Looking back on my experience in Singapore I realise I have not only grown as a person but have learnt so much more about facilitation and my leadership skills. Dowd (2005) talks about how he had a bad experience during one of his adventures and how he learnt from his mistakes. From my journey in Singapore I can relate to Dowd because I didn’t have a very good first half day; I felt unorganised and didn’t know what was happening. However, as my next facilitation day was a week later I had time to ensure all the planning was organised and that I knew how the day was going to run. I felt in control with the day and therefore my confidence was higher. I now can compare the difference, and feel the difference within myself, when a day is completely organised and runs smoothly as to when it is unorganised and plans are changing constantly.
A major thing that I have learnt from not only my group but from my peers, is that being organised is great, but you need to be flexible with your day. As we were all in an unknown country and didn’t know what the public transport was going to be like, how everyone was going to handle the heat, or how long every activity was going to take, everyone needed to be flexible with their plans. Deep down inside I knew that I had to be flexible but it still caused me to freak out and panic. I personally like to be very organised and structured with my lessons or facilitation plans, but since experiencing Singapore through this trip, I now realise that you need to be flexible. It use to really freak me out not sticking to the plan, but now I understand why at times you don’t need to. The girls, on the first day didn’t know what travel was going to be like or where we would be eating because we all had never experienced the place before. Because they had such great planning in place they were able to be adaptive with their plans. This is a trait that I admire in them. What I take into my teaching, is that it is okay to not get to everything, or too spend more time on things that the students want to get a grasp of before we move on, it is okay to not always follow the plan to a T. I still am working on my flexibility but it will take time as I have just established the ground work for the project.
Beautiful things take time to grow; sometimes you just have to stop, look and reflect.
Dingle (2006) states that a responsibility that we have as educators, is that we pass on our knowledge to our students. In observing my peers in their facilitation day, it was clear to me who had done a range of study prior to going to Singapore about their particular area and who hadn’t completed as much. Yes, some places were hard to find information on, but it was obvious who had background knowledge of the area we visited. I personally believe when you are a facilitator it is essential to have knowledge of the area. If you don’t have information to pass onto your students or group, how are they going to be able to learn and have their questions answered except for going to the internet? In saying this, I know I am not a leader or facilitator that knows all the answers or that puts in as much effort to research a place as I should, but I can understand the reason as to why I need to. You, as a facilitator, don’t need to know all the answers to the questions that the students ask, however you do need to complete some research to ensure you have some knowledge prior to the day or activity.
Overall from experiencing, observing and reflecting on facilitation I have learnt a lot. I have seen what areas I need to improve on, but I have also seen the areas that I am happy with. These areas that I have reflected on in this piece just aren’t directed just to Outdoor Education but, to my everyday teaching as well. If I learn to develop in these areas, I believe my facilitation skills and teaching will then see the benefits and improve.
Magic can’t happen overnight – Singapore National Flower; Vanda Miss Joaquim.
References
Dingle, M. (2006). Knowing our place: A perspective on the contribution of outdoor education and its relationship with the outdoor recreation industry. Australian Journal of Outdoor Education, 10(1), 54 – 57.
Dowd, D. (2005). Learning about the outdoors. Australian Journal of Outdoor Education, 9(1), 50 – 52.