The online brochure
is now available on our website. Click
here.
Hardcopy
will be mailed out the 2nd week of November.
If
you would like a hardcopy, please e-mail with your request at team@neiu.edu.
Click on each article's title below to display article:
In this issue:
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The Ripple Effect is published by the Health & Physical Education Department, in co-operation with the College of Education, Northeastern Illinois University: Dr. Nan Giblin, Dean, College of Education |
Departments:
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Our Mission Teachers
of Experiential and Adventure Methodology (T.E.A.M.) is an organization
dedicated to promoting and supporting the process of experiential and adventure
based learning. Through the sharing of a progression of ideas, skills,
and curricula, TEAM provides individuals and organizations in the areas
of education and community service with professional, cross-cultural, and
personal growth opportunities.
Our mission is accomplished through an annual conference, The Ripple Effect Newsletter, and our web site (www.neiu.edu/~team). Newsletter
Committee (service years):
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Dear Friends and Colleagues, Can teambuilding, personal transformation, the T.E.A.M. Conference, and the Grateful Dead have relevance in the same article? It can and the associations are quite amazing. As Paul Harvey would say, "And now the rest of the story..." Jim Fabianski has been teaching for over twenty years, and is currently on staff at Sandburg High School. He attended the T.E.A.M. Conference in 2004 and there seemed to be a glow about him, even though he had to drive through a rainstorm for nearly an hour to get here. I asked him why for the last few years he was always smiling. Jim answered, "That's easy! When I got into teaching and coaching it was all about me. It was ego driven and if you did not agree with me you better get out of my way. Since I learned about Adventure/ Challenge Education a few years ago everything has shifted. Now it is all about the kids and I can't wait to get to school. It is about service and helping students find themselves. What could be better than that?" You can see Jim glow while he teaches at Sandburg High School. Francisco Esparza, a nineteen year old undergraduate accounting major at Northeastern, enrolled in the Introduction to Adventure Class, in Spring, 2004. One requirement of the class is participation in a three-day "wilderness" trip and reading a book about the adventures of John Muir before the weekend. Our wilderness experience occurred in Governor Dodge State Park, forty miles west of Madison, Wisconsin. This was the first time Francisco had left the city of Chicago. The wilderness experience transformed him and it was shared in his reflection paper. Here are some excerpts. "I gained a connection with nature that was incredible and beyond my wildest expectations. I learned that nature has its own music and wonders. The class requirement of driving with our radios and cell phones off allowed me to hear sounds I had only heard on television. Sleeping under the stars, focused me on also listening to the wind, and hearing the earth grow. Sitting around a fire we started without matches, and listening to Native American stories from Osahmin was like being in a dream. Like John Muir I had this tremendous connection in the wilderness to the trees, the wind, and the insects. Watching a sunrise and just walking soothed my stress. It felt like I was living life to the fullest. I learned that the wilderness can benefit us in forms we never thought possible." I hope he can carry this into his next accounting test. Nancy Gibson, a teacher from Waukegan, Illinois, brought some of her students to the T.E.A.M. Conference in 2003. She and the students were so moved they conducted a workshop at the following T.E.A.M. Conference. At the 2003 Conference one of her students watched the Play for Peace Workshop and spoke only for a few moments to Richard Rutschman, who coordinates all the Chicagoland activities. At the 2004 Conference this student returned and found Richard and said, "You may not remember me because we only spoke for a few moments last year, but it transformed my life. I need to thank you. You may have saved my life. I was all set to enroll in the Army as soon as I graduated from high school until I saw your workshop and spoke to you." He sounds like he will be a good facilitator. Tom Karras, an undergraduate Physical Education Major, like Francisco, was also enrolled in our Introduction to Adventure Education Class. As a 38 year old returning adult he did not know how he would "fit in" with the younger students. He did not realize many of our undergraduate students have been around the block a few times and are finally discovering their true calling in education. The adventure class is built around the Kurt Hahn model for Outward Bound of skills development, leadership, and service. Tom chose to do his 10 hours of service at the T.E.A.M. Conference, but it was not until the