Anna John took the opportunity to volunteer and improve her skills at the same time, in her guest blog she tells us about how her volunteering is giving her confidence.
I’m Anna and have been the Schools on Reserves volunteer Learning Intern at Minsmere for just over a month and have already been part of a team leading groups of all ages, from the Reedlings (under 5s) to university groups. I am already really loving my time here and look forward to the next five months. Below, is a flavour of what I hope to achieve on this internship and my experiences so far.
My background is in ecology and I have just spent a year working on a field site in South Africa studying meerkat behaviour. However, my own experiences have taught me how important it is to get young people interested in the world around us. On my first day I was plunged in at the deep end, by watching Chris (Minsmere’s Learning Officer) and Hannah (Minsmere’s Learning Assistant) leading a monthly Reedlings session. Reedlings are under five years old and are all accompanied by at least one parent or guardian. This was my first time observing such a young group and my immediate impressions were:
(i) Having 13 toddlers and at least one adult per toddler meant for a very large group of people;
(ii) The children do not work in groups in the slightest, but will work on their own, sometimes with their adult;
(iii) If you are taking the group somewhere else, e.g. the pond area, a normal five-minute walk becomes a 15-minute journey!
After the session, I had a chance to reflect on it with Chris and soon realised I had not known what to expect with that age group. Actually, I was amazed at what the group had achieved: having fun in nature and actually being interested enough to ask questions about why animals might live in a pond.
I have since been part of the Learning Team leading April’s Reedlings session. This time I was put in charge of designing a “Spring Spotter Trail” and I was actually able to assist with some of the leading, rather than just standing shocked in the corner! I am also feeling a lot more confident (at the moment anyway) about leading May’s Reedlings session (just me and a couple of our amazing volunteers).
This is just one example of how much experience and knowledge I have gained from only a month at Minsmere. I am sure it will take me a while to be confident leading groups of under 5s, but then I have only observed two Reedling sessions so far! I genuinely look forward to gaining further skills in outdoor learning.
Like the idea of a volunteering internship? You can choose from Residential Volunteering like Anna where you live and work on a reserve or our non residential internships which run 3 days a week for 6 months.