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Nature's Classroom Institute
by Geoffrey E. Bishop
Geoffrey E. Bishop is executive director and founder of Nature's Classroom Institute and Nature's Classroom Montessori School in USA. An environmental educator and a photographer, he believes that students needed more than a typical classroom could offer them. He is the recipient of the 2002 Non-Formal Educator of the Year Award from the Wisconsin Association for Environmental Education. He can be contacted at Nature's Classroom, P.O. Box 660, Mukwonago, WI 53149, (800) 574-7881
It's Tuesday, during the second week in November, the air is brisk, the sun rays are beaming down, the sky is solid blue, a few clouds drift on by. And this isn't even the best part of the day... There are children ages 3 years to 14 years scattered about in a beautiful pocket in Wisconsin, and they are learning! I don't mean just absorbing what is in a book, or trying to work out what are seven times eight for the hundredth time; or being hypnotized by a computer game. I mean learning to survive as part of a team in the woods, dissecting a pig, writing poetry by the lake, building a Geodome, collecting eggs from the chicken house, building a solar cell, enacting the Underground Railroad or becoming a homeless person and experiencing a day in the life.
D.H. Lawrence once said that "Water is H2O, hydrogen two parts, oxygen one, but there is also a third thing that makes it water that nobody knows what it is." David Orr described this quote as "It is magic, the kind that can only be found in nature, life and human possibilities once we are open to them. What is captured in the images that follow is the kind of education that takes young people out of the classroom to encounter the mystery of the third thing. This is what Rachel Carson described as 'A sense of wonder'.
This is Nature's Classroom Institute, a small private educational setting on 400 beautiful acres in south-eastern Wisconsin. As you drive down the long driveway you emerge from a pine wood into a beautiful prairie alive with insects, flowers and yes, deer. As the school opens up you are able to leave the world behind and enter into a space made for children. There are two distinctive programs that operate here, one is the residential environmental program and the other is a Montessori day school, both unique in their mission, targeting different audiences, but sharing the richness of the environment for learning.
The Montessori Day School
Our Montessori school gives students in the local community the opportunity to learn in a rich and socially responsible environment. The vision for this school is based on the idea that real learning comes from the heart, and an innate curiosity, a need to know. Our connection to the environment is the catalyst to the spark the awakening of that need. In using the environment as a jumping post to teach all subjects, we are able to draw out of the student a desire to move ahead, to inspire independence, self discipline and to motivate them to develop to their full potential for success in productive and intelligent lives.
The curriculum follows the seasons. So learning about animal behavior is conducted in the winter when the students can put on winter coats mittens and hats and follow the tracts of the fox as he makes his evening walk around his boundary, or the study of the leaf will be conducted in the fall when so much is happening in the woods with the colours and the falling of leaves. Spring is a great time to study the wetlands as the spring peepers are the first to start the spring chorus, or September when the bees start their frantic race to store food for winter.
All the seasons are used to inspire creative writing or to spend a little time at your "listening point" - that special spot chosen by each student as their own quiet spot to relax and to reflect on the world. Math problems come alive with the use of a compass or the geometry of a geodome when built out of logs. This puts a whole new perspective on Pythagoras theorem.
Friday morning is "coffee and scram" our 100% student run coffee shop. They sell wonderful shade grown coffee, baked goods they made on Thursday and wheat grass shots using the wheat grass they grow at the farm. All this, while learning about money, staff management, and responsibility of product control. Sounds like some one I would like to hire! Wednesday is climbing; a self challenge on an ABBY certified indoor and outdoor climbing wall. Each student has the opportunity to climb at their own skill, but pushing themselves to go higher each time. This builds confidence, self assurance and physical agility all under the umbrella of support and encouragement from their fellow classmates.
Each day various students are at the farm - a fully working and production farm raising chickens for eggs that are used in our commercial dining room and vegetables in the organic and biodynamic garden. The students save scraps from their meals that are added to the droppings. This and the straw from the goat and chicken house provide 100% of the nutritional additive in the compost for our garden. While working on the farm students appreciate the work and love that goes into the production of quality food and have a deeper understanding of the cycles of life.
Problem solving and group initiative team building challenges are part of the daily routine here at Nature's Classroom. Our students are constantly challenged to solve problems; from a disagreement in the Elementary classroom or "how to share", in our Children's House program (ages 3-6 years). Teachers do not solve problems instead they facilitate the students to critically think about the situations that they are in and find solutions that help the community as well as themselves. In constantly reminding our students that they are part of a whole community we are adding a layer of trust and a feeling that our students truly belong. This school is an extension of their home and the teachers are an integral part of a child's life.
The Environmental Education Program
Our Environmental Education (EE) program gives students from all over the Midwest of the United States an opportunity to spend a week immersed in what could only be described as a rich alternative style of education.
In the EE program students are required to sleep over for five days, taking the familiarity of home life and interjecting a whole new set of social norms. Not the least of which is community living. The students get up on their own each day and take care of personal hygiene, setting the table for meals, preparing themselves to be outside in all weather - winter freezing temperatures or September rains. In doing this, the students are learning the basic skills of independence, respect and gaining the support of their fellow classmates through shared experiences. The students who participate in our EE program for one week out of their school year, still leave with a sense of ownership and pride in a place they call their own. As our students get older and return year after year the challenges of looking after themselves will get harder, with less adult input and more onus and responsibility on the student. The challenges will get harder both physically and emotionally, preparing each child at their own pace to be able to handle the stress and events in their lives that inevitably will come up.
Nature as inspiration
The inspiration for this school came from my own educational experiences, which could be described as archaic with moments of inspiration. I can remember the inspiring teachers: my kindergarten teacher, my dorm master in 8th grade and a history teacher. Each of these people took the time to make me feel that I was able to do anything and that my skills were valuable even though I may have been lacking in many of my academic pursuits. They drew out of me the desire to learn, the hunger for knowledge and the inspiration to do my very best. It was these few people in my many years in formal education that inspired me to give my students this experience for their education. I believe that each person on this planet is the very best at something. Not one of us is ordinary, but unfortunately most people never get the opportunity or allow themselves the opportunity to find what they are good at. They have allowed themselves, society and those around them to limit their world and accept mediocrity as their lot. I do not want that for our children. The more we experience of life the more we are truly able to understand ourselves and the role we play in creating our community.
Our school is eleven years old, young in comparison to many. But what we have been able to achieve in these short years has been remarkable. Our staff is dedicated to the enrichment of our children and the quality of the educational experience. Our classrooms are full of glass windows drawing the students into the natural world, each and every time they look up, a bird, or a butterfly will emphasize life, and give students a respect and love for the natural world and a responsibility for the part that they play in it. Our teaching staff focuses on an academic curriculum that allows for individual growth, and interests; yet adheres to a strict academic standard and accountability. Each student must find their own inspiration for study and many find it through the natural world.
Nature's Classroom is a living laboratory for education, where students are seen as individuals, decision makers and an integral part of the whole community. Nature's Classroom is where education is inspired through the outdoor environment, not just through books or media but through real life experiences each and every day of their lives. Our teachers inspire in students a desire to seek knowledge and become an important member of the extended community. Nature's Classroom has taken a dream of a better education and made it a reality by using each day to enrich our student's lives and give them the respect and encouragement in the true Socratic tradition.
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