Maggie Shearrow Learning Record Midterm- February 19

I have set four goals for me to reach at the ending of this course.  I have been concentrating on one in particular; being able to meditate through nature has been a struggle because of my short attention span, which I can admit, I am working very hard to expand.  I have loved being able to write about simple pleasure in life, like a single tree.  But being able to write about it has allowed me to look beyond what was obvious and start contemplating its background, its history and this is what gives me a better sense about the real story of a pine tree or a sycamore tree, its history.  This is one thing that pushes me closer to a clearer state of mind, the history of an object or anything that takes my mind off my own worries, my own life will help me in accomplishing that state of meditation.

I am thankful of this gift, meditation.  I allow myself not only to look beyond nature's simplicities and find its true complexity but to compare many observances to my life experiences.  This allows me to bring to the surface many of the memories with nature that I thought were long forgotten, but all it takes is a little help from nature itself.  I am thankful for the opportunity to get outside the class setting of white confined walls that is full of today's technologies.  What about this, we meet every class period outside, we complete every reading assignment before class, just like now, and we discuss them outside?

In other words, we only go into the classroom if absolutely necessary.  This will test out attention spans and will allow us to think freely which would most likely allow us to open our ideas and open our discussions which will result in so much more class participation.  I have sat in the classroom right next to where you have been seated, Professor Bump, and have noticed the same blank stares from the rest of my classmates that you have had to endure every class period.  I really wanted to burst with laughter because we have all come into class at 9:30am and have been extremely tired from the night before that we tend to let our minds wonder which is turn creates this "blank stare" off into some other world.  I believe that if we were to meet outside for every class period, actually seated along side nature rather than seeing it outside a window, our mind would be prone to focus on actual nature writing.    As far as my grade in the class is concerned, I have put so much thought, self experience, and a few quotations from excerpts assigned into my journal entry for every day, I believe my journal entries have increased in qualitative value rather than in quantitative value.  I have been incorporating so much of my own life into these journal entries that I am amazed at my own openness to people I was never affiliated with before the first day of class.  To be open with my feelings and emotions is a step towards my next goal for this class.  For the portfolio that we have to turn in at the end of class I have completed my project 1 writing assignment but haven't placed it on my website because I am waiting for my pictures to develop.  I am very proud of my work on that assignment; I can't wait to share it via my website.  The progress I have made should result in no less than a B+ for the course.     I am proud at what I have accomplished so far in this course.  I can not wait until we get the chance to spend more time outside and just being one with nature.  I definitely love this discovery learning that was presented to us at the beginning of this course as the prime learning technique.  I have discovered so much of myself as I relate my experiences to nature and can't wait to discover more about myself in class period to come.

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