Edgework Model

Every summer growing up, my family would take trips to Lake Powell. While we were there, all of the cousins would go out cliff jumping. However, I had always had a crippling fear of heights.

Old Edge Patterns

Feelings:Scared, anxious, abandoned

Physiology:Rapid heart rate, shallow breathing, shaking uncontrollably

Pattern/Defense: Make excuses, lash out

Belief: "Everyone is braver than me." "I'm such a loser."

Conversation: "If I jump I will die." "There's no way this is only 15 feet."

Support: Cousins

Metaphor: I pictured myself alone on the cliff or dead in the water

Edge Resources

Feelings: Inclusion, Excitement

Physiology: Racing heart rate but with mental calm

Pattern/Defense: Think less

Belief: "This is awesome." "I am awesome."

Conversation: "Don't think about it." "If you do a trick, everyone will cheer."

Support: Cousins, self

Metaphor: Fearless, like a bird taking off in flight

Processing the Experience Response#1

This reading helped me, I'm finally starting to get my brain around what experiential learning is. It seems like the key element to experiential learning is the processing part.

It seems to me that how a person processes an experience is very personal. Two people who share an experience have the potential to process a situation very differently. I would imagine that a persons previous life experiences will greatly effect their reflections.

It makes me wonder how the others in class are reacting to this course so far and what they are taking away from it versus the experience I am having.

What is Experiential Education?

From what I understand, experiential education is the process of learning something through experience, then taking the time to reflect on it (mostly through journaling/writing about it/etc.) so we can better understand how the experience affected us.

I noticed that experiential education typically refers to more active class settings, therefore making recreation classes well suited for the experiential learning process. I also thing this process could be applied to other types of classes if they were more engaging with students.