Teacher involvement is, of course vital to every successful camp, with the bonds between students and teachers strengthened away from the classroom. Adventure Alternatives creates a unique opportunity to form relationships through first-hand experiences.
Teachers often feel pressured to deliver a busy curriculum in a certain way and the thought of using the outdoors to achieve their targets can be frightening. Introducing the outdoors into an already busy school curriculum can seem like an impossible challenge, but with the right planning and a whole school approach significant progress can be made that makes a real difference, not only to the health and well-being of the school population, but also to their attainment.
Three benefits for teachers to join in on camp.
- There is an opportunity for teachers to see students interact and behave outside of the classroom. Some students thrive is a classroom environment, others struggle. For some of the students who struggle they can be challenging for teachers to manage. By seeing these students who struggle in the classroom, outside in an environment that is better suited to their cognitive thinking, we see them excel and demonstrate behaviours that are not typically in the classroom.
- Teachers are able to build a relationship with students. Participating in a camp program can be hard work and tiring. Spending every minute of the day on camp with the students with no break is a scary thought for most teachers! However there is more opportunity to find teachable moments and potential to build a strong relationship with students, getting to know them on a deeper level that will transfer back into the classroom.
- Teachers find out more about themself. A lot of the time we focus on the outcomes the students will get out of the camp program, we often forget about the journey the teachers are on also. Teachers that submerce themselves into the programs at Adventure Alternatives find that they also gain a lot out the experience.
Partnering with Adventure Alternatives we provide students with the opportunity to work with their teachers that will nurture experiential education, build intergenerational relationships and result in a different style of learning. Adventure Alternatives staff are equipped to convey teachable moments in a variety of settings whilst also developing and building upon personal competencies. These competencies should help shape a successful future for our youth.