Yesterday was my field trip, which was the first of the 6. I was sooooo nervous, anxious and scared. I could hardly sleep because I was even more afraid of oversleeping and being unprepared. I had packed everything the night before but I was still extremely worried about forgetting something. I had packed:
Hand sanitizers
Toilet paper
Plastic bags and trash bags
Sunscreen
Bug spray
Snacks for the students
A first aid kit
A 5 gallon water jug
Those are all things that I am packing for each teacher like I had just done last night for the next teacher and their students going tomorrow.
I had also packed extra things just to be safe like:
Extra shoes (in case a student had forgot to wear shoes they would have the option to wear my shoes.
Extra socks
An umbrella
Extra hats (for students if they wanted to use one)
and body spray
I was going crazy that morning. I needed to go to the store to get ice for the water jug and also to try to get to school as early as possible to collect students field trip forms because as of 2/22 I only had 18 field trip forms with the $3 for transportation collected...I have 74 students total and I ended up canceling one bus on 2/22 for my field trip because from asking my polling my students, it looked like I would have 30-40 staying behind...This was tough for me given how much work I have put into this field trip but I understand since I had only given out the field trip forms on 2/18 and 2/19 so the students 1-2 days before the field trip to turn in their forms...It is mostly my fault that they had so little time...I should have started this whole process a lot earlier but I just didn't know what I needed to do. I have had a co-planner this whole time who is a close friend of mine but we were not communicating very well for the last few months since we are both so very busy. Also I really misinterpreted how long it would take for teachers to fill out a simple form for me and get it back to me that I ended up hunting most of them down. Each teacher had to have their department head sign a teacher accountability form but I had just told them to turn it into me and I would get it signed for them to save me precious time. Also my co-planner was suppose to secure the buses for each field trip since she gets the buses for all the Math Team Meets. It was not until 2/16 that I finally secured all the buses for the field trips after many many phone calls to Roberts and Grounds as well as all of the teachers going on the field trips and the site coordinator of the Waianae Mountain Watershed Partnership (WMWP).
Anyway back to the field trip. I had collected an additional 13 more field trip forms and so their were a total of 31 students and 4 teachers going on the field trip. I had two teachers in our team staying behind to watch the students that were staying behind. There were about 30 students total that actually stayed behind and there were about 10 that were absent.
I was literally running around like a crazy person that morning collecting forms and money and trying to keep all of that organized while trying to get students to go to the bathroom before we left for the bus. I had one female student that had her form and money but no shoes and she didn't want to wear my shoes so she stayed behind.
It's so strange to be the one that everyone is looking to for answers and for leadership on a field trip. I have never been that person before. I have never had to feel that stress before and OMG it is stressful!
Once we finally got to the bus at around 8:18am when we were scheduled for a 8:20am pickup. Once on the bus I relaxed just a little after confirming my lists and sending in the names of students that were on the field trip to attendance.
However, our bus driver had never been to the Waianae Kai Forest Reserve and once we got the the fork in Waianae Valley Road we both realized that the road we needed to go on was a narrow one way street and our bus driver had scraped a stop sign on her way up that road. I was so glad I was not driving the bus! Nonetheless we made it there! The crew was there to meet us and we were greater with the "hill" that the site coordinator warned us about but it was more like a steep inclined paved road not a little hill. Our students were already complaining! Also they are warned about poop that might be on the road but of course at least one student needed to step on some....
Once we arrived at the site that we were going to be working on we had our introductions and I had one of my most excited students whom is from Waianae present our makana to the WMWP crew. I had gotten them gloves that every group going on the field trip would be giving them gloves as a gift.
We got a brief history of the site and the native plants that have been planted already in the area as well as what Haole Koa and Guinea Grass looked like. They also explained where we were in the ahapuaha and how this area serves as a firebreak and why firebreaks are important and why making a natural firebreak is much more beneficial than a manmade one.
We broke up into two groups to start our work and I was with the group that was moving Haole Koa tree wood about 30-40 feet from the road to the side of the road so that it could be loaded up into trucks later to be made into mulch to naturally suppress weeds around the native plants.
So they created a line and started passing the wood from one student to the other like in the picture below. They worked so hard and I was soo proud of them. Yes there was some explaining, however none of them quit and they were all pretty surprised to see the piles of wood that they had moved in the end. (The picture below is only one of 3 piles of wood that they had moved!)
They were so cute at times, especially when they started naming wood pieces and they wanted to take them home with them...
We switched at about 11:20am after the students had their snack and more water. Then we went to cut down small Haole Koa trees and Guinea Grass. I had been terrified of the thought of some students wielding hand saws but I had absolutely no issues with students acting immaturely with their tools! Another proud teacher moment for me! I was so proud of them for behaving themselves and acting like young adults.
One of the piles of Hale Koa trees and Guinea grass that the students cleared.
I was honestly blown away by how much 31 freshmen/sophomores had accomplished in only 2 hours! I think most of them were surprised as well even though they complained about the heat and having to pee/poop in the forest.
All in all, I am very glad I planned this field trip, even though it has been extremely hard and I am far from done with 5 more field trips to go and I am the main contact if something goes wrong... I am very glad that my students mostly enjoyed the field trip. I think I might do this again next year but I don't know...maybe ask me later like after all the field trips are over...
Here are some reflection responses.
