Final ADV110 Blog

As we discussed in class last week, the process of writing allows for introspection and reflection of experiences in your life. This, in some respects, is perhaps the most important aspect of your coursework for ADV110 in that it allows for you to think about how your experiences relate to you and your goals. This semester you have been assigned various blog/journal assignments covering different aspects of your expeditions. Now is the opportunity to reflect on your experiences as a whole, and consider the influence they have had on you.


Part I

First, please reflect on the "helium stick" activity that we conducted in class last week. What was the purpose of this activity, and what specifically did you learn from it? What was the purpose of the second activity, and what specifically did you learn from it?


Part II

Complete all journal activity assignments you have been assigned throughout the semester so far.


Part III

Think back on all of the experiences you have had this semester (in this course and others). Compose a blog/journal entry that expresses how you feel those experiences have affected you. Address five of the personal growth issues listed below. This should be of significant length (3-5 pages in a word processor) and should show evidence of “deep” reflection, introspection, and transfer of experiences to your everyday life.

Select Five (5) of the Following:

• Doing something I didn’t think I could
• Feeling proud
• Challenging myself
• Asking for help
• Sharing information
• Talking to each other
• Choosing not to participate
• Dealing with frustration
• Putting each other down
• The same people always leading
• Relating to the natural world
• Having a vision
• Looking at a problem in a new way
• Not completing a task
• Complacent about safety
• Not following the rules
• Making a unique contribution
• Trusting
• Working as a team

This final blog is due by the beginning of class on Friday, December 14.

Post AT Processing

I hope you are all recovering from the aches and pains associated with diving in to backpacking on the AT, and trust that you have had an enjoyable holiday. I also hope that you have had some time to think about your experience and share it with someone else, as this sometimes helps to process.

For this blog entry, please simply write about your experience on the AT. Although I have a few various thoughts and questions that I would like you to consider and write about, please try to write your responses in a narrative format rather than using numbered and fragmented partial sentences. As you write, consider the following:

• What were your expectations before the trip?
• How did your actual experience compare?
• What can you learn from this difference or similarity between expectation and experience?
• Re-read your entry on EB, as well as the thoughts on the web pages used as resources. What are the actions you took to model good EB? What did you do that did not contribute to good EB? Comment on how incorporating these behaviors into your every-day routine could impact your life.
• How do you feel you performed physically?
• What factors contributed to your performance?
• What could you do to allow you to perform better next time?
• Describe how well you thought did with food planning. What were challenges you faced? Did you bring enough food? Too much food? The right kinds of food? What would you do different next time? What did you learn?
• Comment on how you thought you did with packing and loading your packs. Did you discover an efficient system? Did your packing become more efficient each time you packed? What did you learn?
• Comment on how comfortable you were during this experience. What were some strategies you learned and used to keep warm - both during the day and at night?
• Was there a moment (or moments) when you felt like you weren't having "fun"? Describe them and how you got through them.
• Finally, comment on how incorporating what you learned from this experience into your every-day routine could impact your life - both professionally and personally.

Pyrofest Reflection / EB

This blog will contain two parts:

Part I

During my travels today I have had a little time to reflect on our pyrofest experience.

As you know, most of us (Zack is the exception - well done, Zack!) did not start a fire. This has caused me to re-evaluate the way in which I view this activity. I consider the environmental conditions under which we attempted to pull this off to be quite challenging. Aside from this, I feel that I did not provide the instructional support that could have given you a better chance at "succeeding". Instead of giving this project the instructional time and attention you all deserve, I attempted to squeeze it in between our sailing trip and my professional development agenda. I apologize for this - we will revisit this project in the future, albeit in a less formal venue.

