Have you considered joining the Twitterverse?

Jay Roberts from the Outdoor Ed community made a great 'blog post about why Twitter can be a good thing for development and ongoing discourse in your area of study (Why you should care about "twittering" April 21 2009).

The experiential/outdoor field cannot be resistant to technology (in fact, any cursory look at the latest gear shows that we are in fact quite the opposite). Yet, sometimes, we get caught in the mindset that computer-based technology somehow diminishes the Good life [I have been to conference sessions on Millenials, my generation, where all they seem to do is demonize our love of tech! -L]. This is not necessarily so. In fact, used properly, places like outdoored.com, blogs, and yes... twitter can advance the field by more effectively and efficiently linking communities of interest in ways we couldn't have dreamed of even 10 years ago.

I've already used Twitter to network with folks who used #tristate09 as a tag during the American Camping Association conference in Atlantic City a couple months ago. You can also follow conferences you might not be at, like I did #aeene09. Not only do these give another dimension to conferences, allowing you to ask about presentations you are unsure about, they also often lead to Tweet-ups--that is, physical getting-together in meatspace. And a big reason I go to conferences as a new professional are to network.

Since I moved to rural Jersey because that's where the work was, Twitter also helps me stay in touch with my twin sister (who does geology field work in southern California) and my friends from school. It helps us know what one another are up to, helps me show and tell exactly what I do sometimes.

• 06:27 Hopping in the shower then setting up the dam rappel to do with my participants from Harlem. These 8th graders are AWE-some!
• 15:44 Blogging and processing my last program, then tackling to-do list.
  
  
• 20:42 Reading a little Backpackers Field Guide by Rick Curtis and pondering how I want to condition over the next 14 days for leading participants.
  
  
• 14:28 Is getting really excited--spring facilitation rush starts tomorrow! #youthworker Will be fantastic to get facilitating again.
  
  
• 21:45 Check out this massive common snapping turtle we saw! She must have been 20" JUST shell! tinyurl.com/20inchsnapper Huge pic I took

Thanks Jay for making a thoughtful post on Twitter for Outdoor Ed. Using Twitter does not have to be a timesuck and distraction, used intentionally (and we are all about intentionality as facilitators) it can be a valuable new forum for the exchange of information and coming together of people.

You can follow me on Twitter at www.twitter.com/ElleasinSwell

Preparing to co-lead my 1st expedition

It was brought to my attention that I have just 14 days until I am scheduled to go on my first expedition with participants.

I should explain that my first backpacking trip in my entire life was in April (I think?), and due to lots of different things, I felt a little traumatized post-trip. This facilitator is feeling much better at this point, but that debrief was a pretty excruciating one to get through. Hiking on the AT with snow on the ground was very physically challenging for me. Since I left school in Baltimore, I drive everywhere except when I'm at work, I sold my 3 speed Schwinn Collegiate. My climbing punch pass ran out.

The most important thing that I learned on that trip right now is that I'm not in backpacking condition.

I just printed the trip plan, which is .5 mile the first day, 4 miles the second, and 2.4 miles the third (or opposite, two groups are going opposing directions.)

I'm not in backpacking condition yet. I also wasn't in condition last summer the first time I attempted to qualify for lifeguarding by attempting the 550. But today, after working at it a little, I can do my 550 (even though I hate it, the entire time) in under 40 minutes.

So, I have 5 days off till we take these 6th graders on-trail. (You can see in the upper left-hand corner my days off--the 30th, 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 11th. You know, right next to the diagram of How To Solve Elephant's Graveyard.) The 4th is my last class in Baltimore to complete my BFA. Tomorrow I am planting my garden with my co-worker.

It is my goal to get in hiking with a loaded pack on as much as possible between now and the 12th, however I can do that and still feel rested and ready for my participants.

• On the 30th, when I have off, I will grab a pack from my friendly local Resource Coordinator and load it up with our super-non-ultralite gear, so that I can wear it hiking around property with my kids, and practice my packing and unpacking. I'll get help adjusting the base-model Leki poles I have borrowed to help save my genetically inferior knees and get used to using those.
• On the 3rd, I will hike the 2.4 mile section of the Appalachian Trail with a partially-loaded pack and poles.
  
• After work on the 2nd I will rock out a few/couple miles which include the .5 mile section that is the first/last day of the trip, again with a loaded pack.
• On the 11th, I'm going to hike the longest day we have on the AT, the 4 mile day, with a fully loaded pack.
• If I can get in an overnight on the AT with a co-worker on the end of any one of these days, I'll do that.
• As much as I can hike with my co-workers and get tips on my form, facilitating on backpacking expedition, etc., I will do that.
  

I'm going to be relying a lot on the expertise of others, but I want to feel confident in my own pace and form so I can help my co-workers take care of our participants. I don't want to feel like a participant on our trip. And I'd be crazy not to use my colleagues for all they are worth in order to condition myself over the next two weeks, whether that's rides to trail heads, as hiking partners, or general butt-kickers.

