Pathways - Outdoor Education | COEO

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PathwaysTHE ONTARIO JOURNAL OF OUTDOOR EDUCATIONConference 2004, 16(5)

ISSN: 0840-8114

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PathwaysThe Council of Outdoor Educators of

Ontario Board of DirectorsPresident: Grant Linney

Past President: Mary Gyemi-Schulze

Vice President: Shane Kramer

Treasurer: Daena Greig

Secretary: Steve McElroy

Director At Large: Erin Sharpe

Director At Large: Doug Jacques

Director At Large: Brian Lisson

Central Region Co-Rep: Kelly Murphy

Central Region Co-Rep: Vanessa KleinHaar

Eastern Region: Walter Sepic

Western Region: Mike Elrick

Northern Region: Heather Flack

Membership: Glen Hester

Our mailing address:Council of Outdoor Educators of Ontario1185 Eglinton Avenue EastToronto, ON M3C 3C6

Our Web site address:www.coeo.org

COEO

Formed in 1972, the Council of Outdoor Educatorsof Ontario (COEO) is a non-profit, volunteer-based organization that promotes safe, qualityoutdoor education experiences for people of allages. This is achieved through publishing thePathways journal, running an annual conferenceand regional workshops, maintaining a Web site,and working with kindred organizations as well asgovernment agencies.

Contributions Welcome

Pathways is always looking for contributions. Ifyou are interested in making a submission, ofeither a written or illustrative nature, we would behappy to hear from you. For a copy of oursubmission guidelines, please contact RandeeHolmes, Managing Editor.

If you are interested in being a guest editor of anissue of Pathways, please request a copy of ourguidelines for guest editors from Randee Holmes,Managing Editor.

If you have any questions regarding Pathways, pleasedirect them to Bob Henderson, Chair of the PathwaysEditorial Board. If you’d like more informationabout COEO and joining the organization, pleaserefer to the inside back cover of this issue orcontact a Board of Directors’ member.

Our advertising policy:Pathways accepts advertisements for products andservices that may be of interest to our readers. Toreceive an advertising information package, pleasecontact Bob Henderson, Chair of the PathwaysEditorial Board. We maintain the right to refuseany advertisement we feel is not in keeping withour mandate and our readers’ interests.

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FeaturesThe Maturation of a Field.........................................................….....4

Chris LoynesSongwriting Workshop...................................................................8

Ian TamblynEffective Outdoor Teaching Strategies..............................…….…….11

Christian Bisson and Clayton RussellTransformational Outdoor Education: From Barn to Yurt......…….…19

Zabe MacEachren

ColumnsEditor’s Log Book………………………............…………..……....…….2

Bob HendersonPresident’s View..……………...…………........…………..……....…….3

Grant LinneyThe Gathering................………...……........………………..……....…25

Alissa Lyn AgresIn the Field.....................................…………....……………………..26

Paul StromeKeepers of the Trail...........................…………....……………………..31

Allison CarrierIn the Field.....................................…………....……………………..32

Heather ReadTracking..................………………...……………….................…….34In Memoriam............………………...………………..……........…….36

PathwaysPathways Editorial BoardChair: Bob Henderson

Dept. of Kinesiology,McMaster University

Heather Bates

Allison Carrier

Allan Foster

Zabe MacEachrenDuncan MacArthur Hall, Queen’s University

Mike Morris

Tom PotterSchool of Outdoor Recreation, Parks and

Tourism, Lakehead University

Connie RussellFaculty of Education, Lakehead University

Friends of PathwaysClare Magee, Barrie Martin, Barb

McKean and Mark Whitcombe

Managing Editor: Randee Holmes

ISSN: 0840-8114Pathways is printed on recycled paper.

Pathways is published five times a year for the Council of OutdoorEducators of Ontario (COEO) and distributed to COEO members.Membership fees include a subscription to Pathways, as well asadmittance to workshops, courses and conferences. A membershipapplication form is included on the inside back cover of this issue ofPathways.

Opinions expressed in Pathways are those of the authors and do notnecessarily reflect those of the Pathways’ Editorial Board or COEO.Advertising included in Pathways should not be interpreted as anendorsement by COEO of the products or services represented. Allrights reserved.

Articles in Pathways may be reproduced only with permission.Requests must be made in writing and should be directed to BobHenderson, Chair, Pathways Editorial Board.

THE ONTARIO JOURNAL OF OUTDOOR EDUCATIONConference 2004, 16(5)

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ditor’s Log BookE

Sketch Pad — Art for this issue of Pathways is generously provided by JoshGordon (cover and pages 3, 5, 9, 13, 17, 22, 24, 27 and 31), Kate Prince (page 28)and Heather Read (pages 32 and 33).

Pathways is pleased to present another COEOConference theme issue. This year’s conferencewas a success in part because of the excellentco-operation of Tim Horton’s Onondago Farmsstaff. Also see the names and organizationslisted below as organizing committee andsponsors who all helped make the conferencerun smoothly. The content within this issueis a sample of the many excellent sessionsoffered to the 120 or so conference delegates.It was a treat to have Chris Loynes from theUK join us as a keynote presenter. Also ofspecial note was the well-attended sessionlead by Clayton Russell and Christian Bisson,both university professors at Americancolleges who have been keen to attend ourconference for many years now.

This year’s conference was well attended byupwards of 20 students from Queen’s, McMasterand York Universities. As expected, togetherthey added a rich dynamic to the whole.Monika Roy, David Arthur and Bill Thompson—all leaders with the Ontario Society ofEnvironmental Educators—were also a forceat the conference. Singer and songwriter Ian

Tamblyn returned to the gathering, lasthaving joined us at the Camp Tamakwaconference. He led us in Canadiana/outdoorsong, story and travels. He followed this witha songwriters’ workshop (see page 8 for moredetail). Bruce Murphy and Jerry Jordisonjoined us as presenters from the northernOntario reaches of New Liskeard/Temagami.And all this is just a sample.

Thanks to Josh Gordon, illustrator-in-residence, for his contribution to thisconference issue. Josh is a full-time student atSheridan College and works part-time at theRoyal Botanical Gardens. For any inquiriesand interest in his colouring books, you canreach him at 193 James Street South,Hamilton, ON L8P 3A8, or 905-527-6251.

Pathways hopes to have captured here some ofthe dynamic energy involved in this year’sconference. We look forward to celebrating thepromising 2005 conference bringing togetherCOEO, EECOM and OSEE at Camp Tawingo.

Bob Henderson

Conference CommitteeHeather BatesJason EvansonBob HendersonGlen HesterPatti HuberKate HumphrysLinda McKenzieTal SchachamErin Sharpe

Thanks for the solid support of the TimHorton Onondago Farms Staff.

Thanks for the generous support of ourConference 2004 sponsors:Adventure Attic, Hamilton, ONAdventure Guide, Waterloo, ONAlgonquin Outfitters, Dwight, ONChocolat LamontagneEagle Press, Burlington, ONGreen Teacher, Toronto, ONMountain Equipment Co-Op, Toronto, ONOutdoors Oriented, St. Catharines, ONOutward Bound CanadaTumblehome, Burlington, ONWhalesongs, Burlington, ON

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resident’s ViewPWith this issue of our journal, I extend ourthanks and bravos for an excellent Conference2004 to chair Bob Henderson and hiscommittee of Heather Bates, Jason Evanson,Glen Hester, Patti Huber, Kate Humphrys,Linda McKenzie, Tal Schacham, and ErinSharpe. COEO exists because of talented anddedicated volunteers such as these fine folks,as well as the annual award winners who arecelebrated in these pages.

This is also a good time to tell you that theplanning for our big joint conference 2005 isalready well underway. EECOM (CanadianNetwork for Environmental Education andCommunication), OSEE (Ontario Society forEnvironmental Education) and COEO areteaming up to present an exciting conferenceentitled “Creating Ripples: Education,Environment and Culture.” The dates areSeptember 29 to October 2, 2005 (right at thepeak of fall colours!), and the location isCamp Tawingo near Huntsville. COEOplanners include Bonnie Anderson, MaryGyemi-Schulze, Ian Hendry, Glen Hester,Barb Imrie, and Steve McElroy, with severalother members already submitting sessionproposals. If you would like to help out in anyway, now or later, for a project with a limitedtime frame or for something longer term,please contact Glen Hester [email protected].

Program strands for the conference are• Outdoor Experiences• Community Engagement• Critical Reflection• Global Education

• Leadership• EthicsA call for presentations hasalready been issued, with adeadline of December 31st fastapproaching. For details onthis and other aspects ofthe conference, go towww.eecom.org/ripples2005. This site isbeing continuouslyupdated as more detailsare finalized.

Your new Board of Directors held a verysuccessful first meeting on November 13th.Several new and continuing initiatives wereidentified, among them an undertaking toreview existing research on positive outcomesin outdoor education and to publish anannotated synopsis of their findings. Staytuned for more details on this and, if you didnot receive a copy yourself, look up our latestelectronic newsletter by going to the Newspage of our Web site: www.coeo.org. If youwould like to receive this newsletter on aregular basis, let me know [email protected]. This has now becomeour primary means of informing you ofupcoming regional events (yes, there will besome again this year!) as well as otheroutdoor education news.

Please note that any COEO member iswelcome to attend a Board of Director’smeeting. Future meetings are listed below.

Grant Linney

Date Time Location

Sat. January 8, 2005 9:30 am to 4:30 pm Norval Outdoor School

Wed. March 2, 2005 7:30 pm to 8:30 pm Phone conference

Sat. April 2, 2005 9:30 am to 4:30 pm TBA

Sat. May 28, 2005 9:30 am to 4:30 pm TBA

Sat. Sept. 17, 2005 9:30 am to 4:30 pm TBA

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eatureF

First, I would like to thank the COEOconference committee for inviting me toyour conference. It was a very enjoyable andenlightening visit and I hope to return withmore time to explore your neighbourhood.

These notes are based on my talk at yourconference. They originate from myexperience of the development anddiversification of outdoor education in theUK. I am not grounded in Canadian practice.You will have to do the work to see whetherthis information has any lessons of value foryour field of endeavour.

Burt Horwood and Bob Henderson havespent some time helping to orientate me.Burt’s notes from a recent workshop capturesome imaginative thoughts concerning thenature and relevance of your practice. Twometaphors from these notes stuck in mymind. Burt advocated for the importance ofworking with passion as well as knowledge,likening passion to the wind in the sail andknowledge as the rudder to steer by. Thisreminded me of a Russian folk tale called“The Firebird” in which the hunter, the heroof the story, has to encounter and takepossession of passion, represented in thestory by the firebird, and values, representedby the princess.

Metaphors are a great way to communicate.They are a central strategy in much of ourwork. Burt also offered the metaphor ofevolution, inviting workshop delegates toconsider the field of outdoor education as anecosystem with new species evolving andcompeting for a niche whilst other speciespass into extinction. This generated somegreat discussion.

The Maturation of a Fieldby Chris Loynes

A developmental approach. I would liketo continue in this grand tradition byexploring a complementary metaphor, thatof maturation. The field has been around inits current form since the Second World War.It is approaching 60 years of age, slightlylonger than my own life span. Being anoptimist I would like to propose that the fieldhas reached the third age of personhood,passing through childhood and youth toadulthood. It is these three ages I would liketo use as the basis for my metaphor. I wouldalso like to take an archetypal approach tothese ages to enlarge the metaphor startingagain with ‘child’ and progressing to theyouth as ‘hero’ and the adult as ‘warrior.’

Enlightenment shadows. Before I get goingand apply this metaphor to our practice Iwould like to enrich this discussion byplacing it in the context of our modern life.The enlightenment has brought manybenefits including democracy, education,health care, longer life expectancies andhigher standards of living for our part of theworld. However this liberation from theoppression of rural poverty under thedomination of a social elite has its shadow.

