Kay Brooks

Environmental Education Practicum

resulting in a shift in counseling duties. Counseling the Alligators and Eagle Jr. Naturalists over the last

two weeks hashave been truly enjoyable and rewarding as the campers are actively engaged. Counseling Commented [RV1]: Counseling has;
counselors have
duties consisted of passing out name tags, facilitating ice breakers, and supervising daily activities.

Further duties included, planning and traveling with campers around campus to the RAC, the Shooting

Sports Center, and Lakeside Pond. Crafting activities were facilitated by keeping materials organized and

ready for use.

My leadership styles have ranged from being autocratic, democratic, and abdicratic within the

camp setting. For example, me being autocratic was given by legitimate power from Wayne and Emily to

be the disciplinary counselor. Another case in point, is by telling campers at the beginning of each day

the overview of rules. The campers would be told what the expectations were to include, listening while

counselors were speaking, to not engage in bullying, learn new concepts while having fun, and to not

question what they are doing for the day.

The democratic leadership style was illustrated with daily consulting of my team- mates to

discover new course of actions concerning learning activities. Democratic leadership allowed me to

develop solutions to problems such as constructing other activities due to the weather delays, such as,

changing trivia questions and giving campers a chance to do something they were not expecting or had

nothave seen done in the last year, since many hadhave already attended Jr. Naturalists Camp. We

labored recreating activities, such as, the water challenges, obstacle course, and the scavenger hunt,

which werebeing held completely off facility grounds. This way we could test the campers knowledge Commented [RV2]: Be consistent with your
tense. This should be in past tense because it has
already happened.
 Kay Brooks

on the information given and know if they found each item by asking them to give two facts about each

item.

Finally, the abdicratic style of leadership was first employed only last week when I decided to

step back and let Emily lead and facilitate more and become comfortable discipling campers, instead of Commented [RV3]: What do we call this in
Adventure Ed? Being an active . Why did you
me. In addition, to getting the attention of campers, another challenge was and finding ways to decide to step back? What type of power were
you abdicating, or giving up?
integrate group development skills;, some were very vocal in saying they wanted to learn more about
Commented [RV4]: spelling
other animals not held at the Center. Another child wanted to talk with Mr. Scott, curator, about his Commented [RV5]: This this is where you
would use a semi-colon. It separates two
interest in Herpetology at the tender age of 11. I was very impressed and glad so I asked Mr. Scott to different but related thoughts.

cultivate this childs future career. Throughout the day the campers were reminded of Rule 4 which was

not to ask what they were to do for the day. Being ambiguous about the days activities is a technique

used to keep the campers wondering but also active when it came time for participation. An issue that Commented [RV6]: Good example of Tildens
6th principle of interpretation. This is something
constantly remerges is that many of the campers seemed to know a great deal about the Wildlife Wild that youll miss by not taking the full RECR 4230
course.
Life Center as many of them are repeat participants of the program. The campers seem to know the

weekly schedule and therefore become insensitive to active participation. Commented [RV7]: Unclear. Resistant?

In Effective Leadership in Adventure Planning, by Priest and Gass described expert power as

influenceis achieved through knowledge, skill, and experience. Also, referent power occursas when you

are admired, identified with, or valued by group members. Although I have plenty of experience working

with children and have a profound effect onof the children by constantly recapturing the campers

attention (such as hand claps), one participant seemed to fear me. Another type of leadership power is Commented [RV8]: What does this do to
referent power? Instead it becomes more
reward, which is influencing group members by offering positive incentives for a job well done. An coercive.

example, of reward power used during the camp settings would be when some campers finished earlier

they would become camp helpers. When the campers finished their assigned duties, they would receive

first consideration for snacks, playground, and line leader. In addition, I even rewarded Carley with an

2
 Kay Brooks

ice cream sandwich just on the pretense she was your daughter but only after she gave positive

feedback on ways to improve camp for years to come. Commented [RV9]: She shouldnt receive any
special treatment because she is my daughter.
The connection I have from a previous course would have to be in Adventure Education by using However, I appreciate you giving her the
opportunity to provide input on the camp. She is
flexible leadership styles for campers participation and engagement in activities. I also connected a thinker and will contribute when asked.

Lead/Prog in Leisure Svcs. by using new nature based activities as time fillers. Commented [RV10]: You were doing better
but youre slipping. Use the proper titles or short
My area of improvement is being specific enough to explain what Im thinking concisely that will titles of courses no abbreviations.

not cause additional grammar errors while writing about this wonderful practicum experience I am

having.

The things I have learned during the reporting period areis to take my time writing down the key

details during camp settings and re-use for papers to be clear and specific withof examples.

Kay, you did a better job on this report but it was submitted late so no credit. Most of the

paper focused on the overview of duties and connections to coursework. Expand on the other

discussion points a little more. The writing quality was better on this one but Im still seeing

some of the same mistakes. They will take time to correct but work on writing in the proper

tense and punctuation.