Outdoor Education School Science Camps California

A Reflection on Peer Mentoring – Carolyn Scarpelli

All of these excuses didn’t matter…Deep down I knew there were a few things I needed to work on, but I hadn’t figured out exactly what I needed to do to fix the problems I was having while teaching.

The peer mentoring program at High Trails Outdoor Science School is a way for instructors to support each other and help out someone who might be having a difficult time with a certain aspect of teaching. For me, peer mentoring was a useful, rewarding, but at times stressful experience. Not every staff member participates in the peer mentoring program, so how did I end up with this opportunity?

The Class Evaluation

Well, High Trails has many different ways to check in with staff to see how things are going and one of those is called a full evaluation. A full evaluation is when an administrator follows an entire class while taking notes on your teaching and then rates you in a variety of categories. My first full evaluation was completed by site director, Chris, towards the end of a day in October. Unfortunately, I wasn’t on my “A” game that week and the results of my evaluation weren’t great.

Having an administrator watch a class that was not my best was intimidating and disheartening. After it happened it was hard to not make excuses. The previous weekend I was sick and had barely been eating all week while trying to recover. I had a tough group of students that week and had to give out multiple strikes, and the day of my evaluation I gave out a second strike to a student. It was also the last class of the day which is a tough time to keep students focused, and I had only taught the class a couple of times before that.

All of these excuses didn’t matter though. Deep down I knew there were a few things I needed to work on, but I hadn’t figured out exactly what I needed to do to fix the problems I was having while teaching. I knew I needed to be more firm and fair with discipline issues, and I was having a hard time setting up and being consistent with behavior expectations.

I also needed to work on building rapport with my students so I could understand their decisions better and find a way to help them with issues they were having in class and at High Trails. My degree in Biology set me up with a strong understanding of the material we teach at High Trails, but I wasn’t being the most effective teacher possible and it was taking away from my students’ experiences.

My Peer Mentoring Experience

I worked with senior instructor, Alex, for three weeks during this process. The peer mentoring program gave me a chance to collaborate on ideas, reflect on what I was doing right and what I needed to improve, and observe someone with a similar teaching style as me to help me improve as a teacher. We switched off evaluating each other’s classes and meeting at the end of each week to discuss the evaluations and ideas on how to improve. Alex was full of great ideas and useful tips and tricks that helped me as a teacher and helped my classes run smoother.

Those three weeks of analyzing myself (via video), meeting with Alex, and watching Alex’s classes helped immensely with my teaching.

I became more direct and confident with my discipline which helped maintain an orderly classroom. I started to focus more on getting to know my students and focus on their needs to help reduce distractions and help the students stay engaged so that it is possible to flow through material effectively.

Overall, peer mentoring helped me feel more comfortable as a teacher, educator, and High Trails employee. It helped me give students a better, more rewarding experience while they are at High Trails. This all especially showed in my second full evaluation when almost all of my scores and my overall score improved. Seeing that measurable improvement was rewarding and encouraging. Of course there are always things to improve on, but I know I have a solid foundation to work, experiment, and grow with as a teacher.

At High Trails Outdoor Science School, we literally force our instructors to write about elementary outdoor education, teaching outside, learning outside, our dirty classroom (the forest…gosh), environmental science, outdoor science, and all other tree hugging student and kid loving things that keep us engaged, passionate, driven, loving our job, digging our life, and spreading the word to anyone whose attention we can hold for long enough to actually make it through reading this entire sentence. Whew…. www.dirtyclassroom.com

Staff, Teaching Techniques

Keeping It Fresh In Year Three – Nasser Rihan

Camouflage! – Hope Batcheller

Comments are closed.

Failure is the Best Outcome - Colleen McDonald

I watch patiently as my student grabs hold of the rope, draws a breath, and leaps. He swings out across the gap of “molten lava” (the dirt and pine needles of the forest floor an...

Art and the Environment: Rebecca Babel

The relationship between art and nature may not be apparent to everyone, but art and the environment have been linked together as far back as the days of Plato and Aristotle when aesthetics was connected...

