Getting 20 kids and staff from place to place is extremely difficult and can be stressful. It takes the whole group coming together and working as one to make it go smoothly. One way we try and make this is happen is by training students so we know how to work together. At the beginning of the school year David taught us how to load and unload the trailer efficiently. This saves us time and protects our gear.
Dave shows Fly how to load the trailer before heading out to the Siete Tasas. Photo by Colin Klein.
Even so, it is hard to travel with 20 people, 20-40 kayaks and all of our gear. This is why Dave also told us to pack light which helps a lot in our large group. Each student has his own backpack and a bills bag. A bills bag is an extra large dry bag with backpack straps. This is what we live out of for weeks at a time. I like using the bills bag because they are easy to pack, but it is not always easy to find things in them.
We share almost everything, we are a big family caring family. It helps that we are all close because we live so closely during the time we are traveling. This would be stressful, but we all know the routine so well it makes it easy to adapt to our new homes. That is how it goes super smoothly for a group of 20 traveling with kayaks in a foreign country.
The flight into a foreign land is frightening. Not knowing what to expect or what you are going to see. The sights are breathtaking. The mountains are tall and steep and nothing like anything I have ever seen in the States. At first it is somewhat offsetting. But after a little bit you start to feel at home in this tough rugged land.
The air in the Maipo Valley is clean. You simply feel healthy living in such an amazing area. The food is all so fresh and the water is so cold and sweet. The people here are very friendly. They make you feel at home instantly. Even the stray dogs are friendly. It is hard to believe that just a 30 minute drive will take you back into a hustling city, crowded with loud cars and people. But here in the Maipo Valley, you don’t think about the city. You are just totally happy to be in location that is as beautiful as this.
The ” daily grind” here is not such a grind. It’s more of a vacation. On the average day here you wake up around 7:20 AM to go do a short workout that gets your blood flowing. Then directly after that you, and the rest of your classmates, head over to Carla’s house. She lives about a half mile away. To get to her house you have to cross two swinging bridges. The first bridge you must cross is about 40 feet above the, brown, fast, and breathtaking, Maipo river. Once you are across the bridge, you walk a short distance and you are at a far sketchier swinging bridge. It is over a small dried up creek, there is not much water in the creek but there are hundreds of beautiful yellow flowers growing on the banks. After walking very carefully across the second bridge, you walk about 100 yards and you are at Carla’s house and you can already smell the delicious breakfast Feilipe, our cook, has made for us.
After a delightful breakfast of fresh fruits, fruit juice, eggs, toast and various jellies and jams, you start your classes. Here in Chile you think it would be hard to concentrate on anything besides the breathtaking sites and the flowing rivers. But that is not the case. Being in an environment such as this it is easy to learn. Learning comes naturally. This makes the class work exciting. Every page of the books leads to something new and exciting, and this makes you eager to learn more! Even going down to the store to buy a snack teaches you something. You pick up on various Spanish words and phrases every time you interact with any of the locals. After your first four periods of school you take a short break for lunch. This involves embarking on an adventure across the two swinging bridges and back to Carla’s house where once again Felipe has prepared another fantastic meal to fuel our ever hungry stomachs. After the lunch we cross the bridges and begin the last 3 class periods of the day. The last three class periods feel like they will never end. Because at the end of our classes, we are able to do some of the best kayaking in the world.
The Maipo river runs fast, cold and brown. It is 100% snowmelt which makes the river somewhat brutal to paddle. You have to roll fast or you will most definitely get an ice-cream headache. Even with the harsh conditions of the Maipo, it is impossible not to fall in love with such a beautiful, strong, and mysterious river. Not knowing what is just inches below you, hidden in that brown muddy water, is part of the beauty of this incredible river. The other part of the Maipo’s beauty comes from the surrounding landscape. The rugged, dusty, rock mountains shoot up thousands of feet from the river’s edge into the great, blue, Chilean sky. It is safe to say that the Maipo Valley is a magical place.
When I tell people I am a math teacher I tend to receive the same sentiment every time: “I am so glad I never have to take a math class again” and “I hate math”. I sympathize. Even engineers and other science professionals struggle with math. This will inevitably persist because math is a difficult and abstract subject, but the majority of the reaction people have to math is the way that it is taught.