Having said all this, I nonetheless feel that this experience has (as all do) given rise to an opportunity to reflect and learn. I would like you to consider and answer the following questions regarding our experience:

1. What was the objective of the Pyrofest activity?
2. Was it accomplished?
3. What are three factors that prevented you from completing (or allowed you to complete - Zack) the task?
4. Would you call what happened a "failure"? Why or Why not?
5. Explain your feelings about not finishing.
6. Were you ready for this task?
7. Was it too difficult? Explain.
8. While the objective of Pyrofest may have been to complete a specific objective, what is the primary goal of the entire program?
9. If you now consider the overriding goal of the program, was Pyrofest a "failure"? Why or why not?
10. Is it possible to actually complete an assigned task, but still fail? Explain.
11. Is it possible to not complete a task, but consider the effort worthwhile? Explain.
12. If you were to do this task over again, what would you do differently?
13. Identify another task in your life you have left unfinished.


Part II

As we prepare to head out on the Appalachian Trail, I would like you to consider the term "expedition behavior" or "EB" for short. Visit the following web sites and read how they define EB:

http://recparks.asp.radford.edu/faculty/behavior.htm

http://www.nols.edu/alumni/leader/06summer/expedition_behavior.shtml

Please list five (5) things that you could do (or not do) while on our backpacking trip that could contribute to (or detract from) good EB.

Sailing Expedition Reflection

I hope you enjoyed your sailing experience as much as I did, and that your experience aboard has provided you with some insight into what the schooner and windjammer industry is like in Maine.

For this expedition, your formal focus for ADV110 was your menu and food preparation for a group. This was one of three group cooking experiences you will have this year. For this blog, please review the goals we listed (see below) and spend some time thinking about the following questions before writing. As I mentioned to you earlier, I am expecting to see evidence of quality time reflecting and writing about your cooking experience.


Goals:

• nutritious
• withstand limited refrigeration
• tastes good
• easy to prepare
• sanitary preparation
• offers variety
• $8 pppd
• theme
• nice presentation

In this blog, please address the following questions:

Planning

• How well did your recipes address your goals? Identify those goals accomplished, and those that could be better addressed next time.
• How well did your shopping list reflect what you actually purchased?

Preparation

• Comment on the quality of your meals.
• How could you prepare the meals differently in the future that might better achieve your goals? Consider everything from purchasing ingredients and repackaging to packing and cooking.
• Did both members of your group have equal responsibility in the preparation? Why or why not?

Presentation

• Were your meals well presented?
• What extra steps did you take to provide an appealing presentation?
• How did you incorporate your theme into your presentation?

And finally, reflect upon your sailing experience on the Haley and Matthew. Address the following:

• How did this experience live up to the expectations you identified last week?
• What were the high points of the trip? What were the low points?
• How do you feel about your nautical navigation skills after this experience?
• Compare sailing the Haley and Matthew to sailing the Flying Junior dinghies.
• What is your impression of the schooner and windjammer tourism industry here in Maine?
• How do you think you performed individually on the expedition? How do you think you performed as a group?

We will discuss some of these in class on Thursday, Nov. 1 from 1:00 to 4:00.

Sailing Expedition

As we continue preparing for our sailing expedition, consider and comment on two specific items:

1. Think about a meal that you would describe as an excellent experience.

• Describe this meal
• Identify what made this meal exceptional (i.e. the atmosphere, the company, the food, the presentation, the situation, etc.)
• Explain how you could incorporate aspects of your exceptional dining experience into your meal preparation while on our sailing expedition.

2. What expectations do you have of this sailing expedition? Describe what you think it will be like during a typical day on board, and identify what aspects of the experience you are looking foward to, and what aspects you are concerned about.

Backcountry Food Prep and Disease

As you have learned of various potential health hazards related to food preparation in the backcountry, hopefully you have become aware of the importance of hygene while working and preparing food in the field. As we finish our backcountry disease presentations and begin focusing on food preparation, I would like you to comment on the following:

1. Identify three strategies you will include in your planning for our sailing expedition to reduce the potential for transferrence of disease while on our trip.

2. What was (or what do you think will be, if you haven't yet presented) the most difficult part of presenting your lesson? How will you overcome this challenge the next time you present? (Oooh, yes, that's right - there will be a next time!)