The first of these shadows is the disconnectionwe feel from landscapes and communities.My parents were evacuated during theSecond World War to avoid the bombings.They never went home. They joined the navyand my childhood involved moving everythree years to be near the port my father wassailing from. There is no place in which I amrooted except through my own experiencesand relationships. Like so many of us today, Ihave a broken history. Of course, this has ahuge up side: travel, professional satisfaction,higher education, new friends, intriguinglandscapes and cultures. However, it is also a

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The Maturation of a Field

feature we refer to as regret in our world,leading to a disconnection from sustainablelifestyles. The consequences of our actionsare less visible in the global markets andtransient populations of this age. We wouldsay we have lost touch.

The second shadow is equally paradoxical.Our culture has placed an increasing focuson the individual. The construction of theself is far more the responsibility of the selfthan of the community in which that selfresides. The same can be said for anyaccountability for the actions of the self. Forexample, offending is the fault of the offenderand not shared with the community thatholds the person who has strayed from themoral order. Individuality is a wonderfulachievement in which liberal educators haveplayed a major role. It can be argued that it hasalso led to an abdication of social responsibilityand part of the shadow of disconnection.

I will return to three themes of liberation,disconnection and individuality during myexploration of outdoor education as child,youth and adult.

The child. Child’s play develops embodiedand tacit knowledge emphasising personalknowledge of the world learnedexperientially through the senses and insocial interaction. As adults we can glimpsethis knowledge when it surfaces as ourbodies, voices or senses take over from ourconscious minds in dramatic situations. Weoften value these moments but moreoften than not ouregos get in the way ofthis social andsensual learning.Attachment theoryexplores the way inwhich our relations asadults are influencedby the quality of ourrelations with our significantcarers, most often our mothers.

Carole Gilligan argues in her book In aDifferent Voice that for those two-thirds of uswho were close to our mothers and treated asthough we were like her, our relations withothers in adult life are easy and caring. Forthose of us who were close and treated asthough we were different from her, we findrelations with others important butproblematic. For those few of us who weredistanced by our carers we treat relationshipsas less important and even more problematic.

Brendan Hill replaced the idea of the motherwith the Earth mother. His research on ourrelationship to the Earth obtained similarresults to those found in human relations.Two-thirds of us have a close relationshipwith our landscape in which we feel at homeand safe. We have no problems and valuerelationships with places as adults. What ismore, these childhood places do not need tobe special or even green. A garbage dump willdo provided we feel safe and are allowed toplay. Frank Ferudi, a UK sociologist who has

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written about the problem of risk aversion inour culture, writes that the single mostvaluable thing we can do for our children isto re-create spaces in which they can playunsupervised.

Outdoor education has played a major role incompensating for this lack of child’s playeven though it is sometimes challenged asnot proper education. I can’t help thinkingthat it is education we would, on reflection,rather not be offering as a major goal in ourwork. It is remedial, addressing thedisconnection we experience, a disconnectionthat perhaps could and should be addressedby family and community lifestyles ratherthan professionalized within formaleducations. However, play is a core value ofour practice. Many of our roots are inrecreation out-of-doors through naturalhistory and outdoor activities. The value ofthese activities is intrinsic, unquestioned andself-evident. We know outdoor education issatisfying, broadens horizons, builds character,establishes confidence, promotes a healthybody and mind and results in a sense of wellbeing, and even spiritual fulfilment. As PeterHiggins has written it is “re-creation.” Andsometimes we need someone else to carveout a space and give us permission to enter itat any time of life. It is our founding andmost durable contribution to our culture,connecting and re-connecting the self withitself and with the other.

Growing pains. The step from child to youthcan be compared with the expulsion fromthe Garden of Eden. Self-awareness, the giftof the fruit of knowledge, sets us apart fromthis immersed education in nature. At thesame time, the firebird of passion runsthrough our veins. We are energised to exploreour identities through our exploration of theworld around us. The project of constructingthe self now lasts from mid-teens to mid-twenties and is increasingly complex in adiverse world offering more and morepossibilities of location, friendship, work and

faith. It is a time during which we seekagency in the world, room to move in ourown particular way. We feel good when weare powerful and in control of new skills andknowledge. We build the social andknowledge capital that will eventually set uson one path or another in adult life.

Alternatively we find this journey a struggleor even too difficult. Suicide, self-harming,anorexia, and other related conditions arerapidly rising amongst young people. Anti-social behaviour, drug use and criminalactivity are prevalent amongst 17% of thisgroup leading to labels of disaffection orexclusion. Funding in formal and informaleducation is often targeted at these “problems,”seeing them as issues for individuals to resolvein their lives and absolving communities ofany accountability for causing or solving theproblem—further disconnection throughprofessionalisation.

Youth is the time of the hero. It is a time toenter extraordinary fantasy worlds to discoverour power, values and purpose. These worldsare the worlds of the gym, the field or theoutdoors; of the computer game, the club, thegang or the street. They are defined bylanguage, fashion and music and areincreasingly a site for consumption requiringever more disposable income to engage withthese projects. No wonder, in a time ofdecreasing jobs, this is a time of growingfinancial dependence.

Again outdoor education has played its partsince Hahn defined his six moral declines andBaden-Powell developed scouting as a moralequivalent to war. Funding, increasinglyavailable to address the behaviours of youththat adults find most unsettling, has corneredoutdoor education into the box of remediesfor exclusion and disaffection.

In its professional development outdooreducation has spent much time and energyexploring its youthful, heroic phase. We have

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revelled in the power and potency of ourwork and practiced it in extraordinary spacesoften detached from the everyday world ofthe community or school. We have beenreluctant to integrate with the mainstream,preferring to explore our capabilities on ourown terms in the safe spaces we can find inthe wild. We tell vivid stories of our exploits,close calls and dramatic successes both in termsof outdoor and educational accomplishments.We have pursued impossible quests andunearthed unimagined treasures in theprocess. Our individuality and our uniqueattributes have been revealed and hardenedin the adventure. We have learned to trustthem and to be trusted for them. Recently, wehave begun to glimpse what it is we might becapable of in the real world of social andenvironmental tragedies and how we mightsupport our participants in playing their partwith a hopeful optimism. It is time to explorewhat the field might do in its adult phase.

Engagement. The adult warrior returnsfrom the hero’s journey to the ordinaryworld carrying the hard won treasure that isthe core of what they can do for this world.Waiting for them are the communities theywill serve, looking for the treasure they bringand wondering how it might affect the worldaround them. It is a time of service andhumility. It is a time to make a difference asemployee, director, partner, friend or parent.It is a time to play our part in the liberation ofself and planet.

Outdoor education is only beginning toengage politically with the different domainsto which it can contribute: formal education,informal education, adult learning, therapyand recreation. It has begun a dialogue withthe gatekeepers of these institutions. It haslearned to listen to the needs of its communityand not simply celebrate its power withoutcontext or accountability. It has begun toexperiment with political engagement incommunities, finding its way to make adifference to sustainable living building

connection, developing individuality andcontributing to the liberation of the land andthe people in generative ways. As a new“treasure” it has the potential to reinvigorateold ways. As something returning from itstime in the wilderness it is principled andproactive, ready to tackle the issues of the daywith creative and energetic responses. It islooking for niches in which it can begin thiswork.

Not all institutions or communitiesremember how to treat the hero on return.Sometimes it is a battle to find a role, to berecognised for what we are and to be resourcedto play our part. This is not our fault.Institutions and communities need to be re-taught how to embrace the new energy of thetime, just as we have to learn how to offer ourtreasures with humility and relevance.

Blending. If you know anything oftransactional analysis, a model of humanrelations that is also based on maturation,you will know that each of the relationalpositions, or ego states, of child, adult andparent is present in us at any time. You willalso know that each position is of value.Rightness depends on context and perception.A conversation between two people can shiftfluidly back and forth between all three egostates on both sides. So I imagine it would bewith this model. Our childlike strategies areof as much worth as our youth and adultapproaches in the right context. They willblend into a seamless response to individualor collective developmental needs. It is myhope that, as one way of interpreting whateach of us do with this wonderful approachto learning, we become skilled blenders.

And let’s look forward to the next stage in ourmaturation and what that might have to offer!

Chris Loynes was the COEO keynote speaker forthe Annual Conference 2004. He is a lecturerat St. Marten’s College in Ambleside, England.

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eatureF

1. Writing Songs1.1 What are songs?1.2 Why are we writing songs?1.3 Can the process of writing be

explained?1.4 The muse and craft—and the

difference between them.1.5 Writing songs: Healing or injury?

Or both?

2. Songs/The Story2.1 Serving the story.2.2 What are you writing about? Who

are you talking about? Who are youtalking to?

2.3 Level of language distillation.2.4 Perspective/voice/point of view.2.5 Finding themes: What are our

themes? Recurring themes in yoursongs.

2.6 Songs, short stories and poetry.2.7 The magic of the story.

3. The Instrument3.1 What is your instrument?

Connection to song. Effect onsongwriting.

3.2 Do you have a second or thirdinstrument?

3.3 What is your musical appetite?3.4 What are your musical influences?3.5 What are you listening to? What are

you reading?3.6 Taking on a voice.3.7 Finding your voice.3.8 Voice and words, voice and

instrument.3.9 The cruel task of self-editing.

Songwriting WorkshopIan Tamblyn, September 26, 2004

Editor’s Note: These are Ian’s notes from a full-day workshop. We thought it would beintriguing to share this treatment of the full process from Ian’s point of view. For Ian’s 90-minute COEO workshop, we dealt with parts of items one to ten.

4. Instrument, Song and Style4.1 How musical appetite affects the

song.4.2 Setting the mould/breaking the

mould/rules of the game.4.3 Content and style—where are you

in this continuum?4.4 Hot licks, in a personal identifiable

style.4.5 The marriage of instrument, voice

and song.

5. Types of Songs5.1 Muse-driven songs.5.2 Craft-driven songs.5.3 Finding your themes.

6. The Work of Songwriting6.1 Muse vs. craft.6.2 Story vs. diary.6.3 The collective subjective.6.4 The discipline of writing.

7. The Musicality of Words7.1 The object to seamlessly weave the

words with the music to arrive atthird place.

7.2 Some words ain’t musical.7.3 The condensation/distillation of

thought.7.4 The transcendent phrase.7.5 The reworked/heightened cliché.7.6 Metaphor, simile and all that.7.7 Rhyming scheme: to rhyme or not

to rhyme.7.8 Cadence.7.9 Form.7.10 The most asked question: What

comes first—the music or the words?

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Songwriting Workshop

8. The Game—The Goal—Through theSong8.1 Transporting the listener to another

place, a heightened awareness, achange of perspective, a catharticmoment, an emotional purging, aprecognitive moment.

8.2 Precognitive moment—distillationof thoughts/events the writer hasdrawn together in song that leadsthe listener to an AHA! moment.

8.3 Thought—the combination of wordsand music you are putting in train,thought and emotions that youhope will lead the listener to “getit,” “feel it,” want it to be part oftheir life, and so on.

8.4 The mysterious ride of music andwords—when the whole thing worksand whatever was said, sung andplayed went in as a whole withoutanalysis or questioning of any partof the illusion.

8.5 Conceit—the belief that what youhave to say is important, unique, tobe shared, or healing to yourself.

8.6 Neurosis—the ongoing belief thatall your work is complete crap. Howdo we get fooled into thinking anyof it is good? Learning to live withneurosis.

9. The Form—Know the Rules to Break aRule9.1 The neo-classic/country form.9.2 The golden age form.9.3 The Dyland stream of consciousness

form.9.4 How the form is influenced by what

you are reading and listening to.

