Excitement!

Classes are in full swing! The first week was intense, to say the least, but I'm having a great time. I started off the quarter observing field practicals presented by the graduating cohort. This is one of the requirements to receive the degree. Each student must complete a field practical, an oral exam, and either a written exam or project/thesis. The field practical has two evaluative components to it: content, and presentation (the what and how, in other words). We went to two different sites, and three students presented. There was a lot of awesome info presented and interesting sights, all of which could take up an entire post itself. So I'll speak about the process of the field practical. The students do not know what site they will be asked to present at or what order they are going in. They are allowed to choose whatever theme (within reason) for their lesson they would like and what age group they are pretending to present to. But the professors expect demonstrated content knowledge to cover a wide range of topics, as well as a depth of understanding. So it isn't enough to talk just about plants and fire ecology. You can try, but they will start asking questions about local fauna (animals), geology, history, etc. And since I won't know what site I will be presenting at, I need to be prepared for every possibility. This is a little terrifying; being in a new place, expected within the next year to have both a breadth and depth of ecological knowledge, and the ability to present it all in an engaging and informative manner. It's also exciting though, as the program prepares you to do this with classes and practical experience, and I do enjoy learning to do this.

I'm also taking entomology, and for this class, I need to collect a minimum of 50 different insect families. Since the cold weather blew in pretty quickly (so thankful for weather forecasting that helped me plan ahead), I've spent the past week frantically collecting insects. I currently have about 40 different insects, some of which may be in the same family, though the majority probably aren't. I've been to gardens, meadows, mountaintops, the woods, creeks, and collected at almost all times of day (and at night!). So it's been a fun process. I've discovered that kids are generally better at spotting insects than I am, and they have a lot of fun with it too.

Today, my my cohort was able to take a field trip out to Deer Creek Center, the site of our Fall in the Field capstone experience next fall. We are already starting the planning, so we wanted to see where we would be. And it is going to be AWESOME! Having been there now, I am so excited for the planning process and then being able to be in such an amazing place to do some environmental education. Here are some pictures of Deer Creek.

The meadow where the instructors (that would include me!) camp out

Deer Creek, with Indian Rhubarb/Umbrella plant in the background

A fen! One of the unique features of Deer Creek Center.

Cobra Lily, an insectivorous plant of the fen

Deer Creek

(Black) bear scat

Serpentine soils and an extension of the fen

I will save the lesson on fens for another post, but I'm really excited about Deer Creek Center. Shauna, a colleague and I, were talking about how this visit allowed us to see what we are working toward, and how that is such a great motivator, though the difficulties of the planning process for Fall in the Field that are sure to come.