Again, be sure to use spell and grammar check, and use complete sentences and paragraph structure.

Backcountry Disease Presentations

As we discussed in last week’s class, engaging your audience can mean the difference between an effective presentation and a boring and disinterested audience. As you prepare for your backcountry disease presentations,

1. Think about and describe a situation in which you were in the audience and you were engaged, interested and became excited by a presenter or presentation. Describe why you think you were engaged – what made it interesting to you?

2. Research some techniques that can be used to engage your audience. List the techniques we discussed in class as well as three others that you find in your research.

3. Explain how your presentation is coming along so far and the steps you have been taking in planning.

Leadership

I very much enjoyed interacting with you all while on our sea kayak expedition. As I reflect upon our experience, I am reminded particularly of your observations and your comments relating to the leadership component of your trip.

In his book Outdoor Leadership, John Graham writes:

“Leadership is not a science to be picked up in one book or course, but an art to be learned over time.”

For this week's blog, please consider and answer the following questions:

1. What do you think John Graham means by this quote, and
2. How do you think this applies to your experiences of this past weekend?

Wilderness Discussion Reflection

Our discussion in class last week around the concept of wilderness brought up several interesting points about how we perceive wilderness. Particularly, there were three points I would like you to think about and comment on for this week's blog:

1. How do you feel about the U.S. government's initiative to remove people from designated wilderness areas? Was this necessary to achieve the goals set forth by the Wilderness Act of 1964?

2. The act's definition of wilderness is one that does not include human intervention:

A wilderness, in contrast with those areas where man and his own works dominate the landscape, is hereby recognized as an area where the earth and its community of life are untrammeled by man, where man himself is a visitor who does not remain. An area of wilderness is further defined to mean in this chapter an area of undeveloped Federal land retaining its primeval character and influence, without permanent improvements or human habitation, which is protected and managed so as to preserve its natural conditions and which (1) generally appears to have been affected primarily by the forces of nature, with the imprint of man's work substantially unnoticeable; (2) has outstanding opportunities for solitude or a primitive and unconfined type of recreation...

Is it possible for humans to visit wilderness and leave it "untrammeled"? Why or why not?


3. What level of intervention should humans play in managing forest fires within wilderness areas?

Please comment on these three points using one paragraph for each point. Remember to use spell and grammar checks and use proper punctuation.

Wilderness

Next week we will be departing on our first expedition: a four-day sea kayak trip. As we prepare for this experience, I would like you to think about what is "wilderness". For this blog, I would like you to:

1. Visit and read about wilderness at wilderness.net
2. Post a blog entry that includes your summary definition of wilderness (do not copy & paste!).
3. Post a one-paragraph statement with your reaction to the following quote about wilderness. Include if you agree or disagree with this point of view and why.

We did not think of the great open plains, the beautiful rolling hills, and winding streams with tangled growth, as “wild.” Only to the white man was nature a “wilderness” and only to him was the land “infested” with “wild animals” and “savage” people. To us it was tame. Earth was bountiful and we were surrounded with the blessings of the Great Mystery. —Chief Luther Standing Bear, of the Oglala band of Sioux.

Again, be sure to use a word processor to spell and grammar check before posting and to post using your first name. This post is due before 9:00 am class on Friday, Sept. 14.

Blog Discussion for Week 1

This week, you've had a short introduction to this course through photographs and discussion in class. You've also received a number of assignments including your emergency kit, current events, and blog assignments.

For this first blog entry, I would like you to think about and answer the following:

1. What do you think this program is really all about?
2. What specifically do you hope to learn from being in this program?

Your response should be no less than one paragraph for each question (one paragraph is 4-5 sentences of logical and connected writing). Remember to compose your answers in a word processor and use spell and grammar check before copying and pasting into the blog comment box. Your response should be posted before class on Friday, September 7.

First Blog

Welcome to your weblog page. You will be responsible for checking in here once each week to read and comment on the current blog topic.