talking circle in April around the fire on our wilderness trip that I learned what had happened for him. As the thunder rolled in the background and the lightening danced in the clouds Tom shared the following at the Fire circle. "I used to be a Grateful Dead fan and traveled all over to hear them play. However, it was more than the music. It was the sense of community. It was the sense of belonging. It was a feeling I never received anywhere else in society. When Jerry Garcia died and they stopped playing I searched to find another community with the same feeling, but nothing ever compared. I literally stopped looking knowing there would never be anything like the feeling that existed at the Grateful Dead concerts. When I walked through the front doors of the gym at 7:30 am to help at the T.E.A.M. Conference, I was blindsided. The feeling at the conference was the exact feeling I would have at the concerts. I did not really understand what I had stepped into, but I knew at that moment it was something I wanted to be part of for the rest of my life. I was instantly transformed into knowing this was something I will also do with my students. They too need this sense of community." Tom's transformation in some respects is really amazing since all we only gave out at the registration desk was Luna Bars. The transformation can happen for you too. We have a great web page at www.neiu.edu/~team and our next T.E.A.M. Conference is scheduled for February 18 & 19, 2005. We hope to see you there. We will have some Luna Bars for you too. Good Day! Dan
Creely Jr.
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The Ripple EffectFirst, get your own life in order. Ground yourself in the single principle so that your behavior is wholesome and effective. If you do that, you will earn respect and be a powerful influence. Your behavior influences others through a ripple effect. A ripple effect works because everyone influences everyone else. Powerful people are powerful influences. If your life works, you influence your family. If your family works, your family influences the community. If your community works, your community influences the nation. If your nation works, your nation influences the world. If the world works, the ripple effect spreads throughout the cosmos. Remember that your influence begins with you and ripples outward. So be sure that your influence is both potent and wholesome. How do I know that this works? All growth spreads outward from a fertile and potent nucleus. You are a nucleus. |
Do you have a valuable link covering Experiential & Adventure Methodology that we should add to our Links page? Please send the URL and a brief description. In May, 2002, the T.E.A.M. Conference Committee decided to establish two scholarships in the name of Dr. James Gillihan for his lifetime of service, honor and dedication. The scholarships are to honor two deserving people and help them financially attend the T.E.A.M. Conference. Jim was informed of the scholarships and was thrilled to become "a permanent part of the T.E.A.M. Conference." Jim had been attending and presenting workshops since 1995. His half day workshops on Lakota, Cherokee, and Celtic customs, ceremonies, history, and traditions were always packed with interested participants. His encyclopedic mind captivated people with the facts, stories and experiences he would recall and share. Jim Gillihan was a warrior in every sense of the word, but what he will be remembered for most was his kindness, patience, and the gentle way he helped people. When you sat in his circles he made you feel welcome and aware that your presence was important. People loved being around him as you would love sitting with your own grandfather. Jim passed away on June 7, 2002, but he will never be forgotten by those of us who where fortunate to know him. Moments with Jim seemed like a life time. Our two recipients for 2002 were the following: * Rob Schader, who is a second year teacher at St. Pat's High school, in Chicago. Rob has written an article for the Ripple Effect newsletter (click here to view). You can read for yourself about the transformational effect Adventure/Challenge Education had on him. * Le Moine LaPointe has worked for years in the adventure field, and is active in social justice and human rights. In 2002, he organized the first experiential conference for The Association for Experiential Education (AEE) in Mission, South Dakota. His goal is to introduce this process to educators so they will use it in the school systems. Mission, South Dakota, is LeMoine's home town and has one of the highest unemployment and teen suicide rates in the country. He believes that adventure/challenge programs can instill a sense of hope in the community. NOMINATIONS: If you would like to nominate someone for the Dr. James Gillihan Award, submit a letter in writing to the T.E.A.M. Committee with as much information as you can supply about the person, as well as why you feel they deserve the scholarship. We look forward to hearing from you. Mail to:
Peace.
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