10. What are You Writing About?10.1 Do you know what you are writing

about?10.2 Are there recurring themes in your

work?10.3 Is your work mostly autobiographical?10.4 Have you hit the wall? What is the

wall?10.5 Have you gone through the wall?10.6 Are you compelled to write?10.7 Is writing helping you?

11. Again the Story11.1 Serving the story.11.2 Serving the discipline.11.3 Serving the music.

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Songwriting Workshop

12. The Work12.1 The first songs come easy.12.2 The 30th song.12.3 Learning what you are doing may be

your undoing.12.4 The unconscious/conscious

songwriter.12.5 The marriage of muse/craft. The

marriage of luck/work.12.6 Writer’s block—problem/solution.12.7 Filling the well—experiences,

relationships, new music, travel,circle of friends, influences, etc.

12.8 Accepting your themes, your palette.Redistillation of themes.

12.9 The notebook, the diary, the cassettedeck, the mini disc, the studio.

13. Self Criticism (So now you have asong).13.1 No editor, no director, no producer.

Unique position in the arts. Whatdo you do?

13.2 Self Editing—Working the song.Reworking the song. Surroundingthe theme: If at first you don’tsucceed—write again. Polishing thestone: editing the phrases, thecadence, the notes, the melody line,the words, the sounds and sonics.Your attitude towards the song: Doyou like singing it? Does it moveyou? Do you want to share it? Doessome of it make you ill? How closedid you get? Taking your workseriously.

14. The Singing of the Song (The rightnote, at the right time, in the rightpitch)14.1 Again! What is your take/perspective

on the song?14.2 Who is your character?14.3 Approach—emotionally distant/

close/angry/suspended—and manysubdivisions thereof.

14.4 Melody, pitch, intonation, dynamicrange.

14.5 Technique, too much technique andserving the song.

15. The Recording of Songs15.1 Are you ready?15.2 A producer: A necessary evil or what?15.3 The players, the arrangements.15.4 The budget.15.5 The studio.15.6 Demo/CD what are you shooting

for?15.7 The problem of vanity press.15.8 The democratization of process/

should everyone be in the pool?

16. The Registering of Songs16.1 So you got yourself a decent song.

Legal questions.16.2 Copyright questions.16.3 SOCAN.16.4 Mail yourself a letter.16.5 Writing with others.16.6 Recording other people’s songs—

Permission.16.7 Royalties, various and sundry. Radio,

TV, music videos, performanceroyalties, mechanical royalties, MPENapster debate, music distribution/net debate.

16.8 Get yourself a lawyer.

17. Other Influences17.1 The camera, movies, slides, movies,

theatre, movie music, theatre music,informing the centre.

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“This must be an exciting time for you. You areabout to engage in a wonderful adventure—youare following in the steps of a great profession.Today you are starting your journey to becomeprofessional outdoor educators. You know thatfor the past seven decades, outdoor educationcurricula have proven to be very popular, notonly because of the natural settings they oftenuse, but also because they are known for usinginnovative, effective and engaging teachingstrategies. So, not only will you teach in theoutdoors, for and about the outdoors, and throughthe outdoors; you will also learn to be skilled, fun,and effective teachers—and that must be exciting.”

Well, this is what we have been saying to ouroutdoor education students for the past eightyears, and, to be honest, that introductionspeech has always been easier said than done.What we eventually realized is that, althoughour students were experiencing an array ofclasses that would prepare them to interpretthe natural world or effectively paddle acanoe, we were somehow expecting them toknow instinctively how to teach. Well,knowing the difference between an EasternHemlock and a Balsam Fir or how to properlyexecute a j-stroke does not necessarily assurethat our students know how to teach thevarious concepts, skills or values commonlyfound in an outdoor education curriculum.

This is when we realized that, although ourstudents could access many lesson plans inenvironmental education or adventureeducation activity books, they could not findresources on ways to effectively teach theseactivities. Therefore, we decided to provideand model this information through our classes.To do so, we started by compiling a list ofdistinctive teaching strategies appropriate foran outdoor education curriculum. We limited

Effective Outdoor Teaching Strategiesby Christian Bisson and Clayton Russell

eatureF

our search to strategies we had personallyused or observed in our years of teaching. Wequickly realized that the list was much largerthan we thought. When we carefully lookedat all the strategies we had used in ourrespective teaching careers, we discoveredthat there were more than “guided discovery”or the famous “teachable moment.” Weactually found more than two dozenstrategies (listed below). Some of thesestrategies are well known but some might benew to you. They sure were new to most ofour students in outdoor education.

Teaching Strategies

QuestioningGuided DiscoveryTeaching by InquiryProblem Solving/Group ChallengePeer TeachingTeam TeachingLecture with Seeded QuestionsDemonstrationGroup Discussion Led by Instructor or StudentsDebatesStorytellingGuest SpeakerSkits and Role PlaySimulationsGamesPersonal JournalingNature JournalingGroup JournalingSoloReflectionTeachable MomentsGrasshopper TeachingInterpretive HikesNature Appreciation/Awareness ActivitiesTeaching at NightTeaching in Bad Weather

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Some of you might wonder, “Why use somany different teaching strategies?” Well, thesimplest answer is that, like a good carpenter,a teacher should be able to use many tools tohelp build an effective curriculum. The moreteaching strategies you have included in your“repertoire of instruction” the more optionsyou will have to craft your lessons. Plus, sometopics are better taught and learned whenusing certain teaching strategies. Which leadsus to remind the reader, not only should youhave a large selection of teaching strategies inyour back pocket, you should also learn tobecome more astute in the art of selecting theappropriate teaching strategy. This skill willobviously come through practice but it is alsoimportant to keep in mind logistical, curricularand social factors such as time allowed, timeof the day, preparation time available,equipment available, subject being taught,group maturity, group energy, and, perhapsmost important, your educational goals.

Whether your teaching involves month-longwilderness education expeditions, intensiveweekend adventure education programs,environmental education day programs, or theclassic week-long residential outdoor educationprograms, this article has something for you.

Unfortunately, because of limited space, thisarticle will illustrate only four teachingstrategies that were presented at the 2004COEO conference. The reader will notice thatwe have carefully selected examples of ways toapply each strategy in various outdoor curriculasuch as adventure education, environmentaleducation or wilderness education.

As outdoor educators, it is essential that wekeep striving to improve our teachingtechniques. This article is intended to be acelebration of the “E” in OE. In the end, wehope that this article will allow you todiscover new teaching strategies, reacquaintyourself with old teaching tricks or inspireyou to invent new ways of teaching effectivelyin the outdoors. We hope that after a while

you will be comfortable using or adaptingthese strategies to your own lessons.

Teaching by Inquiry

Similar to the guided discovery method,teaching by inquiry is a strategy that inviteslearners to be involved in their learningprocess. I like using this method when mystudents have expressed an avid curiosity anda tolerance for some of my most frustratingminute mysteries — you know the mindpuzzles in which you can only answer “yes”or “no” to the questions people ask you.

So, instead of asking questions as in a guideddiscovery, you simply reverse the roles bytelling the students that they have to discoverthe answer to a problem by asking the rightquestions. It obviously becomes a form ofgroup challenge that intrigues and motivatesthe learners.

Again, this teaching strategy can be used invarious learning situations. An inquiringapproach could look like the followingteaching sample.

Sample 1: Tree Identification

Here is a fun application for teaching byinquiry. First, teach tree identification using astep-by-step approach, such as with adichotomy chart or book, where at each stepthere are only two options to choose from.Follow up by assessing and reinforcing thestudents learning by asking them to play thefollowing inquiry puzzler.

Tell them you have hidden in your pocket asmall tree branch that they can all identify.Challenge them to discover what species thisbranch is by asking questions that will leadthem to the right answer. Explain that youwill not show them the branch and will onlyrespond to their questions by offering “yes”or “no” answers. Remind them to carefullylisten to each other so that they can learn

Effective Outdoor Teaching Strategies

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from each other’s inquiries. You can also setthe rule that all of them have to agree on aspecies before suggesting a final inquiry. Thepuzzler can look like something like thefollowing.

Students “Does the branch have leaves or needle?”

Instructor “Sorry, but I cannot answer thisquestion by yes or no”

Students “Does the branch have leaves?”

Instructor “No”

Students “Does the needles looks like little scale?”

Instructor “No”

Students “Are the needles bundled together?”

Instructor “No”

Students “Are the needles flat?”

Instructor “Yes”

Students “Are the needles short?”


Students “Does the tree that produced thisbranch also produce large cones?”

Instructor “No”

Students “Does the tree that produced thisbranch have a head that always bends down?”


Students “Are the needles attached to thebranch by a very small stem-like base?”


Students “Does the branch come from ahemlock tree?”


When the students identify the tree correctly,pull out the branch and congratulate themfor finding the right answer to the puzzle.Yahoo!

You can also vary this teaching strategy bychallenging the group to find the answer tothe puzzle by asking fewer than 15 or 20questions just to make it more fun.

Lecture with Seeded Questions

Have you ever wanted to spice up a lecturewith more student involvement? Have youever asked a question that nobody seemedable to answer? Have you ever wanted tomake a sensitive topic less threatening? Ifso, then you may want to considerutilizing seeded questions in yournext lesson.

Seeded questions are sentenceswritten on piece of papers thatyou secretly hand out tostudents whom you haveidentified as potential leaders.During the class, you make eyecontact with the appropriate students; givethem a wink to cue them to recite what waswritten on their piece of paper. These can beprofound questions asked just at the rightmoment, or comments and phrases that fitwell into your lecture. Plant a few of theseseeds with a handful of students and yousuddenly have a class full of people askingquestions and sharing comments.

When you use seeded questions you create anopportunity for students to step into a newpersona, like in a role playing. The groupusually livens up and becomes more interestedin seeing who is going to say somethingmeaningful next. You can involve anyone—from a quiet, non-talkative kid to the classclown. However, it is important to carefullyselect your volunteers. Ask only willingstudents and avoid putting pressure onstudents who might not fell comfortable atthis stage in your course progression. Thistechnique is not meant to dominate thelecture, but only to involve students andignite discussion.

Traditionally, when teachers instruct using alecture format, students settle into their seatsconditioned to take a passive role. They shut-off the interact valve and expect to be “fed”information in a direct, painless manner. By


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seeding questions in the audience, students aresuddenly forced to become actively involved.They ask pertinent questions (without thepressure of coming up with a good question),which in turn keeps the class on its feet.

This technique can be particularly effectivewhen set up well since students are not onlygetting the information through an inquisitivechannel, but are also having a really goodtime. The mystery involved suddenly wakesup the passive learners and gets them tomove out of a back seat role and into anactive role. In addition to planting questionsabout the specific topic being taught, you canthrow in a card or two that says somethinglike “Hey, this is a really fun class; I can’t waitto learn more!” Or, to make sure thateveryone is truly listening, throw in a cardthat says something like, “Wow, I really likewhat you’ve done with your hair today.” Usethis in the context of an extended expeditionwhen your hair looks very dramatic and wild.To this question you can respond, “Thankyou. I’m so glad you noticed that I did myhair up for class today.” If anyone is stillsitting passively at this point, a goofy questionor two definitely wakes them up and getthem laughing.

Sample 1: Hypothermia

When teaching this class, in addition toactually planting questions within the group,set a few students up in advance todemonstrate major topics you want to cover.Try demonstrating the ways our body losesheat by having a few students casually setthemselves up in these positions. Give yourfirst “actor” a card that says “1. Sit in thesnow without a ground pad and shakeviolently.” When you are ready to teach aboutconduction, make eye contact with myseeded actor. She will start shaking violentlywhile sitting directly on the snow. At firstthis can throw the class off guard because, ifthe acting is good, they may think it is real.

Remain calm and quickly ask the group whatis happening.

At that point, the second seeded student asks,“Isn’t Amy losing body heat throughconduction?”

“Yes, excellent observation” you reply. “Cananyone tell me what conduction is?”

