I would like you to reflect upon your expedition this past weekend and write a blog entry that summarizes your experiences. As you reflect, comment on specifics such as:
- food
- teamwork/comradery
- LNT
- night paddling
- student leadership
- safety
- Reversing Falls
- planned activities/initiatives
- your own goals
- your favorite and least favorite parts of the expedition
- things you would like to have been done differently
Finally, 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.”
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?
Please remember that your blog entries should be of considerable length and depth. It is highly recommended that you type your responses in a word processor, use spell check, and then copy and paste into this blog. Refer to the blog evaluation rubric for further information on how you will be evaluated. Your responses are due to be posted by the beginning of class on Friday, September 26, 2008
9 comments:
I had a wonderful time on the Sea Kayaking Expedition. The second years where wonderful hosts, thanks again guys!
The food was wonderful to be honest with you. I really loved the cake. Great job Jake and Zack you guys rock!
The night paddle was amazing because I was intreged for like... 5 minutes. lol. By the way I wrote my name on the ocean so now I own it!
Over all my favorte part of the trip was the altimate frizbe. Secretly we still won.
I honestly wont change anything about it cause I had fun in everything we did. I really felt included in everything.
I learned alot about myself and everyone else in class. Like i'm deff not inerested in goin down Reversing Falls ever in my life time. And that I'm deffinately goin to stick with this class as long as possible.
Thanks again to,
Scott,Tess,Steve,Taylor,Jake,Zack and Andrew for amazing trip!
sam sutton
To be honest I kind of thought that the trip wasn’t going to be anything amazing, but I actually had a lot of fun. Everything went according to plan, and we had good weather…it was pretty sweet. We have a really good group, and we all get along really well together, which makes teamwork between us all really good.
The food was good, don’t really like tofu though. The brownie like pudding cake was awesome.
All the LNT presentations were good. After doing them I’m actually aware that I’m doing little things wrong, like creating trails by accident.
The night paddle was good, I thought it was going to be a little better though by the way everyone talked about the glowing thingys.
Reversing falls was the best. I liked camping there better. And the rapids were fun. The only thing I would change is, I wanted to make it to the hole. I thought we were going to make it for a little while, but then we flipped.
I didn’t really not like anything about the trip. Well maybe walking in the cold all the way down to the showers to find out they cost money, so it was a wasted trip.
Dana Marble:
First I would like to say that preparation for the trip was more of a challenge than the trip itself. I spent a lot of time gathering the equipment and I repacked my dry bags four times.
Once we were on our way most of us put our worries behind us and enjoyed the trip. The second year students did an outstanding job preparing meals and serving them on time. They put in a lot of planning into it and it showed.
Everyone seemed to get along and work well together. When there is a large group this doesn't always happen. The next test will be the Appalation Trail. Planned activities such as night paddling, LNT, and frisby went well.
Reversing Falls were as challenging as they were fun. In the future perhaps there should be more people on the sidelines to rescue overturned kayaks.
Short term my goal is to get in shape for the hike in November.
John Graham's quote to me means that you can't learn everthing from a book. Life's experiences play a big part in the learning process.
I learned alot and also had fun, It was a great exppereance and all worked together. the food was really good they had enough for everyone and the cake was awesome. Teamwork was definetly done well we also helped out, and we got along with each other. LNT was a good thinhg for all of us to learn and keep the earth clean and stay the way it is I learned alot from that. The night paddling was fun and seeing the phytoplankton light up was cool and I loved looking up at the stars. Seeing reversing falls was interesting to see, and iI loved playing ultimite frisby. What could have been done differently is being more prepared for the tides the last morning was hectic and it should have been a enjoying morning.
Kayaking trip Reflection
Well, the trip overall was a success. There was no real conflict between group members or with trip leaders. And it brought us all a bit closer. There was team work when it came to gathering firewood, doing LNT presentations, setting up and tearing down camp, loading kayaks, moving kayaks and there was just a general sense of it within the group.
My only complaint was that there was not enough food for all of us so the second years didn’t have much after we were through. And I felt like a bit of a pig since I was always hungry, thankfully there were plenty of apple trees, goose tongue plants, bunchberries, seaweed and glasswort, yuck! LNT was not a new lesson for me, scouts had the same sort of ideal, there was definitely some new and more specific information I learned from the LNT principles.
