I have always considered group assignments to be a difficult task. There is different personalities, different opinions and different ways of getting the job done. Some groups face less struggles than others but either way, each group must overcome hurdles to in order to function.
Fluency
Get a group of 20 up-and-coming leaders and lead them! Great. What an assessment! How to lead your peers? In a country you have never been before? In a place you have never visited?
This is sometimes the hardest group to lead, the people around you, I was not the only one amongst the group feeling this way. This I believe looks very different from leading students, which we as up-an-coming teachers have learnt about in our university studies. Putting this into play and taking the approach of a facilitator; a ‘neutral person’ managing the group processes, (Thomas, 2010, p.240) rather than leader; a person who leads, commands or organises a group, looked different from what I first expected (Cross, 2015).
Dont cry because its over, smile because it happened
“Don’t CRY because its over, SMILE because it happened!” (Unknown, n.d.)
I know what your thinking… doesn’t he normally start off with a Dr Seuss quote? Some of you may even be thinking ‘that is a Dr Seuss 
quote…’ but heres the thing, it’s not. In fact he never wrote this at all. It has simply been associated with him due to the fact it sounds like something he would write, an assumption. My old man used to tell me that you should never ‘assume’ anything. His reasoning for this was that ‘it makes an ass out of you and me‘ and in my experience these words have held true.
Assuming that you know how other people think, what they want, how they will react. That your plan is flawless or even the assumption that because you know all of these things.. nothing could go wrong. Your being an ass, and you are wrong, but we all do it.
Continue reading Dont cry because its over, smile because it happened
Golden specks and golden nuggets
Singapore is full of small specks of nature; Australia is full of beastly nuggets of nature. Singapore’s areas of natural treasures are microscopic compared to Australia’s natural areas. Never the less gold is gold, and it should be treasured no matter the size.
Singapore’s natural spaces are very beautiful, some are human made natural areas. Its virtually impossible to get lost in the wilderness in Singapore. One minute you may be walking along in the forest, next minute your shocked back into the constructed world as you see tall buildings or hear the sound of cars. On the contrary in Australia it is most certainly possible to get lost for days and days in the wilderness, with no MRT services close by!
Bound for Discovery, Changed for Life!
G’day Internet!
“Onward, Singapore!”
That is the title of the Singaporean national anthem. It is also the nations motto (By the way, when did countries start having mottos? Do we Australians have one?! I’m calling Tony and throwing up some ideas..)
In comparing and contrasting Singapore and Australia’s approaches to Outdoor Environmental Education (OEE), even looking at the lyrics of our national anthems we can find similarities.
“Come, fellow Singaporeans Let us progress towards happiness together”
“With courage let us all combine, to Advance Australia Fair” (If these lyrics don’t look familiar, it’s because it’s from the second verse of our anthem)
The Best of Both Worlds.
As mentioned in previous posts, I actually knew very little about Singapore in general prior to the announcement of the Great Singapore Adventure. Everyone seemed shocked as to how Singapore could possibly implement an outdoor education program in such a small environment, but I didn’t truly understand up until we actually got there where I could see for myself why outdoor education seemed an unlikely fit. Nevertheless, outdoor education exists quite strongly in Singapore and it definitely shares some observable similarities to the outdoor education we have in Australia. There are however, also some notable differences between the two that offer different outcomes potentially more relevant to the national interests of the countries.
‘Learn in’ or ‘take away’? Take away please!
We get to go to Singapore?!!! And have the opportunity to lead our peers for a day with activities of our choice?! Sounds too easy to be true doesn’t it?
It wasn’t all smooth moving in Singapore, the opportunity and experience of leading my peers was on occasions a tricky one – however one that I’m very thankful for and hope to ‘take away’ many key learning’s surrounding facilitation!
Continue reading ‘Learn in’ or ‘take away’? Take away please!
Experience: the architecture of understanding
During my first few days in Singapore, I struggled to see nature as I knew it. Let me take you on a short photo journey of my personal development and understanding of nature and Outdoor and Environmental Education (OEE) in Singapore and compare and contrast this with Australia.
This is what I woke up to on day 1; beautiful! I was up and ready to explore. We went to Gardens By the Bay and visited the Cloud Forest, Flower Dome and Super Trees. I was blown away by the architecture, beauty and information provided not only at these locations, but at many others throughout the trip. However it was only when we got to week two that I actually thought to myself: ”Wait a minute…what do these places do for OEE in Singapore?”
Continue reading Experience: the architecture of understanding
Same, same but different…
I often say these words to someone when comparing two things, although, I rarely ever explain myself. It might be a mixture of laziness and an assumption I make that the other person may not understand where I am coming from. I will today, however, explain myself. I believe fellow educators and other interested individuals could in some way gain something from my recent experiences in Singapore.
Sometimes the questions are complicated and the answers are simple
“Sometimes the questions are COMPLICATED and the answers are SIMPLE” (Dr. Seuss, n.d)
Compare and contrast how Outdoor and Environmental Education (OEE) is run in Australia and Singapore. Focussing on an underlying theme and discuss in relation to the literature.. Sounds like a mouth full doesn’t it. And how does one even start to compare the two? I mean they are both so different right? It would be like comparing apples and oranges for lack of a better analogy. I mean Singapore can fit into Australia over 11,000 times.. and Australia has completely different ecosystems and environments to that found in Singapore. Therefore our Outdoor and Environmental Education has to be completely different right?…. wrong.
Continue reading Sometimes the questions are complicated and the answers are simple