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Post Our Class Under the Tree

Leigh Alexander's picture

I made my descision to meet under the tree on the hill over the athletic fields because it is my favorite outdoor place on campus.  Since I like to do a lot of thinking in, under, or near trees, I felt that this would be a good interactive thinking space to have our class discussion.  

One thing I had not considered when I picked my site for class was the fact that it was on a hill, which made for some diffult seating arrangments.  I usually have trouble sitting still for a whole class, but in this case especially, the hill made for a very uncomfortable muscle strain in my leg which forced me to shift my seating position so my body was turned away from part of our group.  I noticed other people rearranging themselves, especially us grass-goers, but as a whole I think the situation worked pretty well. The tree is out of direct foot traffic so we didn't have to worry about too many people passing by, just the occasional plane, and because it was pretty sheltered from main campus, and the athletic fields are not typically in use during the day, there weren't too many people to stare at and get distracted by (except of course the giant grasshopper on the stairs, and one very excited looking tour group I noted).   Although I would say that the situation wasn't ideal, I think it made for a nice space to have class in, and I think our discussion worked well.  I'm also glad everyone could find it!