Today I’m going to write a reflection post on my Grade 8 PLP field trip to Oregon.
It was awesome!
We left for the six night trip a couple of weeks ago. Many fun and amazing things happened on the trip which I will never forget; things like zip lining, quests and many fun learning activities. Although quests had to be one of my favourites, they are basically scavenger hunts that we did in little groups, visiting many different places meant we got to learn about a lot of new things. For me, our visit to the Hatfield Marine Science Center, where we learned about sea creatures, was wonderful.
I loved the fact that we got to eat at many amazing restaurants but eating Costco pizza on the beach was probably the most spectacular. At night we slept in yurts which was really cool as I have never been in a yurt before. Some nights we had campfires and got to roast marshmallows. I think the sunsets on the beach were amazing, as it was so mesmerizing to watch the sun go down by the Pacific Ocean. We made a book about our very cool trip; an experience I will always remember.
Over the trip we worked on five competencies, persisting, managing impulsivity, thinking about thinking, questioning and posing problems, and thinking independently. The first one ‘persisting’ to me would always be remembering about a growth mindset. A growth mindset would be remembering that we can always improve and to achieve this requires us to put in our best effort with everything we do. On the trip we always tried to use a growth mindset whatever we were doing.
While we were away ‘managing our impulsivity’, the second competency, was something that we all definitely had to keep in mind. My whole class was in a bus together for a whole week, so we definitely had to remember to stay calm and try to be nice to each other. During the school year the teachers have always encouraged us to be very curious and always ask questions. The trip made it very easy to be curious allowing us to address ‘questioning and posing problems’ as there always was something new to learn or to expand our knowledge. For example, at the Northwest Trek everyone was curious about all the animals and their habitats.
The last competency was the easiest of all to address on the trip. Working together in groups is really fun and there was probably one point every day when we got the opportunity to work with others. In the bus with everyone it was very easy to talk to others about the work we are doing and I found this an easy way to recap on our learning from the day. I enjoy collaborating with my peers but realize that although I am a great listener and team player I need to ask more questions and speak up more, so that not only do I learn from others but they can also learn me.
I can’t wait for the next opportunity to go away with my class again.
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