Camp
The camp environment is the most informal of the environments that we are looking at. Procedure and structure are difficult to incorporate when the environment naturally lacks structure. Also, because students are not in a school setting they are of a different mindset. The attitude is that they should not have to exert their minds or do anything mentally challenging. The staff at the camp I worked at also felt that students had to be immediately and constantly entertained. The problem is that fun cannot be artificially created. The use of the word play indicates fun, however ‘creating’ play and fun and incorporating it into a lesson can only yield contrived results. Play is a social, spontaneous and creative enterprise that cannot be transformed into ridged steps. Each concept, role and object is a social creation bound to the situation in which it is produced. Thus, the only way teachers should and can guide play is through creating an environment in which free thought and spontaneity are encouraged. Despite the camper's and the staff’s aversion to mentally challenging activities, I pressed on with the idea that fun and a sense of excitement that the camp was looking for could be derived from a sense of accomplishment. I set up an environment where high standards were still expected and found that a lack of procedure or structure in my lessons would not allow students to reach any sort of high standard. While my standards remained high, there was no grading and thus the emphasis was on student creativity and students were allowed to be as creative as possible without the restraints of a marking-period grade on us.
The Physical Environment
The space I worked in often changed depending on weather, other activities or what I had planned for the day. Because I was unable to control the details of my physical environment I had to be constantly aware of the environment that existed between myself and the campers. The environment had to be one of excitement and spontaneity. Because the circumstances were always changing and the space we were in was always changing, both the students and I had to adapt to each new setting.