This semester in Muir we did Orienteering, Archery and snorkeling. We also went on a one night camp to Rottnest and a day trip to Jorgensen park for orienteering , were we focused on snorkeling. I’ve used capabilities such as self aware, resilience and effective communication.

Orienteering

To start our orienteering unit we learnt how to read the maps and use a compass, we practiced our skills around the school to begin with, we also did activities to focus on specific orienteering skills. I struggled learning these skills at the start of the unit so it was good we had practiced before going on excursion to parks in the double periods. I had to be resilient to keep trying even when we couldn’t initially find the points we often had to go back to the last point and try again, which can easily become frustrating especially when you see other groups moving on, but with resilience it helps you to keep trying. After going on a couple trips to piney lakes, it was time to go to Jorgenson for a full day. To be completely honest my group did struggle at Jorgensen and often felt lost at times, but when we started finding the points it became a fun day.

Archery

Every Monday in term 3 Mary came in to help us learn archery. She would set up the bullseyes down on the oval and our skills developed over the term. We began with learning the correct technique and practicing that without scoring. As we got better we used score cards to track our progress and how we were doing, which was used for our grade. On the end lessons we got to aim from far out and see how close we could get to the rope and our end lesson we got to pop balloons with the arrows. I enjoyed these lessons because everyone felt more comfortable with archery and it was fun seeing how accurate our shots were by trying to actually hit something. I had to be self aware during this lesson because if you’re not it becomes dangerous. We have to wait behind the line until instructed to collect the arrows because you can get hit, and also you have to be aware of your surroundings when it’s your turn to shoot so no one gets hurt. Although I wasn’t that great at archery I enjoyed the unit and it was something i hadn’t done before.

Snorkeling

We started to snorkel at the end half of term 3 and throughout term 4 leading up to the Rottnest snorkeling camp. We started off in the pool which at first didn’t sound too good, but it was important so we knew skills for snorkeling at Coogee and Rottnest. We learnt how to dive under and blow the water out of our snorkel, how to swim with flippers and also how to clear our mask without taking it off. I have snorkeled in the past so I knew how to do some of this but a new skill I learnt was clearing the mask. These pool lessons were also important to make us more comfortable and used to snorkeling. After the pool lessons we went to Coogee. It was freezing cold this day, making it undesirable but I actually had a fun time. The water was a bit rough which definitely put our skills to a challenge. We had to be organized in this unit, to make sure we had to proper equipment. We brought our flippers, snorkel and wetsuit to school for these days. I sometimes struggle with organization but setting reminders on my phone the days we were swimming was helpful. Having the wetsuit was important as it was freezing and we wouldn’t of lasted long in the water without it.

Rottnest camp

The Rottnest camp was my highlight of Muir and we had a lot of fun snorkeling. We used all of the capabilities I talked about throughout the camp to make it more enjoyable for everyone. We first walked to Parakeet bay which seemed like a long walk but was actually fun walking in the sun with my friends. When we got there we rotated groups for snorkeling and saw lots of reef and fishes, it was very cold but the sun warmed us up when we got out the water and having my wetsuit helped me to keep warm. We then walked back to camp and set up. Next we went on the amazing race, which I enjoyed because we got freedom to explore Rottnest with our friends, and since it was Halloween we got to see all the kids dressed up and got some lollies from some nice people. When we got back we had downtime and dinner, that was good to hang out with friends, play some games and getting dinner cooked for us was good since on most other camps cooking dinner takes up a lot of time. After dinner we had a debrief with our classes and talked about the day and then went to bed. In the morning we went snorkeling at the Basin, I liked snorkeling on this day more than at Parakeet bay because it was warmer weather and we saw more fish. Then we went to the bakery for lunch and left. Overall I had a great time on this camp and it was a strong highlight of Muir. During the camp a capability I focused on was effective communication as we had tp communicate with our peers to keep everyone safe and happy. If people were too cold they had to communicate to say when we were getting cold or needed out get out the water. We also used hand signals we all knew while snorkeling that the teachers used to check in on us.

Leave no trace

We used leave no trace throughout the semester, it means we keep the areas cleaner than we left to keep the environment healthy and clean. Although we used all 7 principles of leave no trace we used being considerate of others, respect wildlife and rubbish disposal the most. We were considerate to others by keeping out noise down and being nice to the general public and not interfering with them. We respected the wildlife by not touching or feeding the quokkas, we also had to make sure our bags and tents were zipped up to keep the quokkas out. Lastly we disposed of our rubbish, to do this we would do ’emu bobs’ before leaving each space. This is when we stand in a line shoulder to shoulder and carefully make sure we don’t miss any rubbish and put it in the bin. I also tried to bring things that wouldn’t make much mess or rubbish to make the process easier. Its important to leave no trace.

My goals for Muir were to learn new things and involve myself in the activities. I think it was successful and if I had to opportunity I would take this class again.