Super Hero Squirrels - Alex Kaklamanos Tom Brown Jr., a famous tracker and naturalist, said, “We learned to be patient observers like the owl. We learned cleverness from the crow, and courage from the jay, who will attack an owl ten times... Learning Styles and Experiential Education.....or Why It’s Better To Do It Outside - Connor Lee One of the best and defining parts of an outdoor science school is that nature is our textbook and our classroom. Our students don’t sit at desks reading paragraphs aloud from a textbook... Live The Life You Love - Hillary Cantu I feel very privileged to have grown up in Southern California, I was raised at the beach and spent most of my years growing up in the ocean. I learned very young about the beauty... Keeping It Fresh In Year Three - Nasser Rihan It is that time of year again. The leaves are falling from the oak trees, the wind is becoming cooler and ever more crisp, and for me that means one thing: another year at High... A Science Fair Experience - Dawn Cook In education today one of the big buzzwords is STEM - Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math. A study by the American Association of University Women (AAUW) determined that female interest in STEM majors declines... Can Erosion and Illegal Trails Get Along? - Caroline Blake At the University of Vermont (UVM), I remember not wanting to walk on the concrete sidewalk between the Student Center and the Library because it was not convenient. Instead, I joined thousands of other students... Trail Games #1- Kyle O'Dea So what do you do while hiking with a large group of students through the forest? Play games of course! Here at High Trails Outdoor Science School we have an arsenal of games we... What is your “Dawn Wall”? Barb Bemis On January 14, 2015, history was made...in the rock climbing world at least. Tommy Caldwell and Kevin Jorgeson succeeded in free climbing the Dawn Wall on El Cap, Yosemite National Park. 19 days. 32 pitches of... Continuing Education with a Bat Presentation - Shane Hyre While Outdoor Education draws in staff that has a passion for being outdoors, working with students, and understanding the natural sciences, one of the continual challenges for us at High Trails is finding new and... Snake Reproduction - Mallory Schmackpfeffer When we talk about snakes, the assumption that we make is that all snakes reproduce by laying eggs, but that’s only part of the story! The truth is that only 70% of snakes lay eggs... Life Lessons from the Appalachian Trail #1: Alex Kaklamanos On November 7th, 2009, I made my way to the summit of Springer Mountain, Georgia, ready to begin my Appalachian Trail through hike. The plaque there read: "Appalachian Trail: A Footpath for Those who seek... Constantly Learning and Lichen It! - Mari Schramm Almost 150 years ago, a Swiss botanist proposed something crazy: he said that the simple living thing called “lichen” was actually 2 different kinds of living things working together. Simon Schwendener proposed that a lichen was... Nature's Secret Power - Caroline Blake What organism can support 100 times its own weight, stand upside-down on glass, is found on every continent except for Antarctica and is the most efficient predator on earth? Why it is none other than... Welcome to Subirdia: Book Review - Mark Kerstens Ever wonder how our ever growing suburbanization and development affects wildlife populations? Have you heard that urban development is exclusively bad for bird populations? I thought so, too, until I read Welcome to Subirdia by... Sierra Snowpack Water Facts - Mark Kerstens Here at High Trails we live and work in the San Bernardino Mountains. While beautiful and incredibly diverse, our local mountains pale in size, height, and snowpack when you compare them to the vastness of... Bowdrill Basics - Becca Babel It was Thursday afternoon and the last full day of training as I wandered around the forest looking for a strong, curved branch to use as a bow for my bowdrill. My eyes filled with... Life 101: 5 Lessons I’ve Learned Since Coming to High Trails - Emily Trostel There are shared qualities that drive us to be High Trails’ instructors. Mostly, we all share a love of the outdoors. We tend to discover early on that working in an office, teaching in a... Farm to School - Mike Rosekrans The sun was setting behind the peaks of the Sierra Nevada. The sky was turning from blue to pink and purple and alpenglow turned the eastern peaks golden as I walked down to a serene...

Popular Parent Links

Special Concerns: Information and form for special situations. Health Consent Form: required for every student attending High Trails. Medication Form: required if a student is bringing medication to High Trails. Discipline Form and Packing List: general information to prepare for your trip. Forms Video: check this out for a visual explanation of our forms. Printable Parent's Guide: used in lieu of the online Parent's Guide. Menu: a weekly list of the food up here.

