Training Log Archive: barbIn the 7 days ending Oct 10, 2006:
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Tuesday Oct 10, 2006 #
Running 25:00 [2]
Ran from Izzy's soccer practice to the school to check out tulip bulb planting areas for our Journey North experiment. And back.
Soccer 15:00 [2]
Scrimmage with the few kids who showed up for practice.
Monday Oct 9, 2006 #
Hiking 2:40:00 [1]
Monadnock with a bunch of kids. Took lots longer but am recording the time when I do it solo.
Keegan (age 3) made it to the top, and down, on his own two feet. I have high hopes for Keegan as an orienteer, though I'm not sure his parents are on board yet.
Keegan (age 3) made it to the top, and down, on his own two feet. I have high hopes for Keegan as an orienteer, though I'm not sure his parents are on board yet.
Saturday Oct 7, 2006 #
Walking in the woods 1:00:00 [1]
Took some younger but more experienced kids to the woods to help retrieve flagging tape. Rachael in particular got some real training in. After, we ran footraces for short distances. I don't run as fast as I can very often, and was sore in hamstrings and buttocks the following day.
Friday Oct 6, 2006 #
Walking in the woods 2:00:00 [1]
Set controls and picked up controls for 80 junior high kids spending a day at Boojum Rock.
This was interesting. Typical for a Barb project: it got very elaborate, and didn't all work out as I had planned. But it was a good day. Pulled an all-nighter (rogaine training?) the night before to create my complicated playing cards (thanks Dave), 13 different maps, 9 different memory-receiving clue sheets, various instruction sheets, etc.
The teachers wanted the kids to come together as a community. I had asked what they were studying in school, and was originally hoping to incorporate some of the science (mass/density) and math (slope, inverse functions). But in the end I just focused on the book they'd been reading and discussing, "The Giver" by Lois Lowry.
I started from Jeff Saeger's map walk + white course approach with the Melrose middle school kids. I had the kids for more time: 3.5 hours, so I layered on additional activities for more map reading skill learning and teamwork.
Details:
(1) map walk in teams of 8 with one adult per team. One kid on each team read a narration at each control on the map walk. The map walk took the kids from the entry point across the street from the ice rink parking lot, to our "home base" which was the meadow near the Stoneham life care center. The narration taught the walkers how to orient their map, read features, estimate distance, and plan their route to the next control.
Map walk
(2) Pairs (subteams of the original teams of 8) went out on short white courses. There were 3 courses; every pair went on a random one of these 3 courses.
Course B
(3) Teams of 8 reconvened and selected roles for each individual. There were 4 roles (so 2 of each on a team): Leader, Contourer, Feature Reader, and Distance and Direction Diviner. Each person then was supposed to do a short "apprenticeship" in their role to gain expertise. (The idea of the roles was both to practice teamwork and also to echo the societal roles assigned to children when they turn 12 in the Giver community.)
(4) Teams reconvened and strategized about their challenge, which was to collect clues from the forest. Each clue was mapped either with a control circle on the map, or with word directions from a reference control. Each clue location was off-trail. Each clue was a 4-digit number written on a piece of flagging tape. Each team had 8 or 9 clues to gather. They didn't have to get them all, but they did have to be back at the Meadow by a given time. When they returned to the Meadow, they exchanged their collected numbers for "memories", which were photos on playing cards of memories from the book (like sledding or sunshine or warfare). Each control was given to 3 of the 9 teams; no two teams had the same set of controls to gather. I originally had it such that each team could optionally split into 2 subteams (of 4) (with each role represented), but in the end I had them stick together and go with an adult. Nonetheless, people reported really liking this last challenge.
To help with navigation, I had flag controls at many intersections, which were also shown on the maps. On the ground at those intersections I created a flour arrow pointing north (J-J's idea). (They had no compasses.)
I had taken photos at every clue location, and gave them playing cards with the photos before they set out. I thought they might enjoy matching the photos with the locations. And that maybe they'd like to have these photos as keepsakes - their own memories - of the event. But I don't think this really took off for them. Here are some of the photos from control locations:
Classic control location: boulder
The water tower
Note Boston in the distance.
Shiner Pool
Lichen on a control boulder
Mushrooms from one of my favorite sections of tall pine forest.