Ever have to memorize the times tables? Do you remember around 4th or 5th grade when you had to take a timed test showing your proficiency in multiplication? The feeling of anxiety and fear are probably already creeping up. The bottom line is that standard pedagogical practices such as this teach students that math is to be memorized by rote, and it is to be done quickly, without thinking. I am a math teacher and I honestly do not have the times tables memorized. I know the threes, fives, tens, elevens, and the perfect squares. From this I can derive every multiple up to 13 times 13. Take 9*6, that is 9*5 +9, 54. It has been shown that the most high achieving math students minimize the amount that they memorize by using strategies such as this. Many books encourage students to believe that memorization and short problem solving is the way that math really is.
That is why this year NRA chose to overhaul it’s math curriculum. We chose a curriculum entitled cpm: College Preparatory Math. There are two fundamentally diametrically opposed approaches to teaching math. One is where the students are told math, and asked to repeat it. In the other students are given problems that require them to problem solve and in some way recreate math themselves. Each has it’s advantages, telling students math is very fast, and can lead students to be able to solve a variety of problems efficiently and accurately. Having students problem solve leads them to develop a general approach to solving problems, they are more self reliant and can be more critical of their own methods and strategies. CPM strikes a balance between these two extremes, students are asked to solve problems that are challenging and often wordy(much like real life problems). When the students get stuck the instructor can fill in gaps in knowledge to move them forward with their thinking and approach.
CPM has been shown to be effective through research and multiple studies. You can read the research and philosophical basis for the curriculum here. The main issues with this curriculum is that students have less procedural proficiency and they tend to cover fewer topics. This tends to happen because students cover each topic in further depth, giving students a better chance at retention. Does anyone remember what the law of sines is now? That is probably due to the fact that you were asked to learn it and then tested on it five days later, never to return to it. That is not the case with CPM. CPM has a review and preview section at the end of every lesson where students practice past and future concepts for homework.
So far this curriculum has been very successful with the students. We have done a number of group presentations, projects, and experiments. I wouldn’t set the goal of math to be for every student to love math, but a good gauge is how well people understand the math, and the effort that they are willing to put into solving a problem . Every student has shown improvement in there understanding of number relationships, functions, and graphs. They also tend to spend more time working independently to answer their own questions before asking the teacher(self-sufficiency will be key in later academic life). This I believe is math success, students who are willing to spend time solving problems, and change their strategies when they are not successful(pliability in problem solving), and are constantly evaluating their own processes to come up with better ones.
To finish up our time in West Virginia we took a day off to learn about ropes and knots. This ropes and knots safety day was lead by two highly qualified safety experts: Moose and Logan. They taught us about many different kinds of knots, systems, and practical uses for these systems. We started off the day with some simple knots such as the figure 8 followthrough, bowline, anchor, water knot, prusik, and double fishermans. A variety of these knots are necessary to any safety system that you will put together. One of the big systems we learned and practiced was the Z-drag. The Z-drag provides a mechanical advantage of three times, so you can do three times the work with the same amount of effort. To make a Z-drag you need an anchor, two biners, three prusiks, and a rope. You attach one end of the rope to the thing you are trying to move (boat?) and then you attach the rope to a biner that is attached to the anchor. Then you take the rope back towards the boat and attach a prusick to the rope attached to the boat and then the new end of the rope, making a V shape (half of the Z). After that you attach another biner to the end of the V and go back in the direction of the anchor, completing the Z. Some of the others things that we learned were how to use a car as an anchor, how to tie someone into a body board, and how to lift someone from a canyon. All of these skills will be very useful when we go to Chile because we will be in many canyons while paddling. A big thanks to Moose and Logan for spending the day with us and making the course so fun!
Learning and practicing some basic knots.
A prime example of an anchor for a Z-drag.
Moose demonstrating how to use a PFD as a harness.
Ziggy being lowered down a cliff by his classmates.
The small town of Fayetteville is a hotspot for outdoor lovers of all kinds, from whitewater kayakers to base jumpers. Like any other town, Fayetteville has signature locations, people, and even signs. These are things that people who have been to Fayetteville before would instantly recognize if they saw them.
For this photo assignment my goal was to capture some of these special locations in Fayetteville through photograph. I used different photographing techniques such as interesting angles, framing, leading the eye, and the use of colours to make photos of the town interesting. I captured to the best of my ability the essence of the town by taking photos capable of telling stories all around the town of Fayetteville.
New River Gorge Bride emerging from the fog early in the morning.
New River Gorge capturing the early morning clouds.
A popular destination for kayakers. Can you recognize the house?
This way to the park.
A gas station in Fayetteville.
Can you tell where you are on the main street in Fayetteville?
Anyone who has partied in Fayetteville has partied at Charlie's.
