Practitioner Challenge Course Field Work

Wednesday, March 17, 2010
After spending Monday and Tuesday planning our field work for the GHS Collaborative Education Group (same group we had for canoeing with an unplanned capsize in the fall), today we put it all together. We is me, Ian, Joe, Kristi, and Marc and we met at 8 am and set up the course. We were asked to work on team and trust building with the group so chose our games and initiatives for that purpose.

The group of 9, plus their teacher Ms. Mount, arrived at 9:15 am and we started with the Warp Speed name game. Marc filled in because Ian wasn't feeling well and eventually went home. Joe presented the introduction to the day and got the group to talk about goals and to share personal goals with a partner. Tony told me that he came here to have fun and to do all the elements, especially the Giant Swing. I broke the news that we weren't running the GS but that we were running the Cat Walk and the Multi-Vine. (Logistically it worked best for us since they were next to each other.)  We also let them know that Beth would be observing us as students and taking notes for our evaluations.

I ran the "Wolf Pack" energizer game and my goal was to get them to let loose and howl from their bellies. It took some doing but some of them slowly let the "too cool" factor go and howled. They also began to communicate and strategize. Then I talked about the 5 Finger Contract, a value contract that they will abide by while they are together. I took heat in my eval for making everyone wonder where I was going with discussion of the middle finger of the contract! Kristi talked about safety and Challenge By Choice--you choose your goals but your goals should always move you out of your comfort zone. That is where you find your growth, here and in life. You may not walk the Catwalk but there are other ways to participate as back-up belayers and anchors. They all rotate and take turns. Kristi and I did a spotting demo and when we had students practice, at least one student owned that he didn't feel comfortable falling back, even though it was more like a 2" lean, "because I have trust issues." Good that he knew it and stated it.

Marc led the Trolley initiative which took some doing though Amanda proved a good leader and held her own when the boys started blaming her for failures. With some communicating and good debriefing, including input from Beth, we headed up to the low ropes doing a Trust Walk on the route. The Trust Walk required one person to close their eyes and trust their partner to lead them verbally up the path. The group was warned that this was not a time for practical jokes but was a time to develop trustworthiness and get their partner there safely and comfortably. We had them switch roles half way up. It seemed to work well except for the two girls in the group who wore sunglasses, pretended to close their eyes and would periodically say watch out for the branch. Kristi busted them sweetly.

We arrived at the low ropes and Joe led the Log Walk initiative. Ian was supposed to lead the Lord of the Rings element but since he wasn't with us and we were running behind schedule, we talked amongst ourselves and decided to skip that piece and have lunch at the shed. The students knew they were headed to the high ropes at some point and did well all morning to stick with us as we prepped them in proper sequence for the challenges and promptings of the team and trust building.

Now it's time for the high ropes. Marc showed them how to put on helmets and harnesses and then the group split up according to interest. Kristi and I ran the Cat Walk and Marc and Joe ran the Multi-Vine. We took turns belaying, going through the safety check with the climber and making sure that we had a student anchor, back-up belayer, and ladder spotter. Miss Mount was the first to walk the Cat Walk and then she spent time taking pictures and cheering on her students. Both elements have a shared end point so students started waiting for each other to High 5 before belaying down. It took some doing for a few of them because they had to reach out to each other rather than hold on to their rope.

One of the times I belayed, the climber was heavier than me and as I belayed him to the ground, I could feel myself rise to my toes and then lift off the ground. I was looking around for my anchor who had become distracted and had let go of my harness. Called back to duty, he saw the necessity and purpose for his job as he pulled me back to the ground.

The best part of the day is supporting the kids so they are willing to take the calculated risk and move out of their comfort zones. I could identify with anyone who felt fearful about climbing and walking the beam. I watched Beth work with one student who wanted to go but was terrified of heights and I found it a thing of beauty. She is so accomplished at what she does. Arm over his shoulder, she kept asking "What are you afraid of?" Finally they got to the crux--dying. She took him from that acknowledgment to the reasoning of knowing that the gear is all safe. He will be safe because we have double checked everything. Then she talked about his butterflies. "You won't get rid of the butterflies in your stomach but you can make them fly in formation." Mind over fear. His choice. He climbed the ladder almost completely. It was a huge step for him. One student was comfortable enough that I suggested he walk back to the start and do it again. Then I suggested he do it with his eyes closed. Finding the ways to challenge someone so that they feel accomplishment is the goal.

Finally we had a debrief with the students to determine what they thought of their day. Did they see ways in which they had built a team and trust with each other? Did they challenge themselves by choice? They appeared to be psyched by the day so we'll take that as success. After finishing short evaluations the group headed out.

We broke down the course while Beth finished her evaluations and then she had us debrief as the instructor group. We started by reading the evaluations from the group and everyone seemed pretty happy with their experience.  She then threw out 3 pads; Go, Slow, Stop and we had to give self-feedback and hear group feedback. Kristi went first, then Joe, Marc, and me. Giving criticism, no matter how constructive, is always a big challenge for me. I don't do it well and it's one of my hardest learnings given that I grew up on, "If you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all." A late bloomer in processing, I had to do it today because there were issues between me and one of my co-leaders and there was no way around or out of it. We had started a conversation in the morning to try to mend things but got interrupted and never finished. The class as a whole has run into issues in the planning process which is inherently challenging for most of us. We all want to learn, do our best, and contribute but many of us usually feel that hasn't happened and correcting it has been a common goal for the next trip or field work planning. But with so many people with similar goals and so little time, it's a challenge. And, when I get frustrated I tend to shut down which is not productive for anyone. In this case, we were both triggering something in each other and other things came up during the day so it needed airing. Beth was very helpful in getting us through it. She suggested we keep working on it because we both have something to teach each other. A friend told me to think of this person as my Buddha. . . my teacher. That may carry us and help us to keep perspective and lightness to our learning rather than get mired in the muck. We talked the next day about how we feel triggered and why--who we are reminded of. That part of the conversation was successful. Some of it seemed like we just spun in circles and at some point you need to just pull out of the station and move on. I appreciated the acknowledgment that we like each other personally and that it's an issue around working together. That's important to remember along with the awareness of why we feel triggered.

The learning continues.