The night paddle was a very relaxing experience. There was no sound, the water was completely calm, and there was only the slightest puffs of breeze. And the bioluminescence was cool and it got more noticeable just as we were leaving the water.
The second year students did a great job at delegating certain responsibilities to each other during the trip. Safety was definitely a concern when carrying the loaded kayaks across not the most ideal walking surfaces. And there was the necessary equipment in case of some minor mishaps like cuts, scrapes, and Jake burning his fingers.
Reversing falls was a bit of a blast. Although I wasn’t so confident about blasting in through that eddy fence, I got going to help a float away Zach and a capsized Scott. I have got to say towing a submerged kayak was probably the toughest paddling I have done, ever. At least there wasn’t big waves or wind. That water was crazy and it was a lot of fun, I got to watch Matt with his impressive bracing skills. I would like to learn more about bracing and getting proficient with rolling.
I have never played Ultimate Frisbee, but it was pretty enjoyable, and a damn good workout. I think when I move back to Tobique First Nation I would like to see if I could get some games going on. And the scheduled free time was always welcome.
I learned a lot about our group, gained a little whitewater experience with a sea kayak and managed to have a good time doing so. I think this field experience is exactly what I was looking for, and will be helpful in accomplishing my own personal goals in this program.
I enjoyed the reversing falls campsite. It was the most comfortable and had the white noise of the falls most of the time. The weather was just about perfect during the days. My least favorite part was my 40 degree summer sleeping back with 30 degree nights. I was pretty cold that night but layered up well and slept better other nights. I’m not sure if I would like anything to have been done differently. I have only seen this one execution of a four day trip with a large group. I don’t know what might have worked better or worse. Things seemed to go fairly smoothly from my perspective, but I missed what was happening behind the scenes.
1. John Grahams means that you cannot act exactly as you would each trip on each trip. And this is because people and groups of people react differently to different personality types. I imagine the art is to be able to read the group and the individuals within it and react accordingly in order to get optimal results. There is no clear flow chart or guide that tells you what you need to do with the large number of variables within a group dynamic or trip, and it would be impossible to concisely explain what should or could be done. If there was a some sort of flow chart it would involve reading people using signs ranging from incredibly subtle to blatant, and would depend highly upon the person making the observations and so would be very subjective. Pseudoscience at best.
2. I think it must have been difficult to plan for every moment in four day trip. To plan for times when people get hungry, how much they consume, when they get tired, sleepy, bored, awake, and even how they react to a particular leadership style must have been difficult. Not everything goes as planned, and you can never really know how the group dynamic will work, or what sort of activities would be enjoyable. It would require some flexibility or back up plans. But this was all taken care of pretty well by our second year guides so we didn’t have to worry about it.
I didnt think that the trip was going to be fun like sam but it turned out to be really awesome! I felt weird monday night not sitting around a camp fire with everyone. I actually kind of missed it. The food on the trip was good expecially that cake. That was great. I think that we all worked really good as a team im kinda impressed. LNT was pretty sweet it made me alot more aware of things such as litering and leaving trails. The night paddle was really cool I liked looking at the big and little dipper. I think the 2nd year kids did a great job on leadership skills. They were always right there too help as well. I felt as if there was plenty of saftey and the falls was crazy! I want to try it but only on a hot summer day. Im a wimp. I felt as if the day was pretty full and frisby was awesome! I thought I couldnt make it through the trip but it was awesome. My favorite part was hanging out at reversing falls and I think they should camp there more maybe. Its a pretty sweet place. Overall the trip turned out great. And I know. Thats the way the planned it.
I think that John means that leadership just comes with time and confidence. You cant get leadership skills by sitting in your room reading a book. You have to go out into the field and get knowledge and experience. I believe that where I got more confidence from my kayaking class it helped me get through the trip just fine.
