surprise education

smiling to myself on the way home from an afternoon with kids, i thought about how excited environmental education can make me. there are not too many other forms of education in which a lesson can completely change paths due to the surroundings. the number of times a bug, plant, animal, cloud (the list goes on and on) has forced me to alter a lesson is unimaginable. and today, this rather large turtle did just that.

sitting in a clearing crouched over our water samples to identify some macro-invertebrates, someone noticed this guy making his way across the grass. soon we were crowded around him discussing anything and everything about turtles.

so as i continue my adventures in environmental ed, i secretly pray for interruptions in the form of all things natural. because life is unexpected, so why shouldn't education be the same.