The Outdoor Classroom 2: Immersive tools for highly effective instruction in the classroom, Hardt, Summer 2020

Note: Course payment of $975 by check or purchase order, payable to Castleton University, is due at the time of registration. A purchase order number can be entered into the online registration form and the purchase order can be uploaded to the registration form. If paying by check, please mail the check to: Financial & Registration Services, Castleton University, 62 Alumni Drive, Castleton, VT 05735. To help us ensure that your payment is applied to the correct course, PLEASE WRITE “CFS” IN THE CHECK MEMO LINE. Thank you.

Course Description

Online and independent. Meetings will be held in-person or via Zoom videoconferencing, depending on the status of COVID19.

 Essential Question: How, through naturalistic immersion can educators synthesize their own experiences in a way that transforms their classroom’s kinetic environments  into more meaningful and authentic learning experiences for students?

 Course Description:

Building on concepts and practices learned in The Outdoor Classroom 1, educators will have the opportunity to refine and expand their skill set in the natural and out-of-doors classroom. This course will put the educator in the palpable role of the student.  They will become immersed in a journey that capitalizes on differentiation, effective teaching method, authentic learning targets and assessment.   The course is designed for educators who wish to take outdoor and naturalistic learning to the next level.  Actualizing the curricular strength of the content and philosophy.

The course will follow a continuum that builds to a point where each student will have their own unique and tangible outdoor based product/experience.  This will allow for a personalized actuality that builds on one’s own strengths and weaknesses, questions and goals.   The entirety of the course will be in an adventure and natural setting connected to personal objectives and bio-regional themes.  The process and result will be directly transferable to the modern classroom.  To illustrate, inspire and engage, students will experience Vermont cliffs, caves, water ways, vista's and forgotten historical sites in a way they may have never imagined. They will learn how to make transformative connections to their students, colleagues and themselves that will take their classrooms to a new level.

The class will begin in the development of a personal narrative within the concept of bio-regionalism.  This will develop a sense-of-place for the student as well as the ability to relate that to others experience within the same concept.    Bottom-up managerial practices will be investigated and developed into a personal project.  Risk Management will be applied as participants embark on a goal setting exercise manifesting in the development and application of outdoor objectives.  Included in these objectives will be: the deep ecological dissection of a given landscape addressing personal relationships, conservation and  sustenance, a woodcraft item built with the students own hands from scratch, a self-designed outdoor challenge and immersive experience and a displayable synthesis for an external audience. 

Target audience: Graduates of Outdoor Classroom 1 or those with instructor approval.

Course Goals & Objectives

1. Students will develop their own bio-regional narrative.  This will be used to drive a set of ecological ethos that will be a catalyst for the entire class’s experiences
2. Students will grasp bottom up managerial practices and utilize this to develop their own personalized assessment tool.
3. Students will develop through guided instruction a personalized set of kinetic experiences linking them to their own continuum and to Vermont State educational proficiencies.

Required Texts

Snyder, G., Harrison, J., Ebenkamp, P., Hearst, W. R., Healey, J. J., & Counterpoint Press. (2010). The etiquette of freedom: Gary Snyder, Jim Harrison, and The practice of the wild. Berkeley, CA: Counterpoint.

Berry, W. (2010). What are people for?: essays. Berkeley, CA: Counterpoint.

Knapp, Clifford E., Ed.; Smith, Thomas E., Ed. (2005) Exploring the Power of Solo, Silence, and Solitude Association for Experiential Education (NJ3

Chouinard, Yvon (2006),New York: Penguin. 2006. Let My People Go Surfing: The Education of a Reluctant Businessman.

Rezendes, Paul (1992) Tracking & the Art of Seeing: How to Read Animal Tracks. Camden House Pub., 1992

Deep Ecology: Living as If Nature Mattered. Salt Lake City, UT: Peregrine Smith Books, 1985.

Bass, Rick,  The Lives of Rocks. ( 2007) Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Oct 17, 2007

Nelson, Richard, Heart and Blood. (1998) Vintage Books

*Other texts will be cited within the course

For additional course information

Joshua Hardt
(802) 273-2281

For additional registration information

Bethany Sprague
(802) 468-1325

Register online now!