These friendly robots are found all over Fayetteville.
Here is a short video made by Jacob Slobodian in New River Academy Video class. The requirements for this project were to include timelapses, text animation, and interviews.
I had been waiting for these ten days for a few years now. Before heading to the Claro everyone was very excited. I knew that the Claro offered beautiful clean waterfalls and committing whitewater canyons. The First day we paddled the Siete Tazas section. This was by far the most amazing stretch of rapids I have ever paddled. The Next day we paddled the Viente Dos Saltos, which means 22 waterfalls. This section started with the biggest vertical drop I have ever ran of 25 feet and this wasn’t even the big one. After styling that line I was feeling good and the entire group had a great run down yet another beautiful canyon. The Next day we paddled the Entre Saltos section that was more mellow but just as amazing.
While at the Claro a large group of students wanted to run Garganta Del Diablo, which means throat of the devil. No one knew whether or not we could get on this section. It is by far the most committing class V canyon on the Claro. One night at dinner with much anticipation of running the canyon Tino stood up and gave us the news. Yes! We were able to run it. Even with this great news the room was silent and everyone started to realize that their dream of this rapid would come true. I was put in the second group, which meant I had to video and watch the first group drop in. The day between the first group and my group was the longest day of my life. I had to sit and listen to every detail about the canyon.
The night before was not filled with much sleep. We woke up and had a half-day of school. We then had to wait four hours so we could have the best light for photographs and video. To get to Garganta we had to paddle the entre section. I can honestly say that I was petrified while we did the Entre Saltos section. After the last drop on Entre Saltos was the first drop into the Garganta section. After that you are committed to the 2-mile canyon.
Once the group dropped in I was no longer scared since there was no way of escaping. We paddled to the Lip of Garganta. Dave, Tino, and Lorenzo went first. It was now my time. I paddled over the lip staring into the throat of the devil and plunged down the biggest rapid I have ever paddled. At the bottom we all celebrated and everyone was safe and ready for the rest of the canyon. The canyon is by far the most amazing place I will ever go on this planet and I feel privileged to know that only kayakers will ever get to see this place. The Rio Claro has been the ten best days of my life!
Jacob Slobodian above Garganta Photo Cred Mackenzie Hatcher
Jacob Slobodian On Gargante Del Diablo Photo Cred Mackenzie Hatcher
Jacob Slobodian Boofing on Viente Dos Saltos Photo cred Tino Specht
Jacob Slobodian slack lining on the Rio Claro Photo cred Tino Specht
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This is a photo essay. Basically a compilation of photos that share a basic theme. My photo essay details our journey through this year, starting in Ottawa first quarter, and ending in West Virginia. I tried to end each section with a night photo, but that was a little difficult. I would like to point out that even though the last shot is not of anyone in our group I feel it describes how we as a group are.
The past week and a bit spent on the Ottawa River was pretty great. Garb came in which was a real treat, but is kind of strange for the spring. Baby face, corner wave, and push button were also great practice. The week though was pretty hard academically as most of us were and still are preparing for the AP exams that we we do this week here at Tino’s house. It was also a little hard as Lorenzo was not in the country so his classes had to communicate over webcam. We took a field trip also to the Canadian Technology and Science Museum, and I am sure you have all read the essays that we had to do for homework. The week weather wise was not preferable as there was some rain and there were a few days that were a little cold. We closed the time out with a trip to Niagara Falls where there were helicopters ridden, attractions visited, and falls scouted. That was our time spent.
“Turn that light on.”
“Wake up!”
“Now tell me where you have hidden the gold!”
“Speak up!”
“Now tell me again and DON’T F****** MUMBLE!”
“Shock him.”
“Now tell me if there are traps.”
“Don’t talk to me like that!”
“Now tell me the right answer.”
“Get the bucket and drown him.”
“Let him up.”
“Now tell me about the traps.”
“Give me the right answers and get out of here quicker.”
“Now tell me how to disarm the traps.”
“I said speak up!”
“Now tell me again or things will get a lot worse.”
“Get me some pliers.”
“Now tell me what to do when I get into the cave.”
“Pull out his teeth.”
“Stop struggling or the pliers might slip.”
“Clean up that blood and tell me how to reach the gold.”
“DON’T F****** LIE TO ME!”
“Now tell me, was that so hard?”
“Untie him and throw him over board.”
“Don’t talk back to me. Understand that he is no longer useful to us.”
“Return to your posts and get this ship moving.”
“Understand that we will find that gold.”