The expedition that we went on sept 19-22 was an interesting one. When I was getting gear together I was constantly wondering if I had everything. I would check recheck and check again all my gear just to be positive I had what I needed. I had originally planned to bring along a box of granolas on the trip just in case I got hungry. I decided at the last minute that I wasn’t going to need to bring anything because everything was going to be taken care of. The food on the second night was good steak and salmon. That along with spaghetti on the last night would have to have been my most favorite meals. Although I would have probably been happier if I had ramen noodles for all 3 meals everyday opposed to being hungry than having to go and paddle with little energy. Everyone in class seems to get along well in and out of class. Being such a diverse group you wouldn’t think that we would all get along and count and depend on one another as much as we do. There aren’t any real cliques or groups in our class but one big one as a whole which is a good way to be. Count on each other and be friends with one another rather than turning your head on fellow teammates. During the LNT presentations it was fun getting up and trying to explain one of the principles to everyone. The games that were played were very interesting ones and actually turned out to be pretty fun. The only part about it would be that it was sort of stressful making sure that you didn’t leave out anything and making sure it got to everyone. I know that it was kind of frustrating the day that me and Dana stayed back at the site to practice ours when everyone else was playing ultimate Frisbee but we had to do It and its sacrifice is part of getting the job done which I think we did a really good job with. The night paddle was probably one of my favorite parts on the trip. This is because I like how quiet the world gets at night and you can hear every little sound. The wind usually isn’t blowing and everything is just so calm. The bio luminescence was also really cool to be able to see something that is microscopic by the light they produce. The student leadership part was pretty cool to be able to have someone knowing that they are only a year ahead of you be so advanced in such a vast amount of knowledge that was mostly achieved within the first year in the program and their summer experience. It was also cool to be able to talk with them and get all the stories and info that they had to share about their practicum experiences. The safety of the group was a pretty big thing on the trip but it was pulled off without a hitch. Other than when Scott decided that he wanted to play in some whirlpools and try to sink his kayak it went really smoothly. If I had to think about the most dangerous part of the trip I would have to say it would be at reversing falls playing in the whirlpools and when people got sucked down. Reversing falls was a really neat place though. Knowing that all the water that fills up that whole area of cobscook bay comes in through basically that one little few hundred yard passage. It is actually really hard to believe that an ocean can take on all the characteristics of a river in just around 3 hours before it starts flattening out to what most people would call an ocean. It is a lot like a river yet it is so different because it is not at all predictable. The planned activities that we had like ultimate Frisbee were pretty cool as something to do in the down time. The LNT presentations and the seaweed collection was pretty cool to it was something like a vacation with planned things to do. Some goals I had for the trip were to come back with more knowledge which I did. I learnt a lot at reversing falls and about hunger management issues on trip. My most favorite part of the trip would have to be when we went on the night paddle I really enjoyed the quietness of the surroundings and the conversations I had with people. The least favorite part would probably be when it was time and we had to paddle back into the wind and not being able to sail back like I was hoping I could experience. I think everything went awesome I wouldn’t really have changed anything the weather was good the food was waiting for us. But If I had to choose I would have bought less expensive meals so everyone could get bigger servings and not have to worry about being hungry.
1. I think that the quote means exactly what it says. No matter how many books you read you can’t just be a leader you have to try through trial and error and go with your gut instinct on something’s. Books don’t have the answer to every question they only can point you in the right direction and leave the end decision to the leader which over time will gain the respect from others as his responsibility as a leader knowing what to do in all situations and being able to think on the fly. Leadership is not something that comes to you after leading a book or overnight either. You have to work towards it if it’s really what you want to be than it will come to you if you’re just doing it to get by than you won’t be a very good one.
2. I think that it applies to my experience this past weekend because I got to witness what the role of leadership looks like and what it feels like to be led. I also got to feel what it feels like to be encapsulated in a leadership environment and got to watch what everyone did. It Was a great way to learn and I got a lot out of it
I had an awesome time on the kayaking trip i was surprised with all that went on through the trip it was amazing on all the stuff i got to experience like reversing falls i have never been there i have heard alittle bit about it before hand but it dosent hit you until you actually get to see it, the night paddle was amazing seeing the sparkels in the water the paddle over all wasnt that bad we had good for great deserts loved the cake, The time we had between activites playing frisbee was great because its like the best game ever.
Lnt was a great thing to learn because i hate going so were and noticeing were people have been and have left a huge mess.
My favorite part of the trip was being able to hang with all the class to hang with all the class mates my least favorite part was not being able to see my girlfriend
“Leadership is not a science to be picked up in one book or course, but an art to be learned over time.”
He meant that you cant just learn leadership from reading a book you have to experince it by being hands on.
Well with out leadership this past weekend we would have been all out of wack people in fights and nothing would have been done we would have been late packing up our gear and and getting on with the paddle so leadership helped us maintain balance through out the group
, Travis Peters
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