At that point the second student continues:“Yes, it is when you lose heat from directcontact between a warm body and a cold one.”

“Good observation,” you reply. “What can wedo to help Amy warm up here?”

At this point, the class engages itself bythrowing out ideas. The big answer to theconduction issue is to put a ground padbetween Amy and the snow. The class doesthis. At this point you can go back to yourlecture format, re-emphasize “conduction,”and write it on a Mylar sheet so visuallearners can recall it easier.

When that is done, give a cue and suddenlyanother student starts shaking from beingcold and wet. We go through the samesequence as before, this time to teach aboutevaporation. When that is done, move on toradiation, respiration, and convection. If youhave a group of 12 students, typically most ofthem will be seeded ahead of time. Experiencehas proven that students absolutely lovebeing involved with seeded questions.

Teaching at Night

It is no secret that much of our society fillsthe darkness of night with light. We havechosen to engage nature primarily in thelight of day and, when we do venture forthinto the darkness, we arm ourselves withlights. In this day and age our society stillfears and maintains a great physical andspiritual distance from the night. As a result,we miss out on half of the great flow of life.


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By ignoring the night we have violated one ofJohn Dewey’s principles of active learning.Dewey would urge us to integrate the nightenvironment into our learning about “thegreat common world.” Anthony Westonwriting in “What if Teaching Went Wild”notes that much of our space has becomethoroughly humanized and lighted. Whereaschildren were at one time comfortable withthe darkness and quiet of night, it has been sopersistently eradicated in our society that manychildren are now unable to sleep without alight, TV, or radio in the background.

If we are to shape a more inclusive awarenessof our world, it will be critical for us asoutdoor educators to reacquaint and reconnectgenerations of participants with the largerliving systems. To do this we must use thenight as an effective teaching strategy. Nightas described by Caduto and Bruchac in Keepersof the Night is another world. It may in factbe another frontier waiting for us just on theother side of the front door, to explore to ourheart’s content. For if we can venture forth inassured cultural safety, the night may be oneeducational resource we all share equally.

“The holiness and beauty of the night” is theperfect backdrop for effective outdooreducation. It is a readily available and largelyuntapped source for outdoor educationactivities. And since many people have notbeen outside very much during the hours ofdarkness, it is a place requiring special care inpreparation of outdoor education activities.Our cultural myths tell us night time can bemysterious and full of awe; it may also be asource of fear and great unknowns.

Your first goal in planning any night timeactivity will be to help people feel comfortablein an environment they know very littleabout. You can do this by meeting the groupat dusk. This way, you know who each otheris, where you are starting, and where you willend up. Remind participants to leaveflashlights off for the duration on the hike

unless absolutely needed for personal safety.Keep people together on the night hike byhaving them hold onto a length of rope. Usea low and firm tone of voice; this bothreassures participants that you know whatyou are talking about and sets the tone forbrief, to-the-point instructions, followed bylong periods of silence. Activities may bestructured following Joseph Cornell’s“Expanding Circles” ideas where you beginwith body awareness, then move a few feet, afew more and ultimately reach the stars.

The following activities are designed asHenry David Thoreau intended to “…launch[yourself] into the night” and trust your feetto feel the path which you cannot see.

Sample 1: Sunset Watch

Try Joseph Cornell’s “Sunset Watch” foundin the 20th anniversary edition of SharingNature with Children. This activity in aremote or wilderness setting, when extendedinto the early hours of darkness, can provideparticipants with an introspective andpowerful time for reflection. Pick up thegroup members at the appointed time andmaintain the imposed silence until folkshave had time to make a few journal entries.When everyone returns to the group it ishelpful to debrief the session. In ourexperience this time of transition from day tonight can provide a powerful transformativeexperience and open new avenues into self-understanding for some participants.

Sample 2: The Campfire

People have gathered around campfires formillennia. Sigurd Olson noted, “My wholelife had been a series of campfires.” Thecampfire as instructional strategy can beginwith an appropriately mysterious lighting ofthe fire by flint and steel, or bow and drilltechnique. In this way we remember how thegift of fire was a much appreciated comfort inearlier times. As the fire grows and lights the


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faces of those gathered around, the lessons,skits, and stories can begin. The amount ofmaterial presented should correspond to theavailable campfire light. As the glow from thefire begins to fade, the campfire activitiesmove from energetic and instructional toself-reflective and visionary. When the onceglowing embers start to die and wink out thetransition to the next night-time activity, saystar watching, a silent night hike or bedtimecan begin. Be sure all of your campfires arecompletely out before leaving them unattended.A nice alternative to the traditional campfireis to gather the group around a single candle.

Storytelling

“An authentic story has power,” writes PeterForbes in The Story Handbook. “It makes thelistener see the world differently.” Storytellinghas been the single most effective educationalstrategy employed by human beings since thebeginning of time. For many people, theirfirst introduction to storytelling started withthe words, “Once upon a time.” It isimportant to note that, in its earliest forms,“Once upon a time” literally meant “Truenow ever and forever.” Stories have thepower to accomplish what other forms ofcommunication seldom can, and that is todeliver a message that is deeply heartfelt. Thisstraight-to-the-heart form of delivery atteststo the storyteller’s ability to convey emotion,meaning, and power. Stories reflect both thekind of world we want to live in and the onewe want to avoid. Therefore, the real powerof storytelling resides in its ability to give ushope and hence the ability to create a futurewhere hope is possible.

Some of the inherent power in storytellingcan be grasped by examining the role of oraltradition in indigenous cultures around theworld. Dennis Tedlock in a piece called“Verbal Art” explains the power ascribed tothe word in North American Indian Culture.

“The spoken word is rooted in the breast.”We find both heart and lungs in the breastand in English we refer to the heartbeat andbreath as “vital signs.” Another Englishexpression is to say something “by heart.” Forpractitioners of the oral tradition this meansmore than just from memory; it comes fromthe very core of your being. Words originatein the core of your being, are transported onbreath, vibrate sympathetically with yourheartbeat and arise on your voice. Tedlocknotes this provides strong evidence for wordsbeing of the spirit. Consider that during themost powerful of Hopi prayers, all that can beheard is a faint whistling of the breath.Tedlock explains the relationship betweenbreath and spirit further:

The triple association of breath,speech, and soul is obscured inEnglish . . . although words like‘spirit’ and ‘respiration’ do have thesame root. But in Amaasilik Eskimo,‘breath’, ‘poem’, and ‘soul’ are all thesame words. By means of the breaththe ‘poem’ connects innermostbeing with outer cosmos, and whenthe speaker acts in full consciousnessof this, his act is a spiritual, a sacredone. (Handbook of the NorthAmerican Indian Vol. 1)

It is important for educators to rememberthat storytelling exists in every culture. It is inthe commonality of all human beings—weare all storytellers at some time. We use storiesto educate, inspire, record or rememberevents, to entertain, and to share andencourage appropriate cultural beliefs andpractices.

According to authors Collins and Cooper,storytelling is “a vehicle for discovering whowe are, for making sense of our world, forenhancing our learning/teaching and forplain old fun.” And we know how importantfun is. As an effective educational strategy,storytelling is used for three basic but integral

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components of effective education: a)introducing large ideas and major events, b)further explaining or exploring a concept,and c) setting the stage for some aspect oflearning.

In their book, The Power of Story, Collins andCooper provide educators with 12 benefitsfor teachers and learners. It is valuable tohave students hear stories and to practicetelling stories in order to benefit from all 12.These values can easily be connected withlearner outcomes and state or provinciallearning standards.

Storytelling . . .• Enhances imagination and visualization• Develops appreciation for the beauty and

rhythm of language• Increases vocabulary• Refines speaking skills• Improves listening skills• Allows students to interact with adults on

a personal level• Enhances writing skills• Develops reading skills and promotes

interest in reading• Enhances creative and critical thinking skills• Nourishes students’ intuitive side• Allows students to see literature as a

mirror of human experience• Provides insight into cultural diversity

Storytelling How To’s1. Develop and enjoy your rapport with the

audience.2. Create the sense of a special occasion by

transporting your audience from theirworld into the world of the story. Don’tforget to help them find their way back!

3. Use your voice as an instrument to bringan entire orchestra into the telling.

4. Also use your face and body to helpaccentuate the tale.

5. Use the power of imagination to help youand your audiences inhabit the story.

6. Be present by making each telling uniquefor the particular audience.

7. Celebrate with respect theethnicity and diversityof stories as it helpsthe audience see intoother cultures.

8. Begin and end withgrace andconfidence,recognizing theimportance oftransporting youraudience into andout of the story.

9. Use appropriatewords and pace tosavour the moments of a story.

10.Relax and enjoy the occasion. If stagefright or jitters arise, use them to heightenyour own awareness, energy andappreciation of the moment.

Sample 1: Into the Void

A colleague of mine, Jed Williamson, callsthis “the crawl”—a dramatic retelling ofselect portions of Joe Simpsons’ epic story,read while attempting to crawl through 10"of snow. As I was doing this one winter withan outdoor education class, a piece of criticalgear blew away from a student and we allquickly realized how involved in our storywe had become.

Sample 2: Native American OralTradition

There are many fine collections of storiesfrom tribal groups throughout Native NorthAmerica. Authors Joseph Bruchac andMichael Caduto have done an excellent jobin their “Keepers” series, of spelling outappropriate and respectful ways for sharingstories from tribal groups. I prefer, wheneverpossible, to bring in a tribal storyteller. BarryLopez also gives excellent guidelines in hisbook Giving Birth to Thunder, Sleeping withhis Daughter.

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Sample 3: Build a Story Activity

The timeless round robin technique of“fortunately–unfortunately” can be used withany age. In younger students it serves well todevelop vocabulary, promote imagination anddevelop confidence in sharing ideas and selfwith peers. It may start something like this:• Fortunately, Clayton and his friends

Christian, Julie, and Luc got to go on acanoe trip.

• Unfortunately, Clayton forgot to bring theappropriate paddle length for Luc.

• Fortunately, Julie had a pocket knife andwhittled a paddle from a cedar branch.

• Unfortunately, Christian forgot to smooththe handle by sanding it with a rough riverstone and Luc got a sliver.

• Fortunately . . . (You get the point!)

References

Astrov, M. (Ed.) (1962). American Indian proseand poetry: The winged serpent. The powerof the word (pp. 19–52). Capricorn Books.

Baker, A. & Green, E. (1977). Storytelling: Artand technique. Bowker, NY.

Barton, B. (1986). Tell me another. Pembroke,ON: Markham Publishing.

Caduto, M. and Bruchac, J. (1994). Keepers ofthe night: Native American stories andnocturnal activities for children. Saskatoon,SK: Fifth House Publishers.

Chancer, J., (1997). Moon journals. GinaRester-Zedrow

Collins, R. & Cooper, P. (1997). The power ofstory: Teaching through storytelling. Allynand Bacon.

Cornell, J. (1987.) Listening to nature. NevadaCity, CA: Dawn Publications.

Hammerman, D.R., (1999) Teaching byinquiry. In S. Priest & J. Miles (Eds.),Adventure programming (pp. 201–204).State College, PA: Venture Publishing, Inc.

Monday, S. (1983). The man made of words.In S. Gill (Ed.), Native American traditions:Sources and interpretations (pp. 44–52).Wadsworth Publishing Company.

Weston, A. (2003). What if teaching wentwild? In S. Fletcher (Ed.), Philosophy ofeducation 2002 (pp. 40–52). Urbana, IL:Philosophy of Education Society.

Wlybrew, H. (Ed.) (2002). The story handbook.The Trust for Public Land.

Resources

Beston, H. (1949). The outermost house. NewYork, NY: Henry Holt and Company.

Carson, R. (1965). The sense of wonder.Harper and Row.

Ottwell, G. Astronomical calendar. Greenville,SC: Furman University.

