[ instigate change ]

I always think it's funny when I make huge plans to complete something and I forget to take into account that life is always busier than I realize. At the beginning of December I was given about 2.5 weeks off. I initially didn't even want the time off (crazy, I know) simply because I really don't enjoy the busyness of the Christmas season. Time off means time easily filled and used up by family get-togethers. Up until now I've had FIVE turkey dinners. I'm usually a vegetarian by the time I get to the end of December. In light of the hectic season and getting caught doing one too many things at one time and becoming a master at 'multi-tasking', I thought I would lay out this activity for you. I have done it before using only three different objects. But when I was at the AEE conference - High5 used three different types of patterns. I liked that one better because the Now What? questions made an easier cross-over to our everyday lives. Here's the activ...

I will be posting a new activity tomorrow. But I thought I would just share this right now. I continually stress to my staff and teachers who attend my workshops to stop reacting to the behaviour of their students and start asking themselves why they are acting the way they do. Each person's background and circumstances often create a framework for how they react towards stress, confrontation, and learning. Understanding this can help us work with individuals and help them gain a better understanding of themselves. Self-assessment and awareness are powerful tools. The ability to look at where we have come from, where we are and then decide for ourselves who we are going to be is something I think we all want to possess. And it is an essential part of growing the people who are our future.

Much like everyone - I'm finding myself crunched for time these days. I would like to think that I finally, after 30.5 years, have figured out how to slow down and not go crazy in this Christmas season - but alas...I have not. And so - until I can find myself properly seated without a mountain of Christmas cards in front of me I'm going to share this video with you. I know, I know - I KNOW what you're thinking. I don't have time for this. Well, make time. This video helps to explain where I am coming from when it comes to experiential education and how we should be approaching the education system. We're not manufacturing robots! We growing humans. If we miss the difference between the two - we're going to continue to see the performance and interest of our students decline - regardless of how much information we continue to jam into them...they will never be MORE ready for university or college or life. Sir Ken Robinson is the speaker and we all need ...

Where did we leave off? Oh yes... What happens if we do "Line Up From Least to Greatest" again...this time without cards?  I almost always do this next part when I have gone through Line up According to the Number (or From Least to Greatest...OR whatever you decide to name your activity). It always seems like a natural progression from the debrief. I also find that you can always talk about how it isn't right or possible to label people because we all have different talents and gifts. Almost every group can come up with that answer but I like to test them on it. That's when I normally get the group to pass the cards back to me and ask them to do the activity again (this is the only part where it's nice to have a title that works for doing it with OR without the cards like "Line Up From the Least to the Greatest" because then your instructions are the same for both activities). There is usually a few blank stares as it doesn't make sense initial...

Hello! Sorry about the delay in posting. As much as I love where I live...there are consequences - like internet. For the last month I have not had internet in the afternoons or evenings. This makes life difficult and frustrating when I have come to rely on it for so much of my "normal" living routine. I think that's there's a very profound teachable moment wrapped up in there and when I come across it as I'm facilitating - I'll be sure to let you know about it...as long as I have internet access. Today though I feel very excited about getting my "resource" gadget up. Now you can check out some of the resources that you would find in my office and in my home. It's very exciting...I'll soon even have a separate link for my American friends and one for Canadians as Amazon treats us like equals. Just follow the link straight to amazon to get them. I have often found that Amazon sells them cheaper than most other bookstores. The activity to...

LOOK at the camels first and then read the message below... This is a picture ta ken from directly above these camels in the desert at sunset. It is considered to be one of the best pictures of the year. When you look closely, you can see that the camels are the little white lines in the picture. The black images you see are just the shadows! This topic came to up during my team building session last week while I was doing the Helium Stick. And I didn't think of it while I was debriefing the activity. It's coming up as I've thought about those sessions more and more. Here was the one situation that popped up during my session. The group members were all in grade 11 and 12 and were split pretty evenly between girls and guys. The activity was very loud and volatile. For the most part the guys were shouting at their female counterparts to stop messing up, just to put the stick down, and that they should just listen. At one point - one of the males (...

I'm writing this in the wake of a tragedy. There was a student last week that committed suicide at the community's high school. When you live in a town as small as the one that I live near - tragedies like this can overwhelm the town. It's horrible and sad and everything that shouldn't happen to a 16 year old. He was a provincial track star on the road to compete at Nationals next week. He hit a speed bump which threatened his next year in his sport and it was enough to push him over the edge - to feel like there was nothing else that he could live for. Only he will know what was in his head and heart or what brought him to that place. All I know is that a tragedy like this starts a fire in me. Our kids - the youth that are in each one of our lives need to know that they are loved, valued, and cherished by us. They need to hear it. Parents, teachers, leaders, directors, friends, family - all of us - we need to step up to the plate and never assume that they just know...

How do you start one of these blogs? I was so excited to paint the walls of this new/old blog and have a place to share ideas and philosophies with folks - maybe meet new people who are on the same journey as me. But I was suddenly struck last night with the overwhelming feeling that I'm a nobody in this world full of facilitators, shakers, and movers. Who am I to be writing about these things... I was reminded of a point about 9 or so months ago when I encountered my old gym teacher at a teacher's convention where I had an exhibit. I was going to be teaching some workshops on how to integrate team building exercises and cooperative games into school curriculum. We talked briefly about this and she looked up sharply and asked when I had gone out and gotten my Ed. degree. I said that I hadn't but that I had been instructing outdoor education and experiential education at a camp for almost a decade. She laughed, responding - "Who do you think you are...teaching teacher...

This blog actually started years ago. It predates [ the clean slate ]. I don't actually remember the reasons why I started [ the clean slate ] rather than just continuing on here. Maybe it was about a fresh start. I had started the Bear's Den and inconsistently posted about really nothing. I hated looking back through the posts and feeling disappointed with how I presented stuff...meaningless stuff. All I could think of was the writer from Ecclesiastes saying "Meaningless, meaningless. Everything is meaningless". I wanted to write profound things - but I never really came to that place. So I just ditched it and started something new. There's nothing really wrong with 'new starts' - sometimes they're needed. But the inability to figure out how to delete a blog left me staring at this dormant blog every time I logged in to update [ the clean slate ]. And then the Association for Experiential Education conference happened two or so weeks ago. I started ...