Before my lesson, I was a little nervous. Teaching a whole classroom on my own! Oh man! Looking back, I am not even sure why I worried though. The students were so excited about the lessons and so willing to learn. Every day they would run up to us walking in and ask,
“So, what are we going to do today? Are we going outside?”
During my own lesson, the students ran around—swimming downstream and fighting their way upstream as salmon. It was crazy! But teaching can often be that way, I think. Sometimes you just have to go for it and the results can be amazing! I learned that even in stressful situations sometimes all you need is a little confidence in yourself! The funny thing is my students had to teach me this. Watching them laughing, running about, and enjoying learning about salmon gave me all the confidence I needed. Thus, even though it was chaotic, afterward, the students demonstrated that they gained so much and were able to tell me all the parts of the salmon cycle. I would say, “What is the first stage?” and they could call out, “EGGS!” And “What comes next?” and they would say, “Alevins, Fry, Migration….etc”. And they were even able to determine the points in the salmon life cycle where dams caused the most problems.
One of the most memorable moments for me was on Friday, the last day of teaching. We told the students that every single one of them was a scientist. Each was awarded their very own certificates of completion. Their faces lit up and some of them even fist pumped the air! They were so proud to be called scientists and we were so proud of them as well! I went into Pipeline hoping to teach my students and to empower them to get excited about environmental science. Except, I think the reverse happened. Seeing their own passion and happiness really invigorated my own excitement for studying nature. It is so important to always have a childlike mentality, even as an adult in college! To always look at the world with a sense of wonder and awe. So, maybe I went to Bridgeport to teach, but what I learned was so, so, so much greater.
I have never been to Bridgeport before. I could barely tell you where it is on a map before I spent my week there. It is such a tiny little town full of apple orchards and right on the Columbia River. During the week, my team and I got to meet so many wonderful people and learn about the community. One night, we even went out to dinner with Ms. Johnson, a 5th grade teacher at Bridgeport Elementary. Talking with her taught us about the social dynamics in Bridgeport and the struggles many students face at home and in-school. My Bridgeport Team also had the opportunity to speak with the High School and Middle School students in the district as well. I saw the determination of these students in the elementary school, where we taught, all the way into the high school classes. However, I think a difficulty in Bridgeport is that sometimes that determination and will to learn is not valued within the community. I hope that our week long stint taught the kids that there is life outside their hometown and that college can be a whole lot fun! What I witnessed in Bridgeport were a group of students that had the passion, the intelligence, and the drive to change the world and to accomplish whatever they set their minds to!
-Emma Relei