Raymo, C. (2001). An intimate look at the nightsky. New York, NY: Walter and Company.

Sturtevant, W. Handbook of North AmericanIndians. Volume 1. Washington, DC:Smithsonian Institution.

Follow Events in the Night Skywww.skypub.comSponsored by Sky and Telescope magazine

Night Hikes and Other Night Time Activitieswww.geocities,com/heartland/acres/6690/night3

Night Time Safety Guidelineswww.funandgames.org/safetyguidelines

Clayton Russell teaches full-time in the outdooreducation program at Northland College.Clayton’s interests include Native American oraltradition, canoeing old voyageur routes, basketmaking, rambling and beachcombing. Claytoncan be reached at [email protected].

Christian Bisson teaches adventure education atPlymouth State University. A seasonal NOLSinstructor, Christian specializes in adventureeducation theories, wilderness education,outdoor leadership development, and smallgroup processes. He can be reached [email protected].

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eatureF

To explain why and how the Queen’sUniversity Outdoor Experiential Education(OEE) program ended up with a yurt requiressome knowledge of the history and futurevision of the program—that is, its roots andwings. The roots of the OEE program atQueen’s go back to 1968 when Bob Piehcame to Kingston to start an innovativeoutdoor education program for the newFaculty of Education. Pieh’s own educationand letters of correspondence with KurtHahn had already led him to establish NorthAmerica’s second Outward Bound school inMinnesota. Although the educational ideasand outdoor emphasis of Outward Boundwere already considered very progressive atthe time, Pieh continued to push for change.He went against tradition and hired womenleaders. He emphasized with his staff theimportance of “the debrief”—the time spentafter an experience articulating what hadbeen learned. At Queen’s, Pieh established“the barn,” which housed Canada’s first ropecourse. His son was to go on to establishProject Adventure in the United States(Frank, 2001, p. 3). Today, 35 years later,many outdoor educators are women,numerous books exist on the topic ofprocessing an experience, and there arehundreds of rope courses in Canada.

In 2001, when I arrived at Queen’s as thenew OEE coordinator, the program seemedto be in the midst of a transplant; the roots ofthe program were not only dug up, but somehad even been severed as both the barn andopen concept classroom on campus had beenlost due to cutbacks. Where the weekly OEEclasses would be held seemed to be decidedweek-to-week. The roots of the program thatstill remained stemmed from a few pieces ofequipment scattered about the city and a

Transformational Outdoor Education: FromBarn to Yurtby Zabe MacEachren

large degree of passion from its alumni andincoming students. Should the OEE programtry to rebuild what it had been known for inthe past, or could it try to grow in a newdirection? Many discussions with peopleinspired by outdoor education provided thefuture direction for the program in which wewould attempt to soar. Taking that first leapinto thin air would not be easy.

The school year 2001/2002, unfolded as apinnacle year in determining the fate ofmany outdoor education programs inOntario. Large school boards were undergreat pressure to close outdoor educationcentres due to dramatic funding cuts. I oftenwondered what Queen’s teacher candidateswere thinking as they dismantled the barnand pillow room, the OEE spaces longassociated with the program. Many of thesestudents had worked hard at becomingaccepted into the program. They must havewondered many times not just what type of,but also if any, outdoor education jobopportunities might exist for them upongraduation. A few teacher candidates,especially those in the senior division, wouldseek hope in learning about the successfulintegrated high school programs initiated bymany OEE alumni. Meanwhile Queen’s OEEprogram needed to take stock of what roots itstill had to grow from and where it mightdecide to fly.

To get myself through this trying time Ifrequently repeated a passage Kurt Hahn, thefounder of Outward Bound, often used: “Letyour disadvantage become your opportunity.”Here are some of the disadvantages andcorresponding opportunities my listincluded:

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When we asked ourselves what we wanted toretain from the program and of what wedreamed, another list developed.

OEE Dream List• We wanted to build our own learning

environment instead of having othersdesign and build it for us

• We wanted a space on campus and not aplace that always needed to be travelled towith fossil-fueled vehicles

• We wanted to be able to readily sit in acircle where all are considered equal,instead of in desks in rows

• We wanted a centre with a smallecological footprint that was off the gridnecessitating an awareness and ability tocontrol our energy use

• We wanted a place where we could feel thewarmth of a fireplace and open a windowto let the wind blow in (something thatcannot presently be done in the Faculty ofEducation)

• We wanted to share with others what wehad so that we were not deemed a specialinterest group with additional expenses

After a year of discussion and research (donemostly indoors, amid disappointment wewere not outdoors doing the usual outdoorlearning activities) a PowerPointpresentation was made to Dean Rosa Bruno-Jofrés. Her initial response was, “Finallysomebody coming to me with solutionsinstead of just problems.” Although sheacknowledged that much hard work wouldstill be ahead, she graciously decided that thefollowing year’s annual pledge, matched byfunding from the Faculty of Education, wouldbe dedicated to helping the OEE programdream materialize. This would be enoughseed money to get us going. The followingfew years involved students doing researchand making decisions concerning whatpossible building and associated curriculumwe could offer with a portable yurt structure.

A portable yurt structure was decided upon asit would allow us to assemble a facility oncampus to use when we needed it, and itcould also be dismantled and transported toother locations with selected teachercandidates. The portability of the yurtallowed us to spread the message thatoutdoor education was in your own schoolground and neighbourhood; it did not only

Opportunity

Required determining what new experiences, beyond arope course, best served the philosophy of outdoor andexperiential education

Necessitated the need to learn to propose and designnew ecological-based spaces and learn how to retrofitexisting classroom spaces to accommodate discussionsheld in a circle

Demanded that we re-evaluate the school ground for itslearning potential and rediscover the local neighbourhood

Required us to learn to live within our means, build fromthe grass roots up and not become totally dependentupon external sources of funding

Reduction in funding fortransportation

Disadvantage

Loss of barn

Loss of pillowroom on campus

Uncertain futurefinancial support

From Barn to Yurt

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occur at a distant location with a specializedcentre. Instead of school kids travelling to anoutdoor centre, we would bring the centre totheir school where a class could actuallyassemble the centre and find additionaltools to use to discover the natural wondersof their neighbourhood and ways that lifebuilt upon renewable energy sources mightwork. (Presently, we have one 12-footdiameter yurt that can be set up in a hallwayor in a classroom and one 24-foot diameteryurt that is set up outside with a woodstoveand other off-the-grid energy sources.)Teachers were able to suggest to visitingteacher candidates the integrated unitsoffered by the visiting yurt trailer they thoughtwould be of most benefit to their students.

Centering the OEE curriculum upon howone proposes, implements and educatesothers by erecting a yurt on a small patch ofgreen space on campus became the way boththe theory and practice of both outdoor andexperiential education would be covered.After all, this was what most teachercandidates came to Queen’s to learn about.Many of the decisions that needed to bemade incorporated many of the new ideasand practices of environmental education.As Darron Kelly, an OEE graduate studentstudying environmental ethics, writes, “It isas if the school ground was stepped over onthe way to the outdoor education centre”(personal communication). Imagine all theexperiences, ideas, and re-storying that couldbe offered when a teacher candidate pulls upto a school with a trailer housing a yurt,photo-voltaic panels, a bicycle generator,carving and gardening tools and storiesabout cultures that once lived in small,sustainable communities.

In his book A Handmade Life, BillCoperthwaite writes, “We need to examinethe visual surroundings of the young. Ourpresent school buildings are, by and large,institutional architecture designed for easeof maintenance and as impressive public

buildings rather than to aid the growth ofthe inmates” (2003, p. 61). The post-lesscircular structure of the yurt provides anexcellent example of an ecological and socialdesign melding together. If architecture is tocrystallize pedagogy as Orr suggests (1994, p.14), then the lack of any apparent centralposts in a yurt provides an excellent exampleof a structure that supports democratic andconsensus ideas. These ideas can becomeunderstood in an embodied way by bothassembling a yurt and then exploring theideas through initiative activities like themarshmallow (Sikes, 2003, p.55–63) andspandex tube lean (Cain & Jolliff, 1998,p.121–124). It is easier to grasp out-of-the-box ideas when one is not confined to a boxto learn. Circular and spiral designs are hardto understand when most experience is ofstraight lines. Whether it is even possible tounderstand other social ideas andperceptions of the land that are not basedupon linear thinking and hierarchical-basedstatus is questionable when students arerequested to sit in rows and frequentlydetermine their ranking through a gradingassessment.

In “Traces, Patterns, Texture: In Search ofAesthetic Teaching/Learning Encounters,”Macintyre Latta initially quotes Dewey asshe outlines a point about the importance ofdesign:

“An experience is always what it isbecause of a transaction taking placebetween an individual and what, atthe time, constitutes hisenvironment. . . . They intercept andunite.” And it seems thedetermining ground, meeting placeof situation and interaction, formsthe necessary space for aestheticencounters; such a space beingalways in the making, open to theplay of possibilities. (Callejo Perez,Fain, & Slater, 2004, p. 93)

From Barn to Yurt

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The physicality of a yurt structure shapes thespace of learning and in so doing conformswell to the ideas of environmental andexperiential education. It encourages newideas.

Jardine, in writing about the true integrationof subjects so that they form a seamlessecopedagogical approach to education,discusses the way most school worksheetsonly integrate learning in a very superficialveneer-like fashion (2000, p. 72). He suggeststhat real resistance and a demand for work isnecessary for true subject integration.Presently the OEE students arerecalling their high schoolmath skills in order to makea new yurt floor with amore durable andinsulated quality.This task isproblem solvingin a realistic andintegrativefashion; it is basedupon a learningsituation thatresides in the realworld of wind, rainand cold (the worldso many outdooreducators know well).

Ecology can alsoprovide images ofwhat it wouldmean to talk ofthe classroom as areal, livingcommunity, fullof traces of theold and theyoung, the new and theestablished, and the often-difficultconversation between them.Classrooms, too, can become full ofa commitment to working out and

working through those wisdomsand disciplines and traditions andtales, shared and contested, thathave been handed down to us all. Itcan be a place full, in a deeplyecological sense, of “real work.”(Jardine, 2000, p. 10)

The yurt project provides an opportunity toask real questions and to do real work;directions must be read to determine thesequence of activities, beams must be lifted

From Barn to Yurt

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to get a roof over one’s head, everyone musthold their board to make it safe for all. Mathbecomes real as it is used to determine howmuch wood is required to keep thewoodstove burning throughout the day indifferent weather conditions. Dinners (andjunk food) are earned when one physicallypeddles a bicycle long enough to generateenough electricity to work a computer. Theoff-the-grid aspect of the yurt allows for thetypically transparent and toted as “seamlessintegration” of technology in a classroom tobecome more readily exposed so that ethicalissues can be openly discussed, worked onand committed to.

The idea of bringing a few resources to aschool to offer children an opportunity toexplore their own environment is rooted inthe ideas of place-based education.Encouraging a fascination with what can bedone in one’s own backyard is reclaimedover the exploration of a distant foreignregion one might travel to on a field trip.“The Orion Society supports the propagationof such an enlightened localism—a local/global dialectic that is sensitive to broaderecological and social relationships at thesame time as it strengthens and deepenspeople’s sense of community and land”(Sobel, 2004, p ii). Place-based education isconsidered a significant transformation ineducation because emphasis is placed uponlearning how events and processes close tohome relate to regional, national and globalforces and events, leading to a newunderstanding of ecological stewardship andcommunity. The yurt project emphasizesstarting with the school ground instead of theoutdoor education centre down the road.

