Ideas! Teaching Backpacking to High School Students

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gdurkee
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Re: Ideas! Teaching Backpacking to High School Students

Post by gdurkee »

It's great to take the time to get kids into the woods. Good work! At the top of the list, being the paranoid guy that I am, is safety. There's a tendency among outdoor instructors to go on the trips they want to go on and drag less experienced people along (see Fly Guy's experience -- all too common!). It's too easy to get your own ego involved. Both the instruction and any trips should be easy and fun. No need to overthink or overplan this stuff.

I'd strongly advise any trips you do be not only easy, but have a quick and safe exit in case of bad weather. As fun as it might seem to you, and maybe a few of your students, don't do any cross country or off-trail stuff. Kids will have enough feeling of adventure and exploration on a trail so no need to push it.

On trips, make sure you have enough responsible & experienced help. For 10 students, you need at least 2 adults -- three would be better in case of injury. When traveling, everyone is briefed on the route, that they stop at trail junctions to regroup and all have a map. You don't necessarily have to bunch in one large group, but do have to have groups of at least 3 hiking together. Walkie talkies are a good idea and a trail sweep person is necessary.

OK. Hope this helps. It may seem a little controlling, but there's a huge difference in individual responsibility of going out on your own, and taking responsibility for a group. The latter has to be run as safely as possible.

Excellent effort! Good luck.

George
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Re: Ideas! Teaching Backpacking to High School Students

Post by Wandering Daisy »

Rowln - YOU are wrong in so many ways. Since when were you legally responsible for teens and taught backpacking classes? Kids do go out on their own and learn by trial and error, but as a teacher at a public school, YOU CANNOT DO THIS! Just because you started this way, how many decades ago, does not make it the best way to start. These kids may be inner city urban kids. NO WAY are they going to have the wherewithall to safely step into the wilderness on their own. It is highly irresponsible to suggest that a 15-year old, go off-trail, in the Sierra, solo and just "figure it out".
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Re: Ideas! Teaching Backpacking to High School Students

Post by rlown »

At least spell my moniker correctly. :)

I like the idea of waivers but those also follow a syllabus. I think that's what SF is trying to figure out.

There are basics that are covered in courses like this, which i already pointed out before one ever hits the field.

There shouldn't be a hard off-trail for a neophyte trip. That would just be bad. (unless Humphreys basin).. You know where you are all the time.

Personal note: I had keys to a car at 16 and a job and money to drive to the Berkeley REI and buy the equipment based on what I thought. That's probably the first part of the curricula. what do i really need. There was no safety sticker on my first pack when i bought it.

I just wanted to be out there.

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Re: Ideas! Teaching Backpacking to High School Students

Post by RoguePhotonic »

I wasn't given very good instruction. Most of my early trips were exercises in sustained misery
Sounds like my first backpacking trip. My dad did all the planning and as a result we were eating about 500 calories a day. By the end I could barely move a muscle in my body. My lips were so chapped I could only open my mouth enough to nibble on food. The next couple trips weren't much better. Only my ability to endure hardship and a love for the overwhelming beauty had me coming back. I think most others would have bailed.
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rlown
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Re: Ideas! Teaching Backpacking to High School Students

Post by rlown »

all early trips are hard. because one doesn't know or prepare.

so.. back on topic..

I gave my steps to basic training.. others?

Build the syllabus.
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Re: Ideas! Teaching Backpacking to High School Students

Post by Tom_H »

It will take me some time to put things together, but I think I can help. I have been a teacher for 35 years, both elementary as well as Biology, Chemistry, and Physics in high school. For about a decade of summers, I worked as a professional guide in a small program very similar to NOLS. Our director was a NOLS graduate and I eventually became an instructor trainer. I also was a certified Red Cross canoeing instructor and led canoe camping and whitewater trips for my outfit. I have a good deal of R.C. material, some of which might be useful.

Paul Petzoldt was one of the highest officers in the 10th Mountain Division in WWII. He founded NOLS as well as had a lot to do with O.B. His Complete Wilderness Handbook is a good starting place for your curriculum. As a Biology teacher, I supplemented that with a good deal of physiology regarding hypothermia and wilderness medicine (pulmonary, cerebral, retinal edema, etc.) as well as the thermodynamic properties of various fabrics (cotton, wool, modern synthetics) in relation to dampness, wind speed, wicking gradients, and the synergistic ability of these to create or prevent conditions for hypothermia.

I have school this week, and have to pack for a trip to Hawaii, but am on a strange school calendar that has school out of session from Thanksgiving to New Years. I will try to P.M. you with some ideas after I return from Hawaii.

Tom Harrison (not the map guy)
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Re: Ideas! Teaching Backpacking to High School Students

Post by austex »

I too took a backpacking class in the 80's at CSUN. It was offered in the Geography Dept. (So was the Geography of Wine. Another story)
I had the remedial basics as I had been doing it for a couple yrs before. It did teach essentials and did have a over-nighter to the Dinkey Dome area. So, there may be some professor in the CSU system that may have access to a sample syllabus. Like fishing; the sport needs to be handed down and at least give them a chance to like it.
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Re: Ideas! Teaching Backpacking to High School Students

Post by balzaccom »

I can't imagine any outdoor activity like this without the liability issue. Even as an adult, I am asked to sign waivers for everything from Class III rafting to beginning rock climbing classes.

And if you are actually taking kids into the wilderness, you are then also legally responsible for their medical treatment until their parents can be notified. Daisy is right!
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Tom_H
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Re: Ideas! Teaching Backpacking to High School Students

Post by Tom_H »

balzaccom wrote:I can't imagine any outdoor activity like this without the liability issue. Even as an adult, I am asked to sign waivers for everything from Class III rafting to beginning rock climbing classes.

And if you are actually taking kids into the wilderness, you are then also legally responsible for their medical treatment until their parents can be notified. Daisy is right!
Of course she is right. All of us who are teachers know that we can't legally take students to the other side of the street without field trip papers and liability waivers signed by parents. The OP has no choice, his site and district administrators already have in place a protocol that will be followed. In all likelihood, attorneys on retainer for his district will carefully review the entire curriculum and logistics before the district fully signs off on this. He will have to have in place a full set of contingency plans and emergency evacuation procedures for any potential emergency. This is an enterprise for professionals who know what they are doing. The law stipulates that it cannot be otherwise.
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Re: Ideas! Teaching Backpacking to High School Students

Post by rlown »

i'd bring in the Red Cross to train the kids on CPR and basic first aid. They all get certified.
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