Trail Games #1- Kyle O'Dea So what do you do while hiking with a large group of students through the forest? Play games of course! Here at High Trails Outdoor Science School we have an arsenal of games we... Guided Questioning: Turning Wah into Wow - Mark Kerstens Ever have a cool fact, idea, or concept that comes up as you hike that you want to share with the students? These teachable moments happen all the time, and are a great way to... Props: Can’t live with them, can’t live without them… Shane Hyre If you talk to anyone in the outdoor education business – talk about props. Talk about the rubber chickens, the stuffed animals, the rope, the spots, the foam thingies… props have been the underestimated “magic... Don’t Rain on My Parade! Shannon Diaz Have you ever had to teach students while outside in the rain or snow ? Here at High Trails, we hike and teach our students in three different seasons with all sorts of weather. Whether we... Morphology Makes You a Science Wizard - Jenna Ikwe Mennen “Who knows one characteristic of a mammal?” says every High Trails instructor, once a week. “Warm-blooded!” answers an eager student, remembering to raise their hand only after already blurting out the words. Now, how do we... Ode to Button-Pushers - Alex Rice Do you know the student who throws a stick when their instructor isn’t looking? The one who goes past the boundary their teacher very explicitly creates or breaks the rule that was thoroughly reviewed three... Toothpaste: Show Don't Tell - Kelsey Wentling Once inside the cabin, everyone shivers off their jackets and eagerly starts buzzing around the warm haven: home for the next three or four nights. Soon after, buzzing turns to chatting and not far off chatting... Why We Lorax - Penelope Burgess “Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better, it’s not.” –Dr. Seuss What is The Lorax? Every Friday morning at High Trails Outdoor Science School, groups of 40-120 5th or... Frontloading and Debriefing - Shannon Diaz “On your mark, get set, go!” “Huh? I don’t even know what we’re playing!” Have you ever tried playing a game or doing an activity that wasn’t explained completely or didn't make sense to you? This can... American Sign Language in Science - Sarah Beery How do you teach science to a deaf student if sign language doesn't have a way to sign the word? Science is its own language with all the varying terms ranging from photosynthesis to camouflage to... Growth Mindset - Alicia Imbrogna Hard work beats talent when talent fails to work hard. -Tim Notke How many times in your life have you encountered a situation that was frustrating or annoying and often appeared too difficult to overcome? Have... Flip Distractions into Discussions: Verbal Jiu-Jitsu- Alex Eisenreich You are a Teacher. So you probably know that Random Tangent Student. The one that takes extra prompting to engage in class; the one that needs redirection to stay on task; the one who doesn’t volunteer... “Whatever GRABBSS their attention...” - Shane Hyre Team Discovery Hike: it's the first activity you do with your field group on their first day at High Trails. It's time for the group to discover who you are, where they are, and what... Analogies are to Teachers as Utility Belt is to Batman - Hollyann Duskin A streak of light burns bright and brief across the night sky. A collective gasp comes from the group of students huddled in the darkness as they exclaim, “a shooting star!” As we discuss that shooting... Scientific Method in Everything - Leslie Urban In sixth grade I remember losing a spelling bee because I did not know how to spell ‘hypothesis’. Our science teacher, Ms. Miers, had spent the entire fall semester pounding the Scientific Method into our heads... Your Name? I Don't Have A Clue - Haley Cushing Instructor: “Ok, who can tell me an example of a renewable resource?” Unnamed Student Raises Hand. Your mind goes blank. You look down at your attendance sheet. Back at the student. Back at the attendance sheet.... Improv-ing Education - Cass Language Friday afternoon— busses are delayed due to snow, and you find yourself with 15 students for an hour longer than you expected. Or maybe your boss tells you to lead a 10 minute activity for... Teaching with Music - Jordan Rowell "Alright class, it’s time to earn our beads for our Furry Friends class. Let’s review what you can remember about adaptations of mammals. John, tell me at least one characteristic of a mammal?" Uhhh…. Uhhh oh is... 3,2,1, Bonus Point! Caroline Blake “Single file line in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1,” This is what I shout to my students within the first 5 minutes of their arrival. The kids scurry to get into the best line that they... Building Communities - Jess Fangman “This needs to come from your heart,” I said in a soft tone. I watched anxiously as 12 different sets of eyes peered back at me in puzzlement. I had asked my cabin group of sixth... A Unique Class is a Memorable Class - Paul Adams A few weeks ago, I was attending a music festival in Santa Barbara. As I was walking around the camp ground, I met a man named Brian who invited me into his camp. We had... My Former Self - Shannon Diaz Have you ever thought back to when you were in fifth grade? What was the world like for you then? I remember when I was in fifth grade, and getting ready to go to Camp... Why Visit A Classroom? Tamara Perreault Working at High Trails, I quickly became a proponent of teaching outside. There are a lot of clear benefits. In California, class size is almost always 20 or more, but our groups are rarely more... Home - Tamara Perreault What makes a place a home? This can be a tough question. Think about it for a moment. When you say, “I feel like I’m at home” what makes you feel that way? 2,000 years ago... Science Fiction Is a Teaching Tool - Jake Sheaffer As instructors at High Trails we are constantly trying to relate the material that we teach back to the student’s daily lives. Sometimes this is difficult, because not all students understand why topics like...

