Toronto Rafting School Trips… An Amazing Outdoor Classroom

For students, paddling a river is a great extra-curricular activity… it burns off energy and introduces the Canadian outdoors. But, combine interactive learning with paddling… and one creates a floating classroom that no one will forget.

For three years now Garth Pottruff of the Grand River Rafting Company has been introducing the floating classrooms to Southern Ontario. He uses the Grand River near Paris, Ontario as his teaching backdrop. Garth is a forester, naturalist and historian with a passion for teaching about the valley.

Garth selected eight-man rafts because they paddle like large canoes, but offer total safety. His goal is to get students back into the outdoors… far from the computer screens of feigned reality. He states that the paddle in the hands of the student becomes like a familar "computer mouse"... maneuvering through a larger screen called the "River".

The very act of rafting creates team work. As students paddle together the assigned guides read the "Joe Bushman" quiz. In response, students banter… seeking the answers. From ridiculous laughter to amazing insight, everyone finds themselves cheering or groaning. There are tough inventive questions like "which animal in the valley fights bum to bum?"

Then there is the natural competition between rafts, great effort and energy is spent trying to sneak up and splash. Added are competitions where teams pull to shore to compete in "Cook dat Egg". In this situation, each team is given a pot, egg and matches. The goal is to see which team can build a fire, boil the egg and eat it. The desire to win develops instant team strategy… along with the decision of who will eat it! This whole event brings forth leaders & doers from unexpected corners.

Then there is the opportunity to swim or body surf easy river currents with life jackets. Or to dump out water bottles and fill up with the real thing from springs. The highlight is the unexpected… spotting a deer, seeing a plunging osprey or surprised by the flash of a large fish. The excitement of "where is it" catches everyone’s attention.

Along the way there are hikes through the forest to see beaver chews, try wild edible plants, taste wild honey and learn aboriginal remedies. Trees identification is taught by using the quirks of smell and touch. There are climbs to scenic bluffs where students sit in a panoramic classroom, hearing the peculiarities of the extinct Neutrals in the valley below.

By telling stories… interest is honed… and history remembered. Each guide has a repertoire of stories… telling about wildlife and pioneers when passing related sites. Students absorb as quickly as the tale is told. And questions flow.

These four hour adventures make the Grand River Valley come alive. By rafting the river, students discover its one meter depth with 2 meter pools. They experience water power that once ran grist mills through paddling and swimming. When walking in the river against the current they are amazed at the difficulty... gaining a healthy respect for more turbulent water.

Rafting is an amazing way to experience everything together. Many have been blind-sided by the imagery of whitewater trips... thus labeling all rafting as risky. Ironically, rafting is safer then any canoe or kayak trip. Guides can easily control where the students go and the rafts don’t tip over.

Garth has found that often the student labeled "inattentive or non-cooperative"... thrive in this world of hands-on experiences and story telling. Their tough, pretentious veneer peels back quickly with each added adventure. There are so many new things preoccupying their attention that they don't have time to become bored. These students are often the ones wishing the trip would not end... and talk about it for days when they get back.

But the best thing about the floating classroom is… that regardless of size, skill or swimming ability… students can safely experience the river… and still be right in the middle of it all. And that's what counts!

More Floating Classroom Information
School-oriented outdoor rafting and hiking trips on the Grand River