Poison ivy (OK, I didn't actually put a control here, but I did put this picture on the Joker card.)
The feedback I got was positive. I need to follow up with a flyer about upcoming meets and see if I can get any of these kids to the woods again.
Kids in the Meadow
Jumping and hiding among the flowers was a draw for some.
357
This was interesting. Typical for a Barb project: it got very elaborate, and didn't all work out as I had planned. But it was a good day. Pulled an all-nighter (rogaine training?) the night before to create my complicated playing cards (thanks Dave), 13 different maps, 9 different memory-receiving clue sheets, various instruction sheets, etc.
The teachers wanted the kids to come together as a community. I had asked what they were studying in school, and was originally hoping to incorporate some of the science (mass/density) and math (slope, inverse functions). But in the end I just focused on the book they'd been reading and discussing, "The Giver" by Lois Lowry.
I started from Jeff Saeger's map walk + white course approach with the Melrose middle school kids. I had the kids for more time: 3.5 hours, so I layered on additional activities for more map reading skill learning and teamwork.
Details:
(1) map walk in teams of 8 with one adult per team. One kid on each team read a narration at each control on the map walk. The map walk took the kids from the entry point across the street from the ice rink parking lot, to our "home base" which was the meadow near the Stoneham life care center. The narration taught the walkers how to orient their map, read features, estimate distance, and plan their route to the next control.
Map walk
(2) Pairs (subteams of the original teams of 8) went out on short white courses. There were 3 courses; every pair went on a random one of these 3 courses.
Course B
(3) Teams of 8 reconvened and selected roles for each individual. There were 4 roles (so 2 of each on a team): Leader, Contourer, Feature Reader, and Distance and Direction Diviner. Each person then was supposed to do a short "apprenticeship" in their role to gain expertise. (The idea of the roles was both to practice teamwork and also to echo the societal roles assigned to children when they turn 12 in the Giver community.)
(4) Teams reconvened and strategized about their challenge, which was to collect clues from the forest. Each clue was mapped either with a control circle on the map, or with word directions from a reference control. Each clue location was off-trail. Each clue was a 4-digit number written on a piece of flagging tape. Each team had 8 or 9 clues to gather. They didn't have to get them all, but they did have to be back at the Meadow by a given time. When they returned to the Meadow, they exchanged their collected numbers for "memories", which were photos on playing cards of memories from the book (like sledding or sunshine or warfare). Each control was given to 3 of the 9 teams; no two teams had the same set of controls to gather. I originally had it such that each team could optionally split into 2 subteams (of 4) (with each role represented), but in the end I had them stick together and go with an adult. Nonetheless, people reported really liking this last challenge.
To help with navigation, I had flag controls at many intersections, which were also shown on the maps. On the ground at those intersections I created a flour arrow pointing north (J-J's idea). (They had no compasses.)
I had taken photos at every clue location, and gave them playing cards with the photos before they set out. I thought they might enjoy matching the photos with the locations. And that maybe they'd like to have these photos as keepsakes - their own memories - of the event. But I don't think this really took off for them. Here are some of the photos from control locations:
Classic control location: boulder
The water tower
Note Boston in the distance.
Shiner Pool
Lichen on a control boulder
Mushrooms from one of my favorite sections of tall pine forest.
Poison ivy (OK, I didn't actually put a control here, but I did put this picture on the Joker card.)
The feedback I got was positive. I need to follow up with a flyer about upcoming meets and see if I can get any of these kids to the woods again.
Kids in the Meadow
Jumping and hiding among the flowers was a draw for some.
357
Bicycling 1:00:00 [1]
Biked home from Boojum. Did not have my helmet or a hair tie.
I was so fried picking up controls that when I ran into a guy I know in the woods, I couldn't remember his name (Randy, he told me) or where I know him from, though he was very familiar (and in fact I still can't remember exactly how I know him, but that must be the Alzheimer's because I'm no longer fried).
I was so fried picking up controls that when I ran into a guy I know in the woods, I couldn't remember his name (Randy, he told me) or where I know him from, though he was very familiar (and in fact I still can't remember exactly how I know him, but that must be the Alzheimer's because I'm no longer fried).