Placed-based education challengesthe meaning of education by askingseemingly simple questions: Wheream I? What is the nature of thisplace? What sustains thiscommunity? It often employs aprocess of re-storying, whereby

students are asked to respondcreatively to stories of their homeground so that, in time, they are ableto position themselves,imaginatively and actually, withinthe continuum of nature and culturein that place. They become part ofthe community, rather than apassive observer of it. (Sobel, 2004,piii)

So when the OEE trailer pulls up with somegardening and craft tools the idea is to askstudents to look with fresh eyes at where theyhave been living and learning in their ownneighbourhood. Do they want to reclaimsome monoculture of grass and transform itinto an inviting area to chat with a friend?Well then, here is a shovel to transplant sometrees and here is a hammer to build your ownbench. Later, when the students ask wherethe plants and the wood is to work with, theteacher candidate can then introduce themto the local gardener down the road who canhelp them decide what plants to introduce; alocal tree cutter might share some woodfrom a tree that actual grew in theirneighbourhood to make planks and seats.This is a very different kind of education thanthat based upon arriving at a well-maintainedand outfitted centre.

Two guiding principles that Sobel describesto successful place-based education are, first,maximize ownership through partnership and,second, engage students in real-world projectsin the local environment and community(2004, p. 53). As teacher candidates visitvarious schools with the yurt trailer we willbe partnering with local schools by offeringthem easy access to the latest ideas in outdooreducation. We plan to share stories of localsuccesses that occurred down the road withthe use of the same tools of transformationthey are presently holding in their hand likea shovel and power drill. We hope to arrivewith tools and leave behind souvenirs of ourvisit like newly planted trees and the ability

From Barn to Yurt

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From Barn to Yurt

to build their own low-level ropes courseinitiatives and maybe even a well worncircle, where the yurt was erected and manydiscussions took place.

Sobel expands on the second principle ofreal-world projects: “Whether it berebuilding the ropes course that got destroyedin the tornado or producing communityrecycling brochures for the mayor’s office,students can make real contributions” (2004,p. 53). Queen’s OEE program didn’t rebuildthe barn or pillow room as it was; instead wetook the challenges of the last few years andtransformed them into opportunities to bringthe latest ideas in outdoor and experientialeducation to the local neighbourhood schoolground. Instead of waiting for a centre to bebuilt, we started to erect temporary outdooreducation centres in the form of a yurt atnearby schools. Outdoor education can existin just about every little remnant of greenspace in any neighbourhood; we just need ameans to envision ourselves as seedsthat fly and sprout inwhatever crack in theconcrete we land in.

References

Cain, J., & Jolliff, B. (1998). Teamwork &teamplay. Dubuqe, Iowa: Kendall/HuntPublishing Company.

Callejo Perez, D., Fain, S., & Slater, J. (Eds.).(2004). Pedagogy of place: Seeing space ascultural education. New York, NY: PeterLang Publishing.

Coperthwaite, W. (2003). A handmade life.White River Junction, VT: Chelsea GreenPublishing Company.

Frank, L. (2001). The caring classroom: Usingadventure to create community in theclassroom and beyond. Madison, WI: GoalConsulting.

Jardine, D. (2000). Under the tough old stars:Ecopedagogical essays. Brandon, VT:Solomon Press Book.

Kelly, D. (2004). Unpublished Master’s Paper,Queen’s University, Kingston, ON

Macintyre Latta, M. (2004). Patterns, texture:In search of aesthetic teaching/learningencounters. In Callejo Perez, D., Fain, S., &Slater, J. (Eds.). Pedagogy of place: Seeingspace as cultural education. New York, NY:Peter Lang Publishing.

Orr, D. (1994). Washington, DC: IslandPress.

Sikes, S. (2003). Raptor and other teambuilding activities. Tulsa, OK: LearningUnlimited Corporation.

Sobel, D. (2004). Place-based education:Connecting classrooms & communities. GreatBarrington, MA: The Orion Society.

Zabe MacEachren teaches Outdoor ExperientialEducation at Queen’s University.

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The COEO annual conference was a fun andinspiring weekend for Queen’s Outdoor andExperiential Education (OEE) students. OnFriday afternoon, we loaded up a couple ofcars and made our way across southernOntario. We were impressed by the gorgeousTim Horton’s facility. The weekend beganwith some enjoyable co-operative games andended with more activities that reminded usof all the new things we learned, great peoplewe met and fun we had in between. Highlightsincluded learning how to make stew withonly a hole, tin foil, hot rocks and water(and, of course, vegetables!), learning newteaching strategies and speaking to interestingand enthusiastic outdoor educators.

Here are some comments from Queen’sstudents:

COEO was great. It was inspiring to meet peopledoing the things I hope to do one day. I found itinformative. It’s been one of the most educationalthings I’ve done this year.

—Kyla Cavanaugh

COEO was a fantastic venue to meet otheroutdoor educators with a wealth of experienceand knowledge to share with the masses. . . . Ilook forward to future years of learning, sharing,and living with the greater COEO community.

—Carol Correia

I was really happy with the sessions I attended.The teaching strategies in outdoor educationwere great and provided many cool alternativestrategies for working with a group in theoutdoors. Meeting and talking with so manypeople in the field was truly inspiring. . . . I amvery pleased to have learned how experts in thefield are doing creative and very valuable things.

—Matt Sloane

he GatheringTby Alissa Lyn Agres

It was inspiring to meet such enthusiasticeducators who were living their dream withinthe current education situation. I felt veryhumbled and very much a student while I wasthere. I enjoyed the entertainment and theentertaining conversations. The broad range ofsession topics was much appreciated.

—Jordon Davis

Many of us hope to become more involved inCOEO as we move into careers as educators.We were very happy to have had theopportunity to become better acquaintedwith Ontario’s leaders in outdoor education.The availability of a student rate made theconference accessible to more of us. We lookforward to future conferences.

We are also excited to announce an Adventureand Experiential Education workshop atQueen’s University. The workshop will takeplace on January 9, 2005 from 9 am to 4 pm.Two of the session leaders for the workshopare from the COEO conference: a PrimitiveArts session with Mack Whitcombe and aFacilitating Large Group Initiatives withBrian Lisson of Adventure Works. Interestedparties can contact Matt Sloane([email protected]) or Dani Skinner([email protected]) for moreinformation.

Alissa Lyn Agres is a student in the Queen’sUniversity Outdoor Experiential EducationProgramme.

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There are as many different perceptions of anoutdoor activity as there are participants. Inthe following article I will share with youseveral of those perceptions that focus on oneof Canada’s oldest outdoor activities: dogsledding. One of the largest and best run dogsledding operations in the world is right herein Ontario—South River, to be exact. Thecompany is called Chocpaw Expeditions andit is owned and operated by Paul and MargaretReid and family. I talked with Paul, Margaret,and daughter Kate and asked them somequestions about why they began dog sleddingand what drives them to continue doingwhat they are. Here is what Paul had to say:

To me a big part of what I offer iscreating dreams and challengingkids to dream.

Because of the nature of the activity,everyone starts at the same level,whether it is the group star athlete orthe intellectual nerd. The physicalskills are unique, the physicalchallenges unique, and thereforeeveryone starts on a level playingfield. It gives an opportunity foreveryone to excel and we structurefor success. While the experiencerelies on teamwork there is muchopportunity for each person to be allalone in a fantasy world limited onlyby imagination. We take kids fromthe concrete jungle and expose themto a natural and magnificentenvironment. We expose them toanimals that give unconditionallove. One of the greatest thrills I getis seeing a tough street kid sitting onthe trail with his team, lost in theaffection, completely oblivious to

Dog Sledding—Adventure, Camaraderie andHuge Learning!by Paul Strome

everyone around, perhaps for thefirst or even only time. That is amoment that will stay forever withthat kid. It is a memory that willinspire dreams. Many times I havehad calls from parents telling me oftheir child calling out commands intheir sleep. Seems to me education,even field trips, lack this type ofdream making potential. We stirimaginations that have been dulledby a media driven world.

I couldn’t believe the title of the last Pathways!“Risk Management” …Accountability orwhat? Well, that’s what society is askingeducators to provide in all their activities, butyou and I know there are other criteria thatare just as significant as accountability whenit comes to outdoor education. Most of usknow what we have to do from anaccountability perspective, but what reallydrives us, propels us forward, and fuels allthose extended hours we put in is thesatisfaction we get when we know howprofound the experience has been to one ofour participants.

Even so, educators seem to feel the need tojustify everything they’re doing, whether it isan “inside-the-box” or “outside-the-box”teaching style. Why do we do some of thethings we do? What makes a particularexperience meaningful for us and for ourstudents? Is there a winter activity that wecould participate in as a school trip thatwould fulfill all the Ministry of Educationrequirements? As outdoor educators we findourselves asking these and other pertinentquestions of ourselves, our students, ourprocedures and our society.

n the FieldI

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After running with a dog team for manykilometres over a couple of days somepeople choose to analyze the activity’scomponent parts: history, geography,physical education, family studies,leadership, physics, language,mathematics, biology, zoology, art andastronomy. These topics are all used inthis activity and in various ways. Youmight even think this has to dowith justification, but does itreally? There are many ways of“justifying” an adventure like thisand you may approach thisjustification from many differentperspectives.

History. Dog sledding has been away of life for thousands ofyears for First Nations peopleliving in cold climates and it hasbeen a way of life for non-nativesfor hundreds of years. Why not studyNative people’s lives, past and present;the fur trade; different sled designs;different species of dogs; famous peopleconnected with dogs and dog sledding inCanada. Did you know that Inuit sleds weremade of frozen fish wrapped in caribou orother skins and then frozen solid with water?

Geography. The number of geographictopics that could be covered before, duringand after your dog sledding trip is endless.From geology to geomorphology, watershedparticulars to topography, you are in themidst of a living library in which you canlose yourself!

Physical Education. Running uphill in thesnow for a number of kilometres every day isdefinitely educating your body physically.This is truly an aerobic workout. You alsolearn about the physical capacities of animalssmaller than yourself who are pulling you,your partner, and all your gear. We’re not theonly athletes on this trip. These Alaskanhuskies are in great shape. These dogs don’t

work because they’re forced to;they work because of positive re-

enforcement, and because they love to run.Affection, and positive words do wonders andthat’s what Chocpaw’s philosophy is allabout. The dogs are raised with positivereinforcement, not a whip.

Leadership and Team Building. Onedefinition of a leader is someone with acompass in her head and a magnet in herheart. Other people know this leader has aplan, a direction and a vision, and they agreewith that. Others also know they areattracted to this person because they knowwhat they’re doing and why. Some peoplemay say there is a difference between teambuilding and leadership. Maybe theprofessional guide fills the leadership rolebecause that’s their role but true teambuilding is an intangible process that developsover time if all the constituent componentsare there. I profess dog sledding in a groupdoes both of these and a whole lot more.

In the Field

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Being in charge of your own dog teamdevelops your leadership and team-buildingskills in many ways. You have a partner andsix dogs that you depend upon and whodepend upon you (as a whole team) to getfrom one place to another. Patience and apositive but firm disposition are admirablequalities any leader must have to besuccessful, whether with dogs or people. Oneof our participants once said, “You have todisplay leadership by taking control of thesled. You have to know when to slow down,stop and go.” I believe that’s the case withevery aspect of your life: to have balance inyour life you need to know when to be aleader and when to be a follower.

Physics. Unhook your dog from the dropchain and, unless you lift your dog up by thecollar and hold him or her in a “standing”position, you learn what traction and four-wheel drive are all about. You also learn tobalance on the back of those runners whileyou’re traveling through the woods at a prettygood clip. Why would you want to keep thebrakes engaged while going down hill, whenit’s so much fun to go fast? Well, if themomentum of the sled is such that it runsinto the back legs of your wheel dogs (thosedogs right in front of you) it usually damagesthem, emotionally or physically, for life. Theresult may be that you learn how to walk thetrail slowly rather than be pulled quickly. A

dog may never pull again once she hasbeen run over.

