106-mile kayak trip will boost teacher’s classroom instruction

Jennifer Mitchell’s summer prep wasn’t limited to desk and computer work this year.

The Monroe County Middle School teacher spent seven days and 106 miles on the Etowah River, and she’ll incorporate her new knowledge and experiences into her lesson plans.

About 400 people steered canoes and kayaks down the water from Dawson to Floyd County for the Georgia River Network’s 13th Paddle Georgia trip. About 100 participated in just the first two days, and the rest did the full week, coordinator Joe Cook said.

Mitchell, who teachers math, science and special education on Monroe Middle’s Banks Stephens Campus, was among seven educators who received scholarships for the event, which finished June 23.

The teachers had a day of workshops June 16 before the paddling started, and they learned how to collect data and do chemical water testing in streams, Cook said. They got certified in the Georgia Adopt-a-Stream program and were trained in the Healthy Water Health People curriculum from Project Water Education for Teachers, Mitchell said.

“The training has lots of activities that they can do with their students to incorporate environmental learning into their everyday lesson plans,” said Cook, who goes on the trip every year. “When you paddle 100 miles down a river, you get to see not just the beauty but some of the ways we use and even abuse the river, so it gives a different perspective. The hope is that the teachers will take that back to their students.”

Mitchell plans to start an Adopt-a-Stream club at her school and work the environmental, conservation and math concepts that she learned into her classes. She’ll share her knowledge with the other science teachers at Monroe County Middle and keep in touch with the other educators she met on the Etowah River.

“This was an even better opportunity to learn more about the state that I call home now,” said Mitchell, a kayaker and lover of the outdoors. “Anything I can do to hook my students’ interest is a bonus. I’m always trying to relate things I’ve done or things they’re familiar with.”

Participants — from children to senior citizens and seasoned paddlers to beginners — worked their way down the Etowah in 20-mile increments and logged between six and eight and a half hours daily on the water.

“It was just so peaceful. It’s just you and the water, no electronics, no emails to answer,” she said. “It was probably the most relaxing and difficult thing I’ve ever done.”

Paddlers camped in tents at an event venue and a city park, and they had catered meals for breakfast and dinner and bag lunches, Cook said. There were activities and programs each evening, opportunities for people to visit tourist and historic sites, and a block party in Rome on the last night.

“Some folks have described it as summer camp for adults or summer camp for the whole family,” Cook said. “The purpose of the event is to get people out on Georgia’s rivers and to make connections with those rivers.”

When people develop a love for rivers, they’re more likely to take steps to protect them. Paddle Georgia also aims to improve access to rivers and promote them as destinations, he said.

Mitchell said she hopes to bring her 15- and 18-year-old sons and maybe some of her students on next year’s trip, which will go down the Yellow and Ocmulgee rivers.

This story was originally published June 30, 2017 at 6:15 PM with the headline "106-mile kayak trip will boost teacher’s classroom instruction."