Food Waste & The Clean Plate Club - Sam Farrell Food waste is one of the most important things students learn about here at High Trails, but it is also easy to overlook. While most people don’t consider it to be a big deal, as... Where Have All The Monarchs Gone? - Melissa Mercier Monarch butterflies are amazing insects; they can change from caterpillar to beautiful winged creatures! What you may not know is they perform a second and equally amazing feat... Monarch butterflies perform a four generation long trek... Steller’s Jays: The birds you hate to love - Shannon Pappas When I say that I don’t always like Steller’s Jays, my students are always shocked. I, of course, understand where they are coming from. I remember when I first came to these mountains and was immediately... How Plants Can Be Medicine - Canot Walker High Trails is located at 7000 feet in the San Bernardino Mountain Range, and one of the first topics we learn about in Team Discovery Hike is who lived here before us. The Yuhaviatam arrived... Mars InSight Lander - Karen Solange Fraser Mars’ latest lander, InSight, launched in May 2018 and landed in November 2018. At approximately 5 feet long and 20 feet wide, it features two solar panels, two cameras, and three scientific instruments with a... Snake Reproduction - Mallory Schmackpfeffer When we talk about snakes, the assumption that we make is that all snakes reproduce by laying eggs, but that’s only part of the story! The truth is that only 70% of snakes lay eggs... Seed Dispersal of the Black Oak - Davíd Valencia Did you know that one of the largest populations of all Black Oak trees in southern California is in the San Bernardino National Forest? [1. Tyler, Claudia M., et al. “Demography and Recruitment Limitations of... Contour vs Downy Feathers – Frazer Winsted It is the middle of Feathered Friends class. After discussing that there are multiple feathers on a bird consisting of contour and downy feathers, one of my students says: “Mr. Frazer, what is the difference... Non-flowering Plant Reproduction: Conifers – Ryne Tobar Of the classes I get to teach at High Trails, my favorite is Plant Detectives. Plants are incredible organisms. While they might be immobile, plants are able to propagate, or reproduce, far beyond their immediate vicinity. When... Plastic is the New Black – Lillian Johnson Do you know what you're wearing? When discussing the natural origin of materials with students, discovering that plastics are typically made from crude oil – the same fossil fuel used to power our cars –... Benefits of Rock Climbing - Peter Le People ask me if climbing is a good way to stay in shape; I tell them I stay in shape to be good at climbing! Why do people climb? That is the question all instructors ask... Purpose of Pupils - Allison Hanson Over the summer, I went hiking with some students at summer camp. On the trail, we ran into a woman taking her goats out for a walk. Yes, GOATS. Goats are great. I was then... Over the Moon...Cycle - Suzanne Bosman “The common theme of calendar making is the desire to organize units of time to satisfy the needs and preoccupations of society. In addition to serving practical purposes, the process of organization provides a sense,... Outdoor Education & Line Dancing - Jade Koenigs When I say the words “Line Dancing”, the faces of my students scrunch up into a mixture of emotions. Some voice excitement, some voice disgust, but most faces bare the unmistakable feeling of apprehension, scared for... Can A Formula Predict Floods? - Anne Sweney “From where we stand the rain seems random. If we could stand somewhere else, we would see the order in it.” –Tony Hillerman For people living in climates that are dry and arid, understanding the water... We Don’t Need No GPS! Brad Brainard The day is September 11th, 2014. I am standing face to face with a weathered and worn wooden sign on the top of a mountain in the middle of Maine. The sign reads, in big,... Diggin Deep into the world of the Thatch-Mound Ant - Kyle W. Gray What is that mound thing? When sauntering about in the San Bernardino National Forest you may notice large mounds or domes made of grass, leaves, pine needles, and numerous other plant materials. What exactly are these... Replenishing the Water Cycle - Kevin Williams Did you know the scientific term for the water cycle is the hydrologic cycle? I was on a hike the other day and thought about the apple activity I do during our Water Wonders class to... Bird Sounds of Spring - Danny Walden Spring is here, and it's an exciting time! Our bird friends in the San Bernardino mountains begin to sing, and these year-round populations are complemented by a whole new host of migrants. To many people,... The Spirits of the Water: Loons - AleXANdra Barteldt There is a loonie legend about a small lake in rural Maine named Flying Pond. As the story goes, the Native Americans of the region returned to the northern lakes every season for fishing and... Archery in North America - Hannah Livezey As staff members at High Trails, we are offered opportunities to visit other outdoor schools and exchange ideas with others in the outdoor field with hopes to deliver the best possible curriculum to the students... Speak Like A Yuhaviaatam - Ikwe Mennen You're staying in the Condor cabin? I think you mean Qwat cabin! Yuhaviaatam means “people of the pines” in their own language. They are the native peoples who lived on top of our mountain, in the... Welcome to Subirdia: Book Review - Mark Kerstens Ever wonder how our ever growing suburbanization and development affects wildlife populations? Have you heard that urban development is exclusively bad for bird populations? I thought so, too, until I read Welcome to Subirdia by... Rock Climber or Amateur Geologist? - Michael Perez Is igneous bliss or are all the little sediments of rock knowledge metamorphosing climbers into rock experts? Ha! As rock climbers, we experience many different types of rocks when we go to climb at various crags... Bald Eagles and Their Comeback! Brandon Bortzer In 1963, scientists estimated a total of just 417 nesting pairs of bald eagles survived in the lower 48 states. The emblem of the United States since 1782 and the only eagle endemic to North America,...