In the Field

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Language. Farley Mowat, James Raffan, andPauline Johnson are three famous Canadianwriters who have written books and poetryabout people in Canada’s wilderness areas.The dog sledding trip offers new fodder forjournaling, poetry, and story writing. Themetaphor “Life is a dog sledding trip” isappropriate and worth exploring from alanguage perspective. Oral language skills canalso be exercised, because there’s always astory to be told before, during and after theseadventures. The story may be of a dogurinating down someone’s boot, the dogteam that took the musher for a swimthrough a hole in the ice, or the dog teamthat returned to the kennel without theirmusher or passenger. Then there’s the guidewho can recite Robert Service’s famouspoem, “Cremation of Sam McGee,” entirelyby heart. Whatever the stories, you can betthey will always be interesting.

Family Studies. Cooking healthy meals fora hoard of hungry people is no small feat, butthe job gets done. When you are planningyour own trip you learn how to arrangebalanced, substantial meals for people whoburn a lot of calories. You also learn how toco-operate with each other to get those mealsprepared and cooked and the dishes done.The luxurious prospector tents have a woodstove at either end (stoked by the guidesthroughout the night), raised platforms(covered in closed cell foam mats), andpropane lanterns and stoves. An extremelyimportant part of camp is the outhouse thatcomes with a Styrofoam seat, which keepsyour body parts warm during those preciousfew moments of relief. The great part aboutthe Chocpaw philosophy is that your trip is aparticipatory one. Everyone is expected tohelp water and feed the dogs; gather and cutup the firewood (the splitting is usually left tothe guides); help prepare and cleanup afterthe meal. The extent to which people worktogether in a co-operative manner determineshow much recreation time they will have

after all the chores are done. Whether “co-operation equals success” is a universal lawor just opinion, it is a significant factor inoutdoor education settings. It can influencethe mood of the group and ultimately howeffectively the group works together.

Mathematics. Estimating when you mightarrive in camp based on environmentalconditions and dog speed might besomething you ponder to a lesser degree thanwhether you have calculated enough dogfood for the trip. Making sure there is enoughfood for a group of teenagers on a trip likethis could be critical to your survival as aleader, not to mention the good humour ofyour participants.

Biology. You can smell it throughout thetrip, in the cedar groves, and the spruce orpine woods through which you travel. Wecan all prosper from learning more aboutplant identification, and Native uses of plantsand medicinal uses of plants, and this is agreat place to do it. First Nations people havebeen using plants for thousands of years tocure ills like scurvy. Plants have been used toheal, flavour, comfort, or consume as tea.Why don’t we talk with more Nativemedicine people and find out more?

Zoology. Research on sled dogs has producedsome inspiring thoughts about such things asnutrition, the necessary food groups, and thecombination of them. These sled dogs eat alot of calories a day during the workingseason. The right mixture of food is asimportant for the dogs as it is for the peopleon the trip. Proteins, carbohydrates, and fatsneed to be mixed in the proper amounts toenable the dogs to perform their best.

Art. While you travel almost silently throughthe landscapes you can soak up the vista, holdit in your mind and sketch it later. A camerafor your eyes may capture that moment, thatvision. With video cameras being so small

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In the Field

you may even get footage of your pal meltingyour boots too near the stove or your buddysliding down the hill on his %^&*. If you areskilful enough to “shoot” some wildlife withyour camera you may be able to share thoseimages with others. Snow art is a new andupcoming medium you may want toexperiment with. Angels and snowmen arejust a start. Be creative, add new andinteresting appendages. Build a snow hoteland rent out the rooms!

Astronomy. Picture it! Algonquin Park on aclear winter night, lying on your backlooking skyward. You’ve got someone withyou who knows a lot about constellations.Any constellation can be useful if you knowwhat it is and where it is supposed to be inthe night sky at a particular time. Polaris, theNorth Star, is especially useful for navigating.How about a dog sledding trip on a crisp,clear night on the tundra? What star orconstellation would you use to guideyourself? Or why not admire the stars just asthey appear—gorgeous points of light thatcarpet the night sky?

Then, there’s the practical view of anexpedition like this. Turning your team to theright means you need to learn the correctcommand—“Gee!” Turning your team to theleft means you need to learn the other correctcommand—“Ha!” It sounds like you’rehaving a party, doesn’t it? Well, it can be likea party gone wrong if you don’t rememberthe correct command. Life should be fun.Learning should be fun. Activities like thesecan put the two together.

I use the word “kids”—thatparameter extends each year, as I getolder. I remember years ago listeningto a 72-year-old man rave onenthusiastically about his [dogsledding] experience. He hadtravelled all over the world and donesome incredible things. He rushedinto the office, grabbed the phone

and called his wife. (This was in thedays before cell phones.) His exactwords were, “This has been the mostincredible experience of my life!”

He later wrote me a letter telling meall the things he had done and thatthis had been a 60-year dreamfulfilled. It made me realize theeffect we can have and that I want tohave—Dream maker. Not a badoccupation.

Let’s all strive to have that feeling . . . Dreammaker.

I believe we are all teachers and studentssimultaneously. As teachers, we get to see thefruits of our labours when our students aresuccessful. As students we really come alivewhen we are learning something that ismeaningful, inspiring, and fun too. A dogsledding trip may be considered teachingoutside-the-box for all sorts of reasons, butthe most important aspect for me is theresult. Come and try a dog sleddingexperience and soak up all the adventure,camaraderie and huge learning that ispossible.

References

Canadian Parks and Recreation Association.(1997.) The benefits catalogue. Gloucester,ON: CPRA.

The next COEO/Woodlands School dogsledding trip is scheduled for February 11–13,2005. For more information contact PaulStrome at 905-878-2814 [email protected].

Paul Strome is a long-time COEO member andpresented stories of his northern experiences atthe annual COEO Conference 2004.

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There is nothing more captivating than beingin the presence of someone who is, quiteobviously, living their passions. After spendingless than one minute in the room with JohnPowers, “the butterfly man,” it is abundantlyclear that he is one of those people. From themoment his pre-session introduction began,I quickly discovered that I, just like thethousands of butterflies in his collection, wasbecoming caught up in John’s butterfly net!

For those of you who did not have theopportunity to meet John or to attend hissession at the 2004 COEO conference, hecan best be described as a passionate,enthusiastic, charismatic fellow whoseencyclopaedic knowledge of butterflies isalmost more dazzling than the thousands ofexotic butterflies that make up his collection.His résumé is eclectic: he is a police officer(retired), a teacher, a natural scientist, anentrepreneur, and a writer. Regardless of hisgiven title, his passion for butterflies hasalways been a constant.

It is a passion that dates back 40 years when,at the age of nine, he encountered his first“beautiful butterfly,” which, as quoted in a1964 National Geographic article, “filledhim with curiosity.” Evidently, it was enoughto last a lifetime. As his love of lepidopterology(the study of butterflies and moths) grew overthe years, so did his collection, which nowincludes thousands of rare and exoticbutterflies as well as lots of autographedmemorabilia—all having something to withbutterflies.

John is enthusiastic about sharing hiscollection and his love of butterflies with theworld. He has written for several scientificjournals, has been featured on television, hashis own company, and has put togetherseveral world-class butterfly exhibits,

John Powers: Caught by the Butterfly Netby Allison Carrier

including the one whichhe brought to us at theCOEO conferencethis September. Thebutterfly exhibitJohn presented wasnot only a stunningportrait of butterfliesand butterflyparaphernalia, itwas also a clearexample of howthe natural worldcan captivate thecuriosity of achild, and canspark a powerful,life-long interest in thenatural world.

The opportunity to share inJohn’s interests was inspiring, hisenthusiasm was contagious, andhis stories interesting, educationaland outrageous. I wasimpressed by his knowledge ofbutterflies, the ease with whichhe spoke to the group and his tenacity forkeeping us constantly entertained. As hissession drew to a close, I found myselfthinking how certain I was that this would bean excellent experience for students andschools. Whether his presentation sparks anew found interest in lepidopterology, or justthe desire to get outside and explore one’snatural surroundings, having the opportunityto be caught up, even if just for a briefmoment, in John Powers’ net is certainlyinspirational.

Allison Carrier is a member of the PathwaysEditorial Board and has recently completed herMaster of Education degree at OISE.

eepers of the TrailK

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“We all want to have the best for ourchildren,” says Radha Zaidi, President andFounder of the International Co-operation ofChildren (ICOC) for Trees for Life Canada,with regards to why the non-profitenvironmental education program shestarted from the basement of her Ancasterhome in 1991 has become so successful.Every year, Trees for Life supplies teachers allacross Canada with resources to teachchildren about the environment, and seedsfor children to plant, giving them directcontact with the natural world. Through avariety of lessons and activities, studentsinvolved in the program from Kindergartento Grade 6 learn to respect and take care ofthe environment, taking ownership in theworld around them. Currently, 50,000students are signed up to participate; Zaidi’sgoal for the year is for enrolment to reachover 100,000.

A small organisation at heart, the Hamilton-based program has experienced a rough fewyears due to cuts in education funding inCanadian school boards. Schools no longerhave the money to bring even aninexpensive program like Trees forLife into their schools. Eventhough the Trees for Life activitybooklets and seeds only cost$1.25 per student, Zaidi notesthat sponsorship from outsideorganisations, such as TDCanada Trust’s Friends of theEnvironment Foundation, hasbeen vital in ensuring thather message of

n the FieldISowing the Seeds of the Futureby Heather Read

environmental respect reaches as manystudents as possible.

In spite of recent political problems, Zaidiand her Vice-president, Ed McRae, remainoptimistic about their mission to “reachevery child around the world.” Trees for Lifeactivity packages are non-confrontational,non-political, do not scare children, and donot address environmental issues in apartisan way. In recent years, an effort hasbeen made to separate political concernsregarding education and the environmentfrom the program itself. This is one of manyreasons why Hamilton-based MPs such asSheila Copps and Stan Keyes, and evenmembers of the Mike Harris ConservativeGovernment, had praised the program. AsMcRae notes, “we concentrate on children,that’s it.”

And that focus has paid off. Teachers andchildren alike love the concept of theprogram, and love the hands-on approach tolearning that it allows through the seedplanting component. Each student receives a

container and tree seeds

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In the Field

to plant and nurture, while completing anactivity book in class. Zaidi’s office ispeppered with letters and pictures fromchildren, introducing her to their trees, andthanking her for the program. Most of thepictures show the child planting the tree, orproudly standing beside it, and all trees arelabelled with a carefully crayon-printedname. The act of naming the tree, which allchildren are encouraged to do, creates anemotional attachment to the environment,an important part of the program’s concept.

The length of the program in each classroomvaries widely, depending on the amount oftime and land available, and the season inwhich it is started. Some schools have setaside plots of land to reforest, using the Treesfor Life saplings. In urban area schools,where no land is available, children take thebaby tree home to plant with their parentsand grandparents, thus ensuring communityinvolvement in the project.

The act of growing, naming and planting asingle tree is, admittedly, not going to changethe world overnight, Zaidi admits, and forthat reason, tree planting is not the focus ofTrees for Life Canada. The environmentaleducation aspects are the important part.

Trees for Life is not just for schools!Also popular for use with daycare,youth groups, summer camps, GirlGuides, Boy Scouts, YMCA,YWCA, etc. For more informationabout ICOC Trees for Life Canadaand their program, please contactthe head office: 8 Main St. East,Hamilton, ON, L8N 1E8. Phone:(905) 540-8894. Fax (905) 540-8894.E-mail: [email protected].

Through this experience, Zaidiasserts that Canadian students willrealize the extreme challenges associatedwith creating something in the naturalworld. Zaidi’s hope is that, following theTrees for Life experience, they might thinktwice about destroying something in theenvironment. Instead, they can come tolearn the impact of using renewableresources, and they will develop feelings ofstewardship toward the Earth. Changingthe very mindset of a culture is no smalltask, but as Zaidi notes, “every small stepcan make a big difference.”

