculum for a TSS field day that provided future instructors with the tools to teach leadership in science content.2) Identify and define clear leadership principles currently utilized by TSS and

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Continuedthose that are outlined within the context of the Murie legacy.3) Develop a new framework and powerpoint presentation for an evening program introducing students to the GYE.4) Provide future instructors with professional development material pertaining to the Muries and important leadership principles. Evening Program Development

With these objectives in mind, we visited the Murie center, a national historic landmark and education facility, in the Grand Teton National Park to meet with the Docent. Our trip resulted in accruing a vast amount of information about the Muries and their life story. Dan the Docent, was an incredible guide and I would highly encourage the utilization of this resource to TSS in the future. The students of TSS could really benefit from visiting this inspirational and culturally significant place.Leaving the Murie Center we had developed a new

sense for the historical and social context of the national park and the significant impacts the Muries had on the preservation of this area. When the Muries moved to Jackson Hole, they were enlisted to help solve the crisis of the massive Elk die-offs that were occurring. Olaus, a wildlife biologist with an extensive background in Elk research, helped to solve the issue causing the Elk crisis and put in place measures to preserve Elk for generations to come. We chose to utilize this story as a means to frame the TSS Introduction to the GYE evening program. After creating a new powerpoint to be utilized with this framework my partner and I put our plans into action, each teaching the lesson. What we found were students grasped a thorough understanding of what it meant to be a good scientist and furthermore came to understand the natural communities of the GYE within the context of a visiting scientist. The success of our curriculum led us to begin our development of an outline for a whole field day. Identifying leadership principles

For us to successfully integrate leadership within the context of science

education we needed to first outline what leadership principles were currently in use at TSS and where overlaps of these principles could be found in the Murie story. We located a document that outlined seven critical leadership principles and assessed where, if at all, those key principles could be outlined in the Murie legacy. What we found was each founding leadership principle could be identified, with clear examples in the Murie’s story. We thusly added to this original document, re-stating the leadership principle and outlining where it was utilized by Olaus or Mardy Murie during their work to preserve the Grand Teton National Park, save the Elk or during other preservation efforts. Field day curriculum

Now having outlined the principles of leadership that we wanted to teach students and furthermore outlining where those principles could be found in the greater Murie story, we needed to complete our final task and

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Children’s Learning The Children’s Learning Center (CLC), a pre-school for ages 0-5, has been slowly building a hoop house on their grounds to provide their young students the opportunity to learn via gardening. As an outside TSS service project, two AmeriCorps peers and I chose to work with the CLC to help them finish their hoop house. Pre-school students are active learners who experience the world through their senses and hands-on involvement. The implementation of

gardening in pre-school curriculum is, for this reason, an easily supported decision. Gardening curriculum provides students with a strong understanding and connection to place. The immediate reflection and tactile activities of gardening offer a wide variety of teachable moments for children. Our team helped the CLC to finish the construction of their hoop house, adding the final touches to the structure, applying the plastic to the greenhouse, filling the raised beds with soil and prepping the work space. Our goals were recognized when the Teton Botanical Garden brought some local high school students to the hoop house as a small service project to plant some vegetables in the raised beds that we had finished prepping earlier that week.We would later develop gardening based curriculum for pre-school teachers to utilize with their classes. Activities focused on involving students in planting, watering and all matters of exploration and getting their hands dirty in the hoop house.Lastly we designed a

Students of the CLC help AmeriCorps partners and

myself prepare their school hoop house for planting in

their raised beds.

“Gardening curriculum provides students with a strong understanding and connection to place. The immediate reflection and tactile activities of gardening offer a wide array of teachable moments for

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Idaho Outreach Trip“Working through the process of teaching a lesson multiple times, refining it, customizing it to class type and age and fitting large volumes of content in to a short period of time was a great exercise in curriculum design, time management and effective

Once the field education season had ended at TSS it was time for the AmeriCorps cohort to embark on their seasonal outreach trip. My team and I traveled to six different schools over the course of the week and taught seven hour long lessons with themes ranging from: the scientific method, animal ecology, ecosystem ecology and water quality assessment. Class ages varied from 1st to 8th grade crossing many different socio-economic and educational backgrounds.Due to only having an hour to teach the desired content, my team and I needed to craft curriculum that was both interactive but timely. We utilized activities that we learned in our field instruction at TSS and manipulated them to fit our goals with the class. After teaching a lesson we often had long reflective conversations within our teaching pairs or

Conducting stream analysis tests provides a fun and interactive means for students to grasp a greater understanding of their environment and furthermore the nature of science.

groups considering what worked well and what could be improved upon. Working through the process of teaching a lesson multiple times, refining it, customizing it to class type and age and fitting large volumes of content into a short period of time was a great exercise in curriculum design, time management and effective communication strategies.

AmeriCorps Portfolio November 14, 2014

Transference

how to teach a wide variety of learners now but I understand more

only do I understand more about students in a meaningful way. Not and am more capable of relating to refined my communication skills variety of age groups, I have really having worked with such a wide environments. Furthermore, will allow me to work in dynamic curriculum design techniques that varying management and variety of students I have learned society. Working with a wide

reflective and thoughtful member of strong member of a community and empowered me as an educator, a leader, a My time at the Teton Science Schools has

My teaching time at TSS has exposed me to life as an educator and the pleasures of teaching. As I move on and depart from TSS I will bring the skills that I learned here with me and look to apply placed based education and hands-on, immersive

curriculum in other teaching opportunities. I hope to gather higher education and then return to teaching with older students. However in the mean time, along with my new accumulation of pedagogical skills, I’ve developed networking, teamwork and risk management skills along with simply being a more confident individual when placed in un-familiar territory.I hope to spread the values of stewardship and intentional living that I have learned