Episode 117 - Forest Educator Spotlight: The Value of Goals, Metrics and Evaluating Your Outcomes
Forest Educator with Ricardo Sierra | A Podcast for Revolutionary Conversations about Nature-Based EducationShow Notes
In the olden days, before the internet, when you ran a workshop or a skills class or wild foods program, you could usually skip the student evaluation forms and questionnaires. Participants just 'got the experience' and that was the deal. There wasn't any trolling, or review bombing, because there were no online reviews. You might get a letter, if people felt a certain way about your offering, but often times it was something positive rather than negative.
In 2024, however, outcomes and evaluations matter. We have a lot more opportunities to connect with our students, and understand the class from their perspective, and it's a whole new world.
Quite frankly, it's a much better world.
The simple truth is this: The more we ask, the more we know, and the faster we can get better at what we do.
This episode is a quick dive into understanding the importance of understanding our metrics, gathering data, self evaluations vs outside assessment, setting our own goals and best of all, how they can help make us better educators.
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More from Forest Educator with Ricardo Sierra | A Podcast for Revolutionary Conversations about Nature-Based Education
Today's Forest Educator Spotlight is all about the best-kept secret for Forest Educators: the Natural Advantage. When we implement this three-part framework in our programs, we can have the biggest impact.
Some of my favorite ages to work with are middle schoolers, anywhere from 10-14 years old. Some may say those ages are some of the most challenging, but I really like that age group for so many reasons. I love to help them find their passion and excitement, and to watch them build an inner foundation for themselves and a personal belief that they know who they are, and begin to believe that they can do hard things. In this episode, I'm exploring the different developmental ages and stages during this period of kids' lives and some of my best tips and strategies for working with them effectively. From emotional development, friendship, trust, and self-reflection to skill-building, I hope this episode will help you feel excited about working with this age group, too.
The first rule about 'bonding' is like Fight Club:
The paths we take in our journey as educators are incredibly diverse and unique to each of us. We all have different origins, with mentors, teachers, opportunities and our communities all influencing how we do what we do.
An aspect of nature education that I believe is greatly overlooked is the ability and benefit it gives young people to 'Do Hard Things'. This happens when we learn to climb a steep hill, climb a tree, master carving knife safety or learn to think of others in our groups! It happens when we learn to be safe and respectful about campfires. It happens when we begin our studies in wild foods, birds, animal tracks, trees or bushcraft skills. (This list could be very, very substantial!)