EVAN KING
Teacher Portfolio
TEACHING PHILOSOPHY
As a teacher I guide my students, nurture their fascination for the outdoors, and accurately teach practical skills and knowledge. In addition to providing instruction, my role as an educator is to provide a safe learning environment and to bring positivity and foster heightened awareness in my students. In the old growth forest where I teach, my students learn by getting hands on with the environment around them. This teaching style helps build an appreciation for the lifeforms who live in the old growth forest. One of the activities I facilitate is a plant identification game where 8 students handle and describe specimens of Oregon Grape, Sword Fern, Douglas-Fir, and Western Red Cedar, and are then sent out in 2 separate teams to gather similar specimens. By incorporating the senses of touch and smell into my lesson, the students are gaining an awareness that goes beyond that of formal learning in the indoors. Being a good role model is important as a teacher so I am constantly feeling and describing plants, looking up into the canopy to foster curiosity and listening attentively to questions that I am asked.  I aim to be mindful, present, curious, and I have found that students will follow my lead. Being an outdoor educator is very important to me because I have experienced firsthand the positive influence that natural environments generate in people. Some of the most influential moments in my life have been spent backpacking and rock climbing in wild places. These experiences have given me self-confidence, determination, and a deep respect for the natural world. The fundamental reason why I teach environmental education is because all of our needs are met by the fertility of the soil, the health of plants and animals, and the equilibrium of Earth’s natural cycles; I need my students to understand this. I aim to meet this learning outcome by teaching students about the diversity of old growth forests, emphasizing the resilience that diversity creates and forging connections between the woodpecker, red tree vole, spotted owl, carpenter ant, and the trees and plants that support them. I teach about soil, encouraging students to hold different layers of Earth in their hands and discussing the connections that exist between it, the food we eat, the air we breathe, and the water we drink; in doing so, I aim to create a sense of connection to the ground beneath my student’s very feet. I teach mindfulness and observation skills through a freewriting journal activity that allows my students to connect closely to their inner being and to pursue studying their own mind while simultaneously using their senses to interpret the happenings of the forest around them. For 20 minutes my students sit quietly among all of the other creatures of the forest and the power of the life around them does the rest. Throughout these lessons I aim to inspire my students to treat our natural areas with respect and in doing so they learn to respect themselves.
TEACHING EXPERIENCES
During my time teaching at HJ Andrews Experimental Forest I learned how to become a better class facilitator through reflecting on my experiences. The most important lesson I learned came very early on in my time as a teacher. On April 13th 2017 I was facilitating a pre field trip lesson to a group of twenty eight 6th graders. I wanted to take them outside to do an activity that involves them forming a line based on their birthday. As soon as I told them to go out the door I realized my mistake. They rushed outside and spread out all over the place in a chaotic storm of noise and movement. From there on out I learned to set boundaries on where students can and cannot go before I release them to move. This came in handy during the outdoor field trips where it was mandatory for students to stay on established paths and to respect plants and animals by only touching them when instructed to do so. Some of the other things that I learned presented themselves more subtly. I found out through trial and error that lowering myself down to my students level and facilitating from within the group allowed for increased learning opportunities. As part of the group I could steer learning in the direction I needed it to go while simultaneously promoting cooperation and attentive listening between the students and myself. Teaching in the outdoors presents unique challenges that are not faced in a traditional classroom. One of these challenges is adaptation to student arrival time and inclement weather. Learning to adapt to the situation is key. On the 27th of April the field trip I was leading took place on a very rainy day and many of my students were not dressed appropriately to be outside. I decided to shorten some of the more stagnant lessons and extend the more active games in response to this. Altering a lesson based on the present circumstances is a must do as a teacher.
TEACHING EVALUATIONS
CURRICULUM
The Canopy Connections team, part of the Environmental Leadership Program at the University of Oregon, partnered with HJ Andrews Experimental Forest and Pacific Tree Climbing Institute (PTCI) to provide an outdoor learning experience to 120 middle schoolers during nine day-long field trips. The goal of these field trips was to create a connection to the old growth forest and the creatures within it, in order to promote stewardship and concern for this rare ecosystem. My role as part of the canopy connections team was to develop a curriculum based on the importance of soil in forest ecosystems. Along with Jordan Morales, I created the Sacred Soil’s lesson plan linked below. Other roles I held include leading groups of 6-10 middle school students during 9 hour field trips in the HJ Andrews old growth forest. I taught lessons on flora and fauna, topography and watersheds, soil, and even had the opportunity to climb 100 feet into a Douglas-Fir tree aided by PTCI.
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