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Outdoor Place-based Learning

Joni Danielson has been working in Outdoor Education since 2010. Outdoor Learning takes many shapes and holds many names - environmental stewardship, leadership, outdoor skills and sports, place-based learning, risky play, etc. She has studied and practiced outdoor learning in many forms, and is most influenced by Coyote Mentoring, Indigenous Ways of Knowing, and Traditional Ecological Learning.

My "spark"

I grew up wandering the forest, admiring the beauty in nature and enjoying the peace and endless creativity. A leaf became a basket or a pair of slippers, grass braided into the legs of a doll. I loved the textures- a smooth leaf, the way mud swallows you whole, how the water from a stream glided past me, and I loved the rich smells and sounds of the forest.

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Nature is a place for me to recharge and connect with myself or others. In this digital age, we are constantly reaching for stimulation and distraction. It is silently exhausting and overstimulating. Being outdoors removes the clutter in life and allows me to focus on what is important to me. Likewise, I enjoy seeing my students find peace and become fully immersed in their surroundings.

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There is a comradery in the shared experiences of peace, contentment, excitement, discoveries, adventure and happy exhaustion. My students are able to find things and share them with me. Their curiosity peaks and I love that we have to work through it together with inquiry, observation, and trial and error.

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I would like to acknowledge the unceded territory of the K’omoks Nation.  I am grateful for the Traditional Ecological Knowledge and oral histories of the First Peoples that have been shared with me, which continue to deepen my connection to the land, and the places I feel at home. I look forward to building a connection to my new home and give thanks to the stories, songs, art, and knowledge of the K’omoks people and their Sathloot and Pentlatch ancestors.

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