Hello Class!
For your final blog post, please reflect on your break and how that has impacted your future thoughts and actions. Rather than discuss your group members, please reflect upon the nonprofit you worked with and the work that you did.
Let us know if you have any questions!
After working at Playworks for the week, I now better understand the importance of encouraging children to move around during recess time. I remember in my grade school, a lot of kids (mostly girls) would stand around or sit on the blacktop during recess instead of running around or playing games. Children who live in low-income areas are less likely to participate in extra curricular sports leagues because those cost extra money for their families, so running around at recess and during gym class are especially important. I also understand why Playworks thinks it is important to have structured play for elementary-aged students. The children need an adult figure to teach them how to follow the rules and how to resolve conflict. Some critics think this is another way to monitor children’s behavior at all times, but children never truly learn how to play well with others, so this is their chance. Having an adult to play with the kids also shows them that there is no age limit on being energetic and enjoying physical activity.
ReplyDeleteI am also more aware of how prevalent bullying can be on playgrounds. This is another issue that was definitely present on my elementary school playground, but I had never thought of it until I began researching more about Playworks. Playworks doesn’t necessarily work to prevent bullying, but they do have testimonies from teachers and principals stating that since Playworks entered their schools, the cases of playground bullying have been significantly decreased. After playing with the children in the Playworks schools for a week, I have looked into programs that Lawrence Parks and Recreation offers similar to Playworks, and have found quite a few opportunities. I hope to continue my involvement in a program with a similar mission to keep kids in Lawrence moving and active!
Aside from learning more about working with children, I also learned more games and ice breakers that can be played in group settings to get adults moving, too. I realize that adults have more control over their levels of physical activity, but even doing ice breakers that require activity are fun and get the group moving around. Now that I am back at KU, I hope to incorporate some of the games and ice breakers I learned in Denver into my involvement on campus to help with teamwork and group dynamics.
I participated in the Big Bend National Park alternative break. The majority of the week was spent on the project titled “Grasslands not Badlands.” The purpose of this project was to help restore some native grasses to an area of land that has been heavily affected by droughts and other issues. The main issue we were trying to solve, other then growing the grass, was how to get the soil to the condition that it was needed to actively grow vegetation. The soil was extremely soft, but unable to rapidly absorb water so not only did it easily blow away with heavy winds but was washed away with heavy rain. We spent a large amount of time digging up the dirt and planting seed. After covering a large area of land, especially around areas where water was causing ditches, we covered the area in brush that was recycled from other restoration projects. The brush served as a barrier from the overbearing sun, and as an object the water could accumulate on, and flow down into the soil. We also participated in two other projects. The first was the trimming of Willow trees. After we had helped cut them and trim of the branches, they would be placed in the Rio Grande to help regrow them, then they would be placed in areas of the park that had low vegetation growth rates. The last project was simply removing old telephone cable from the landscape. This was not particularly a difficult or time sensitive job, but it was something that required a lot of man power, and we were able to get almost all of the cable from one side of the mountain in a single afternoon. Big Bend in itself is a pretty large organization, that preforms hundreds of jobs in the park. They work with not only vegetation restoration, but the preservation of other natural resources like the mountains, canyons, and the Rio Grande. We work most closely with Joe, the parks botanist, and Keith, an earth scientist who dealt with soil and water conditions. Joe has spent over a decade trying to help the former grasslands and has just recently stumble upon the technique we used. Keith has spent the last few years monitoring the parks rainfall and checking for varying soil conditions. The thing I brought back the most, especially relating to environmental management, is that it takes time and a lot more effort than recycling. These guys, and many others, have spent decades helping to return the park to its natural glory, and much of their work can be destroyed in a single bad season of rain, wind, or heat. Though I environmental protection is not my biggest area of interest, my alternative break has helped me to see I need to volunteer to help, and has led me to apply for volunteer positions in many of the local healthcare facilities.
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