The importance of a support system.

This was probably one of my best days in environmental education so far, and it was a day when everything "went wrong".

Last week we had to be flexible. After that, we had to be flexible again....and again.....and again. The Secretary of the Interior wanted to use the FLC for an event. The problem was that we had 75 3rd graders coming at the same time. We worked with the school and came up with a schedule that would allow us to do our classroom portion of the lesson and get out before the site was needed for the meeting. We planned on hiking to a nearby park to eat lunch and do the second part of our activity, but the weather was NOT on our side and very heavy rains foiled our plans. We decided to load the buses and take the kids to another park with a shelter, but there were six buses there already and the shelter was full. We ended up eating in the band shell at a nearby park which was a special event for them and for us.

We taught the second half of our lesson and then the weather suddenly improved. We were off on an impromptu hike to look for birds along the river down town. My group headed west and soon came upon the Idaho Anne Frank Human Rights Memorial. I took the opportunity to share the story of Anne Frank and the sapling that we received which is a descendant of the same tree that Anne Frank wrote about in her diary. The kids were exceptional listeners and showed a great deal of respect for the moment. I was very moved by their model behavior on an exceptional day.

What made it all work was that we had a support system that functioned very well that day. The bus drivers were willing to make unscheduled stops and find a place for lunch. The teachers were willing to alter the lesson plan to accommodate the schedule change. My fellow staff members were willing to alter the lesson plan and teach it anywhere. Finally, the students themselves stayed curious despite the rain and constant change.

I hope I have more days where nothing goes according to plan!