We weren’t in just any resort area of the Pineywoods of East Texas while at the. Pineywoods conservation camp ... the songs we sang really should have clued us, with titles-such as ‘’Dirt, You Made My· Lunch”, “I’ve Got a Niche in Nature’’, and }’Habitat” (sung to the old fifties hit, “Lollipop” ... habitat, habitat, have to have a habitat, etc.), these songs aren’t in the top ten ... bµt they turned out to be the most wanted on our list of tunes to help teach young children about responsible use of our environment! The games we played provided another clue.
Catchy titles intrigued. us arid participation actively involved us in learning how to teach difficult and often dull information to children of all ages. ‘’Tree Cookie involved drawing our own versions of the cross-section of a tree with the number of rings equal to our age ... (one-man said ‘‘I need four sheets of paper to make mine large enough!”). We then stood on this circle (“rooted” to the ground, outside) while trying to scramble for our nutrients, water and sunlight represented by different colored chips. scattered about us! Reflecting oil this activity leads students to easily understand that trees without enough “sun” (yellow chips) and the species which required; had that got too much “sun” had to “die and thus be recycled, becoming I have seen a man-sized ‘’caterpillar’! flutter from a silvery cocoon upon hearing nutrients. the cue, ‘Metamorphosis!”, and was fascinated by a man-sized Ladybug Beetle (“Dr. Bug”, from Stephen F. Austin State University in Nacogdoches) telling us about its life and needs. I have learned to love a lizard three times the size of my cat and found the corn snake .to be as soft to the touch as cotton. Seining waist-deep in the mud of a fertile pond netted large tadpoles, dragonfly larvae and other organisms only visible through magnifying glasses. Using the same techniques at sunset in the clear waters of Sam Rayburn Lake netted silvery fish of many varieties.
Sounds a lot like camp, right? Well, it was ... and it wasn’t! Like camp, we spent a great deal of time outside learning about our environment, about our responsibilities to the env1.ronment, and how to share information with children about our world in a way that secures their interest, attention and involvement. Unlike camp, the food and accommodations were incredible! Many resorts would do well to take a page from the book this center runs by! And, unlike most camps, we travelled all over the Pineywoods of East Texas, visiting sites common to this area but passed daily without thought by most of us. Guided and hosted by a courteous, caring and kno.111/l group of Texas Forestry Association volunteers, we toured a paper mill, a plywood mill and ·a wafer board plant. We watched. fascinated as loggers stripped limbs from trees through a ‘1lirnbing gate” and gazed upon 32,000,000,000 pine seedlings at a nursery operated for tree- planting worldwide. We learned to· spot the habitat of the red cockaded woodpecker and were sickened by the sight of unchecked pine bark beetle destruction to literally millions and millions of dollars’ worth of now-useless pine timber. Education, the way most of at the center earn our keep, was the keystone of the entire institute ... and we really learned ... about managing the forest so all users can benefit, about planning for future forests and products, about informing children through games and activities in the school (using math, science, language arts, geometry, physics, etc.) to teach our children about our world. As one participant said, “I’ll never look at a tree in quite the same way ever again!” None of us will!
It wasn’t a resort or a camp, but it was, quite literally, a gift of a wonderful place for a group of educators to spend a week. The influences Gf this time spent in the Pineywoods will, like ripples in a pond, last forever. To teach is to touch the future .... and the future of us all will be touched by what we learned arid by what we will teach.
