This is a topic I am especially passionate about, and I have been so looking forward to this week! Beyond talking about the importance of nature in education, I enjoyed the integration and emphasis on Two-Eyed Seeing. I learned about Two-Eyed seeing last year, and it immediately became the foundation of my sociology assignments, which was a very awakening experience. I am very confident in how we need to explore who has had a relationship with the land and how the intentions behind land use will change, how it has changed over time while reflecting on the past, present, and future. I appreciate how we are thoughtfully implementing these into building our educational foundation.

“History is our roadmap to the future” and “if you don’t know history, you don’t know anything. You are a leaf who doesn’t know it is part of a tree” both heavily stuck out to me. I think that ignorance and denial are perhaps one of our biggest threats as a collective. I do not believe that what has happened before cannot happen again, like the world wars. I am sure that not many saw the Second World War coming, however, it would be unrealistic to say that a mass conflict would never come up again. Therefore, we need to use history as a roadmap of how we can learn from it and create a better future. I would be lying if I said I was not very disappointed by what I have seen in the world in the past year, especially from what was put in place to ensure history did not repeat itself. However, it motivates me to be educated and aware so that I can feel that I did my part, which is quite limited in comparison to those with larger power. I want to feel like I am doing something though, and I strongly believe that knowledge is power. Therefore, I will always foster this in my students, especially regarding being educated on the land that we live on and have a part in taking care of. I love the metaphor of humans as a tree, with us all being left upon it. We are all interconnected, and I think that is something we have forgotten in the past. I think this makes any opportunity to foster community and connection so vital in classrooms, to teach this interconnectedness. Students can then learn how we are so interconnected with nature, and its inextricable value that we cannot overlook. 

There are so many great resources that Kirsten provided, ones that I would have loved to have as a kid. The more we understand the world, the better humans we are, and I am so excited that we are harnessing this within the classroom. Curiosity is so important in all aspects of life. I see these apps as a very powerful way to generate curiosity and interest in the natural world, to hopefully especially reach students who have not yet noted the importance and vitality of the natural world. 

My grandpa really built my love and awareness for the natural world by taking me on nature walks when I was younger, and we would play “discovery”. Anything that caught my eye or that was a marvel to me, I would yell out “discovery” and we would look at it. He often had the answer as to what it was or what caused it and made me appreciate how intricate and delicate the world around us is. I unfortunately cannot go for walks with him anymore to discover different things in nature, but I find myself looking for these types of things on my own as I walk, in his memory. I have an album in my camera roll of all of the things I have discovered over the past 3 years without him, and it is something that I do with the kids at work. Their imagination and critical skills are amazing, and we always all come back inside feeling so appreciative of the world around us. Discovery walks are an activity I have planned for my practicum, and I really look forward to getting to take the students outside and appreciating nature!

Attached are two examples of this album on my phone. It is ever-expanding and is great to look at when I am feeling like I am taking for granted the smaller things and details in life 🙂