LEARN TO TEACH

ICO participant at Malibu Creek Rock Pool photo by Shirley Hickman

ICO Unites Teachers, Chapter Leaders Behind a Single Goal: Give Inner-City Students Access to Nature

Children in Los Angeles attend schools with far more blacktop than grass. In the inner city, they have little or no access to parks. Approximately 90 percent of the children Inner City Outings (ICO) serves live below the poverty line.

Sue Brakel is a teacher at the California Academy of Mathematics Knowledge is (Clean, Renewable) Power and Science as well as an ICO volunteer. She has many meaningful memories of her students' responses to ICO outings.

On an ICO camping trip at Leo Carrillo State Park, Carlos, a ninth grader, ran up to Sue and said that he had never seen the stars before and that he couldn't believe there were so many. Astronomy is part of the California State Curriculum.

David was an out-of-shape high school senior who lived in a neighborhood where it was unsafe to be outside. On a hike to Eagle Rock on a hot October Day, he stopped to rest. He moaned, 'Ms. Brakel, this is the hardest thing I've ever done!' Perhaps the hike was one of many events in his life that taught him the value of persistence. He is now a student at UC San Diego.

Sue and Les Wilson led a five-mile hike at Pt. Mugu State Park on which a rattlesnake slithered by. Those up front heard the rattle for about 10 minutes as they waited until it was safe to continue the hike. The youngsters had a first-hand experience of what it means to respect and give space to wild animals.

Karen Ringewald Smith, a teacher at Centennial College Preparatory Academy, has participated in ICO activities with her students for two years. Karen says, 'As a teacher, it is incredible to be able to bring learning experiences alive. Students see the importance of what we do and practice the skills they have acquired in school.'

For instance, in sixth grade, students learn about plate tectonics and land forms. On a hike at Malibu Creek State Park, she and her students discussed how mountains are formed and how they change over time while experiencing their beauty first hand.

In Karen's history classes, students studied maps and discussed how useful are, but most of her students had never used maps in their daily lives. On a hike at Solstice Canyon, her students excitedly grabbed maps, searched for the key to help figure out what they would see, and used the scale to figure out how far they'd be hiking.

Karen has found that one of the greatest curricular benefits of participation in ICO has been the background knowledge her students have acquired. Her students lack of background knowledge limits their ability to comprehend and appreciate grade-level texts and passages on standardized tests. The trips with ICO have exposed her students to new places and new experiences, and now her students are able to connect to and more fully comprehend a wider variety of texts and passages. She has seen her students, for instance, express an increased interest in survival tales.

Karen says, 'It has been amazing to expose my students to the beauty and satisfaction that comes from hiking. On our hikes, my students have grown to appreciate the joys of delayed satisfaction they receive at the end of a hike.Likewise, these trips have been an excellent opportunity for me to form stronger bonds with my students and to share my passion for the outdoors with them.'

These are but two teachers' experiences. LA ICO works with 54 agencies, most of which are urban Los Angeles Unified School District Title I schools serving low-income families.