My work environment also creates a good opportunity in that I'm definitely in a place where moseying around property with a pack on won't look as strange as, say, moseying around downtown Baltimore with a pack on. It's something to think about, for sure.

Analog Tag Cloud

Above you can see me working out the "tags" that I'm using to categorize information in my sketchbook (Moleskine "Cahier" XL kraft cover, whut whut!). This way, when I start typing to categorize, tags will pop up in my "labels" section.

Dumb Goals

These are goals in the format originally set out by my supervisor, i.e. not a ton of structure. And they are OK goals, in general. For my annual performance assessment (now that I'm 10 months in) I am re-hashing my goals to be SMART goals. That is, specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and timely.

Which I have taught about 4 times in-school at urban programs to students, and yet didn't employ in making my own goals. Improved goals coming up next!

My Goals, pre-SMART-ing

• Maintain work-life balance.
• Qualify for lifeguarding in June 2009 by completing the 550 in Bass Lake, and then complete the lifeguarding certification course and test.
• Become more aware of and work to improve professionalism in communication (appropriate, efficient, and helpful) and dress.
• Managing time efficiently and better prioritizing tasks, especially during Area Work Days.
• Become a better facilitator through asking for and receiving feedback.
• Become more accountable for my gear.

On feedback (or, How I Like Feedback)

Even though I know in my head that feedback is a gift, an opportunity for growth, I still find it challenging to hear it and not take it personally. They aren't criticizing me, they are giving me information about behaviors and actions, which are changeable.

One thing that my organization does to make the feedback process easier is everyone has a document on our shared drive that describes how you like feedback. For me it makes giving feedback to others in my org simpler; I'm not engaging in a power struggle, things aren't getting personal, feedback is still constructive, caring, timely, clear and concise. The cool thing about them being virtual is no paper waste, and you can change them whenever you realize "Oh, that's not working for me." Pretty cool, really.

Of course, my style isn't always going to be able to be met by my supervisors or colleagues, but they definitely show they care when they give it how I like it.

How I Like Feedback

• Let me know you have feedback for me and ask if the present is a good time to have that conversation.
• I like to receive feedback in a neutral location that is neither mine nor yours.
• I like to be able to process your feedback by seeing it, so receiving it in written form is preferred. Or realizing it may take some time for me to process and allowing me the time to do so as we meet would be appreciated.
• Seek to understand me first, then to be understood by me.
• Give specific examples in your feedback.
• I like to meet about delta feedback a second time after I have had time to process the information (a few days) as opposed to come up with solutions right away.

What instruments have you and your organization found to aid in the feedback process?

Program Reflection Questions

For me, I process a lot with writing. This 'blog is going to help me tag and track my reflections and goals, and I think this is a better version of the self-processing questions I came up with for myself a couple of weeks ago.

Programs sometimes are here for one or two nights, I can work two or three programs in a work week, and I want to be able to look back on what my struggles and strengths are right now in 3 months, 6 months, 2 years. Hopefully, these questions are a little better a way to debrief each program. I write notes longhand at the program debrief, then process as I type them up, adding and editing as I go along.

In 140 characters or less, describe this program, population, and their goals in bringing their group to our facility.

What did you like or enjoy about your group?

What were the soft facilitation skills you feel you did well?

What new technical facilitation skills did you learn?

What activities did you do that were new to you during the program?

What were challenges you encountered while facilitating this group?

What did you learn from the last program that you wanted to apply to this program? Were you successful?

What feedback from participants, co-workers or chaperones did you receive that you would like to remember?

How can you apply what you learned during this program next time? (What groups might it be applicable to?)

The post in which I introduce myself

My name is Lindsay and I facilitate youth and adults in experiential education activities and initiatives.

I've worked a couple of camp jobs during the summers I was in college, and spent my school year in Baltimore, MD. I was looking for residence-life kinds of jobs during the spring of my Senior year at the Maryland Institute College of Art when my current position sort-of found me (albeit through a higheredjobs.com job alert that I set).

The small non-profit I work for is attached to a good-sized University, but our staff is small, about 10 of us during the year at the campus office, and another 8 or so in our administrative headquarters. It's an intimate workplace, and I really like that.

I got the job the day after my commencement ceremony in Baltimore last June. The move to New Jersey was good to me, "nothin' like a little intentional community," as the super would say. Ten months in, I've learned a whole lot, and the more I learn the more I realize I don't know.

In order to better track my facilitation goals and progress I make towards them, I'm writing this 'blog for myself and my direct supervisor. However, if any other experiential education facilitators out there can learn from my mistakes and my learning, that would make me feel pretty great, too. Here's what this 'blog is for:

• Track progress on goals
• Process programs by debreifing myself in the below form in order to get the most learning out of my experiences
  
• Share facilitation techniques and lessons learned

Program Processing

In less than 140 characters, describe this program and its' goals.

What did you like or enjoy about this group?

Are there any facilitation skills you feel you did particularly well?

What did you learn from the last program that you wanted to apply to this program?

Were you successful?

What did you learn from this program and give one example on how you will implement that on the next program.