My recent adventure with seventh grade was perhaps my greatest challenge and triumph of the year. I recovered from the amoeba and started gaining weight back, just in time to take my seventh graders caving. Teaching five different grades (6-10) does have its benefits; when one class is struggling, another class is usually doing well. Seventh grade has been my devotionals class and consistently my most troubled class; there are more students in danger of failing out of seventh grade than any other grade in the school, these students have the greatest behavior problems, and are the most exhausting for me to teach. I have grown to love them as individuals, but as a class they aren’t even nice to each other. In seventh grade science, we are currently in the midst of our expedition on caves. In the hopes of creating a bonding and challenging experience, I decided to take the seventh grade class on an adventurous caving trip. I hired the adventure leader from the local Young Life Camp (Laura) to guide us through the caves. We headed out from the school at 6:45AM and drove 3 hours to a relatively unknown and unexplored cave. Unfortunately, the caves on the island are in danger of destruction due to the massive amounts of mining for limestone. The mining actually prevented our van from driving up the mountainside. We were forced to pile out and hike up in the midday sun. A local police truck took pity on our straggling group and allowed us to pile into the back for a ride. The cave entrance was amazingly beautiful; complete with ancient Taino Indian Paintings, a wide-open chamber with sun pouring in from the roof, and moss covered walls. The descent into the cave was two 30-40 foot rappels. The open area of the cave was scattered with piles of limestone, bat bones, snake-skins, and fallen crystals. As we traveled deeper into the cave, we entered into a treasure chest of crystal formations, moon ponds, stalactites, stalagmites, exotic cave spiders, and small flying bats. I was just as excited and awed as my students and was delighted that they were finally looking after each other and making sure their partner didn’t fall down or get lost. I suppose necessity is the best teacher. The ascent was challenging and I ended up having to pull several students up the last bit of the climb. At the end of the day, we had all learned something about caves, ourselves, and what it means to overcome an obstacle or fear. Check out my web album for some awesome caving pictures!
Thursday, May 22, 2008
Caving with 7th Graders???
My recent adventure with seventh grade was perhaps my greatest challenge and triumph of the year. I recovered from the amoeba and started gaining weight back, just in time to take my seventh graders caving. Teaching five different grades (6-10) does have its benefits; when one class is struggling, another class is usually doing well. Seventh grade has been my devotionals class and consistently my most troubled class; there are more students in danger of failing out of seventh grade than any other grade in the school, these students have the greatest behavior problems, and are the most exhausting for me to teach. I have grown to love them as individuals, but as a class they aren’t even nice to each other. In seventh grade science, we are currently in the midst of our expedition on caves. In the hopes of creating a bonding and challenging experience, I decided to take the seventh grade class on an adventurous caving trip. I hired the adventure leader from the local Young Life Camp (Laura) to guide us through the caves. We headed out from the school at 6:45AM and drove 3 hours to a relatively unknown and unexplored cave. Unfortunately, the caves on the island are in danger of destruction due to the massive amounts of mining for limestone. The mining actually prevented our van from driving up the mountainside. We were forced to pile out and hike up in the midday sun. A local police truck took pity on our straggling group and allowed us to pile into the back for a ride. The cave entrance was amazingly beautiful; complete with ancient Taino Indian Paintings, a wide-open chamber with sun pouring in from the roof, and moss covered walls. The descent into the cave was two 30-40 foot rappels. The open area of the cave was scattered with piles of limestone, bat bones, snake-skins, and fallen crystals. As we traveled deeper into the cave, we entered into a treasure chest of crystal formations, moon ponds, stalactites, stalagmites, exotic cave spiders, and small flying bats. I was just as excited and awed as my students and was delighted that they were finally looking after each other and making sure their partner didn’t fall down or get lost. I suppose necessity is the best teacher. The ascent was challenging and I ended up having to pull several students up the last bit of the climb. At the end of the day, we had all learned something about caves, ourselves, and what it means to overcome an obstacle or fear. Check out my web album for some awesome caving pictures!
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