Heather Read is a fourth-year student in Artsand Science and Religious Studies at McMasterUniversity who enjoys watching trees reflectedin puddles and doodling what she sees there.

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On Saturday September 25th, 2004, ourmembers recognized the achievements of thefollowing individuals and organizations.

The Dorothy Walter Leadership Award:Michael Elrick

Criteria: This award was created in 1986 togive recognition to an individual who, likeDorothy Walter herself, has shown anoutstanding commitment to the development ofleadership qualities in Ontario youth andthrough outdoor education. (2004 nominationby Grant Linney; presented by Dorothy Walter)

In 1990, Mike started teaching at CentennialCollegiate Vocational Institute in Guelph.Within a year, he was teaching an OutdoorEducation course. By 1995, he established thefirst four-credit integrated program (English,Careers/Civics, Outdoor Activities,Interdisciplinary Studies) in the WellingtonCounty Board of Education, now the UpperGrand District School Board. It becameknown as CELP, The CommunityEnvironmental Leadership Program. CELPwas initially offered one semester a year toCCVI students. It has become so popular thatMike now offers the program every semesterand to all three high schools in the Guelphand Fergus areas. The experience includes afive-day wilderness trip—either canoe trippingin September or winter camping in February.

Through his program, his teaching, and hisown personal example, Mike has had anenormous and lasting impact on several fronts:• He teaches his students to actively care for

the natural environment as well as eachother and oneself. He shares his ownpassions for the environment and forcommunity, and he inspires and facilitatestheir development in others.

• Parents, colleagues and students are blownaway by his unflagging commitment andhis great skills as a teacher and outdoorsman.Many students make career choices as a

The Annual COEO Awards: A Celebration OfMembers’ Passion, Talent And Commitment

result of the CELP program … and all ofthem develop competence and confidencein life skills such as problem solving,respect for others, and community service.

• CELP students present the “Earthkeepers”outdoor and environmental program toGrade 5 students, to date impacting uponanother 4,000 impressionable young souls.

• CELP serves as a program model for theMinistry of Education document onInterdisciplinary Studies. It has alsospawned the development of at least threenew programs in Norwell, Paris and Dundas.

• Mike’s leadership in environment andcommunity also includes innovativepartnerships with the local Rotary Club,having his students building a straw balehouse, and presenting numerousworkshops at COEO conferences.

The Robin Dennnis Award: The Institutefor Outdoor Education and EnvironmentalStudies, The Bluewater District SchoolBoard, Wiarton

Criteria: This award was created in tribute toRobin Dennis, one of the founders of Ontariooutdoor education in the 1950s and 1960s. Itis presented to an individual, outdoor educationprogram or facility that has made an outstandingcontribution to the promotion and developmentof outdoor education in the province. (2004nomination written and presented by MarkWhitcombe, Toronto District School Board)

Going back to the early and strongdevelopmental leadership of Clarke Birchardand Peter Middleton, this outdoor educationsite (variously known as Oliphant, Wiartonor IOEES) has been a leader within COEOand for outdoor education across Ontario.

In a province where outdoor education hasbeen mainly the purview of urban boards,Bruce County (now amalgamated with GreyCounty into the Bluewater Board) has alwaysstood out for offering both day andresidential opportunities to all students.

rackingT

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Tracking

Over many years, the IOEES staff havesignificantly impacted outdoor educationthroughout the province by serving as anexemplar of program development anddelivery as well as by providing leadershipand inspiration through their long standingand multi-faceted involvement with TheCouncil of Outdoor Educators of Ontario.

Under the recent leadership of Clive Card,IOEES is now leading the province in thetransition to sustainable community-basedfunding.

The President’s Award: Clare Magee

Criteria: This award is presented to anindividual who has made an outstandingcontribution to the development of COEO andto outdoor education in Ontario. (2004nomination written by Tal Schacham; awardpresented by Grant Linney)

Clare Magee has been a member of COEOsince the early 1970s. He is a former recipientof the Dorothy Walter Leadership Award(1988) and was a key part of the SenecaCollege Outdoor Recreation Co-op Programthat received our Robin Dennis Award in 1997.

He has chaired COEO annual conferenceson three different occasions: at CampTawingo in 1979, at Ohshweken (Six NationsReserve near Brantford) in 1996, and mostrecently at Paradise Lake in 2003. For thosewho attended last year’s conference, it’s easyto recall how energized we felt by Sundaydeparture time. Indeed, the conference actedas a catalyst for several of the positive changesthat affected our organization this year.

Clare has created and donated several highquality items for COEO auctions, including ahandmade, fifteen-foot kevlar/fibre glass solocanoe and several handcrafted paddles.

He has led numerous sessions at COEOconferences and regional events. In particular,Clare helped the organization revive thetradition of holding regional events in thewinter of 2004 by offering a Nordic ski andsnowshoe workshop that was quite popular.

In addition to these more visible activities inCOEO, Clare has contributed greatly in hisbehind-the-scenes work. In a typically quietbut enthusiastic way. Clare has encouragedmany students over the to become involvedin our organization and to take leadershiproles within our profession.

In light of his over three decades ofcontributions to outdoor education ingeneral and COEO in particular, we aredelighted to recognize Clare Magee with the2004 President’s Award.

Honorary Life Membership Award: BertHorwood

Criteria: This award is in recognition ofsubstantial and lasting contributions to thetraditions and successes of COEO. (2004nomination written by Glen Hester and GrantLinney; award presented by Grant Linney)

Bert is a long time member of COEO and, inboth his personal and professional lives, aconstant practitioner of all that outdooreducation values. He has received the RobinDennis Award on two occasions; in 1989, asa faculty of the Queen’s University Outdoorand Experiential Education program and, in1995, as an individual who has had a hugeand lasting impact upon outdoor educationin the province. In 2001, he also received theDorothy Walter Leadership Award.

Bert has also been a stalwart member of thisorganization, on many occasions acting as anadvisor for the revision of our constitutionand the conducting of our Annual GeneralMeetings. At annual conferences, he has bothoffered timely and provocative workshops aswell as facilitating large group discussions.

Bert, we believe it’s time to recognize all yourefforts on our behalf one more time and, so,we would like to do so by presenting youwith our first Honorary Life MembershipAward in four years. A warm COEO thankyou to our sultan of sage, our elder ofeloquence, our paragon of parliamentaryprocedure, Bert Horwood.

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Brent Dysart was a large man with a largepresence. When he was in the room, everyoneknew it. His influence was also large in hiscommunity, in school systems, and in themany organizations to which he belonged. Inspite of an easy-going nature, he was alwayswilling to take on leadership roles, and wasoften recognized for his many contributions.

Keen insight allowed Brent to see throughproblems and get involved in solutions. Hewas an early member of COEO and becameChairman of the organization. In 1985, hiswork was acknowledged with the COEOChairman’s Award (now the President’s Award).

A strong need for graduate level programs foroutdoor educators led Brent Dysart and RalphIngleton, among others, to meet with Ontariopost-secondary institutions in an attempt tokick-start an Ontario program. When thisfailed, they set up a program where NorthernIllinois University offered courses in theprovince. Bud Wiener was the spark plugfrom the university end. Brent acted asliaison for this program for several years andwas one of the first to graduate from it with aMaster of Science in Education degree.

Affable, gregarious, and with a keen sense ofhumour, Brent usually had people aroundhim laughing. I remember an occasion atNorthern Illinois University when Brent waspart of a Field Science Class and involved ina peer-teaching exercise. He chose to teachhow to make an inexpensive bird call. Hesupplied each of the graduate students with apull-tab from a pop can. He describedcarefully and in great detail how to bend thepull-tab and how to hold it up to their mouths.Everyone followed in total concentration,awaiting the last instruction. Then Brent said,“Now you call, ‘Here birdy, here birdy, herebirdy’.” He was so serious that I can’t helpwondering if some of the more naivestudents tried it out.

Brent is no longer with us. A great loss. Thoseof us who knew him will never forget thetrail he left through our lives.

Lloyd Fraser

In Memory of Brent Dysart, 1943–2004

Brent was the friendly outdoor man who sawthe best in people. His outdoor educationcareer spanned 30 years and included thePrime Minister’s Award for TeachingExcellence in 1994.

After teaching in Toronto for five years, helaunched an outdoor program at the LaurelCreek Conservation Area in 1974. Within ashort time, he became one of the leaders ofoutdoor education in Ontario and beyond.

Brent was a fun man, and a funny man, Hewas also sincere and loyal—a man of integrity.He was a man who thought outside-the-box.

Ralph Ingleton

In the late 1970s, within weeks of arriving asa rookie at the Laurel Creek Nature Centre inWaterloo, I was exposed to Brent’s insatiabledesire to explore new avenues for deliveringprograms. His initiatives included maplesyrup, pioneers and beekeeping. Historicalprograms particularly caught his fancy andhe displayed his creative entrepreneurialtalents in their development. He developed abuddy program for making maple syrup thatwas so popular it continues today at LaurelCreek, in one format or another, almost 30years later. Junior age students would comeout for a morning of maple syrup making,and in the afternoon be the buddy for aprimary child to teach them about the treesand the process, and to walk them throughthe historical displays placed throughout thebush that originally came from Brent’spassion for antique collecting.

Brent enthusiastically promoted outdooreducation by mentoring high school co-opand university students at Laurel Creek. Hedevised ways to get numerous environmentalresources written and published. He alsocontributed to his Rotary Club and universityconnections, as well as found time to developa retail business with his wife Carolyn in ahouse they renovated for that purpose.

Simply put, Brent was an extraordinaryoutdoor educator, innovator, and entrepreneur.

Dennis Wendland, Laurel Creek Rookie

n MemoriamI

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Council of Outdoor Educators of Ontario

Please send this form with a cheque or money order payable to:The Council of Outdoor Educators of Ontario

1185 Eglinton Ave. East, Toronto, ON M3C 3C6

Type of Membership

! Regular $50.00 ! Student $35.00 ! Family $60.00! Library $60.00 (Subscription to Pathways only) ! Organizational $100.00

(Organizational Memberships are for business, conservation authorities, outdoor education centres, etc.This rate will include 1 copy of Pathways, a web link (if requested in writing), maximum of 3 people at amembers rate for conferences and workshops, reduced cost of add space in Pathways and display space atconferences.)

United States orders please add $4.00 International Orders please add $10.00COEO Membership is from September 1–August 31 of any given year

Each member of COEO will be assigned to a region of the provinceaccording to the county in which they live.

Central (CE) Niagara South, Lincoln, Hamilton-Wentworth, Halton, Peel, York, Simcoe, MetroToronto

Eastern (EA) Victoria, Durham, Peterborough, Northumberland, Hastings, Prince Edward,Renfrew, Lennox and Addington, Frontenac, Leeds, Grenville, Ottawa-Carleton,Lanark, Prescott, Russell, Stormont, Dundas, Glengarry

Far North (FN) Patricia, Kenora, Thunder Bay, Algoma, Cochrane, Sudbury, Rainy River,Timiskaming

Northern (NO) Parry Sound, Nipissing, Muskoka, Haliburton, North Bay

Western (WE) Essex, Kent, Elgin, Lambton, Middlesex, Huron, Bruce, Grey, Dufferin, Wellington,Waterloo, Perth, Oxford, Brant, Haldimand-Norfolk

Membership Application Form(Please Print)

Name: (Mr./Mrs./Ms/Miss)

Street Address

City/Town Province Postal Code

Telephone (Home) ( ) Business ( )

E-mail

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Return to:

The Council of O

utdoor Educators of Ontario

1185 Eglinton Avenue East

Toronto, ON

M3C

3C6

Pathways - Outdoor Education | COEO

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