With so many Mornington i sea, i care Ambassadors, these peer workshops were divided between two days. The first took place at Benton Junior College on May 31 and the second at Somerville Rise Primary School on June 5.
These workshops were all about using leadership skills to deliver a lesson to junior students – teaching students about the abundance of sea life found in our bays and the many ways we can reduce human impacts on the environment.
By having our Ambassadors teach younger students an awareness of these matters, not only does it provide the opportunity to gain experience in leadership, teamwork and public-speaking but helps spread important messages amongst the community.
Ambassadors learnt the content they would use for these lessons in the first half of the day –taking notes of key information and helpful hints that would support the flow of their lesson. Following on from this, Ambassadors worked together as a team to divide roles amongst one another.
The first activity involved Ambassadors describing key characteristics of the Australian Fur Seal, Eleven-Armed Sea Star, Port Jackson Shark, Decorator Crab and Moon Snails.
Activity Two was ‘Beachcombing’ which involved Ambassadors interacting with junior students to creatively outline common items that wash up on our beaches including plastic litter and sponges.
The final activity was called ‘Help find the dolphin’s food’. Here, two very hungry dolphin Ambassadors selected a number of junior students at random to help them find the right food to eat! Finding food for dolphins can prove difficult when there is so much rubbish in the way…
The second half of the day was spent delivering everything learnt to the younger students. Using their notes and what was taught in the first half of the day, Ambassadors rehearsed the lesson and worked together to replicate the 30 minute lesson.
It was fantastic to see Ambassadors step up to the challenge of becoming teachers. For some, this really meant stepping out of their comfort zones, getting up in front a crowd and speaking in public. You all supported each other so well which is a token to your great team working skills as Ambassadors! A big thank you to our hosts, Ella at Benton Junior College and Barbara at Somerville Rise Primary School and all the teachers and parents on the day as well!
