revise

Own experience

Laval Castleberry

Valdosta State

Reflective Seminar

Professor McMillan

9/2/2019

Introduction

South Georgia is among the regions which have successfully eradicated a specific type of animals, those are, rats and reindeer, from its island. I came across the fact after I had visited the region which was profoundly affected by such animals. Unfortunately, we had not learned about the weather patterns of the region to know when the heavy rains tended to fall. In essence, Georgia is known to have extremely hot climate but during the beginning of January, when we visited the place, there are likely heavy rainfalls that the region typically experiences. By the look of the area, one could tell how the habitats within the region suffered from the presence of rats and reindeer. First of all, there was no specific type of birds’ breeds on the island, which in the past periods had been present. In essence, the rats destroyed the eggs of the birds forcing them to migrate to other safer regions, thereby abandoned the island to be unattractive to tourist. Besides, reindeer also altered a particular type of vegetation by suppressing indigenous plants. As a result, the government saw the need for eradicating the two kinds of animals from the island in an attempt to bring back the land’s heritage.

Narrative

One of the significant problems faced by the experience as I visited the region is rainy weather which often comes on January through March. Typically, South Georgia is located near the Florida line; a remote with subtropical climate area hence extremely hot summers. The beginning of January tends to mark the heavy rainfall and for that we did not have any idea that the region could rain that heavy. We happened to visit the region during the heavy rainy season that falls in January throughout to March. Initially, I had not thought of the climatic condition that I would face, so I did not armed my-self enough. There were present of animals that grazed on young vegetation that were literary growing on the land. Besides, there were also strong winds with great sounds from thunderstorms that made the place to look terrifying. The weather created an obstacle for me to learn more about the destruction the rats and the reindeer had brought to the land, but some villagers who lived on the nearby helped my mother and me with animals skins that were full of hairs to prevent the cold that accompanied the rains. Due to the problem, it was not possible for us to rich our destination as the rain that had begun as an effect of wind turned to be massive and got even stronger as we approach the region with full of evidence regarding the presence of rats and reindeer on the island. Nevertheless, I was able to get convinced with what I saw as the village people would offer us some pictorial images that signified the presence of the animals in a few years that had past. Also, the news has spread across the media as the eradication marked the astonishing thing to ever happen on the world of conservation.

One of the reflective learning theories that I will apply to this paper is Dewey’s theory of reflective learning. In essence, before I left home, I could not have taken into consideration the problem that I was to encounter in the region. That is, I did not know the weather conditions of the place, and as such, I did not prepare myself better for the challenge that came to us as a surprise. It was a surprise to us since Georgia is a hot weather region with minimal rains. Applying Dewey’s theory, it was a careful and persistent consideration of my knowledge about the region in the light of grounds that supported it (Ord, 2017). Due to the own experience, I was able to make sense of the situation I encountered in the region as I tried to find out more about the rats and the reindeer that I had found hard and puzzling to understand.

The application of reflective practice could have made the outcome of the challenge better by allowing us to gain the ability to reflect the weather patterns of the region and to acquire knowledge on the rainy seasons of the region so that next time I would know precisely the suitable season to visit such areas. Besides, if we had to tour the region during the season, we would have taken several considerations into account to ensure that we would be safer from the rainfall. To handle the situation we had met during the reflective learning, it is essential for one to first identify the weather patterns of the region before visiting to choose the best season to tour. Also, with the knowledge of the weather conditions, it is significant for one to prepare enough for the tour by ensuring he or she is aware of rainy weather thereby the need to arm oneself with heavy clothing items such as rainy jackets, gloves, boots and more of such.

Before the touring the region, I used my reflective thinking about the weather condition that I was to encounter in the region based on what I was told. As such, I did not take any significant measures against the problem faced. Nevertheless, after using the reflective learning processes, I was able to understand how the weather conditions of the place could be hostile in terms of heavy rainfall despite of the hot climate conditions that the land is known for. Generally, heavy rainfall was one of the essential challenges I faced during my experience and through the learning experience process, I was able to know more on region’s weather seasons. Due to the improper preparedness, we could not reach the final destination but after learning experience process, we could have armed ourselves accordingly or touring the region when it was not raining hard to arrive at the final destination.

Conclusion

In conclusion, Georgia is among the regions that tend to receive heavy rainfall especially on its rainy season that begins in January and proceed to March. I was able to learn the situation and learned more ideas on how to encounter the problem by taking essential measures against the weather situations of the region especially on the rainy season. Through reflective learning process, I came to understand more about the climatic problems that one can encounter while visiting the South Georgia Island. Additionally, I was able to develop my own experience with the place and to learn what I had no knowledge about through the personal experience.

References

Ord, J., & Leather, M. (2017). Experiential education: The importance of John Dewey 1. In Rethinking Outdoor, Experiential and Informal Education (pp. 40-55). Routledge.