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Inter-cultural Leadership Initiative
2009-2010
In school visit AV-W 4th, 5th and 6th grade
10-30/ 11-4-2009
Intercultural Leadership Initiative
2009-2010
In school visit to Lac du Flambeau 4th, and 6th grades
10-21-2009
2009-2010
In school visit AV-W 4th, 5th and 6th grade
10-30/ 11-4-2009
6th grade at AV-W is divided into 5 small groups that each meet on a different day of the week for guidance classes
6th grade: Monday
Matt’s original plan didn’t seem to fit the group on this first day back after break. The students were excited and in a high state of energy. With the high level of jitters in the room, they needed something to bring them together from all the places their minds were taking them. Matt will save the other idea for another day. Instead Matt had the group gather into a circle and proceeded to describe some of the differences in personalities and how each one has gifts. One system for thinking about the differences uses a few animals to help make sense of some of the specifics. The Otter, Lion, Golden Retreiver and Beaver. Each one has different leadership traits and styles. Then with each and every adding of a person to a group it changes. Not better or worse. But to get things accomplished the group needs to take everyone’s needs into account and use their gifts for the group’s benefit. It is up to everybody to do his or her part. Then the group was invited to grab hold of a spot on a circle of rope Matt prepared. The idea was to see, in a visual way, how what we do affects the whole group. The group did better but there are a number of directions of thought that can be pursued next time we meet.
6th grade: Tuesday
Matt began the time by passing out to each students one pair of his lifetime collection of old glasses. He then asked the students to put them on and try looking around. He gave tem a few eye exam tests from the front of the room. Many students couldn’t see enough to pass. Then Matt asked if it was hard to see clearly. Then the group talked awhile about perspectives and how we perceive things. When we try to really see things from a new point of view it is sometimes hazy or distorted. To get some practice seeing things from different points of view, the group participated in an exercise involving a mock court. When asked for a volunteer only a couple of students boldly raised their hands. Matt chose one of these students to be the judge. Each of the 4 tables had some time to assemble an opinion and argument concerning the topic “Allowing Chewing Gum in school”. After one round of hearing opening arguments, the “Judge” made a ruling on the issue. With only his point of view. Even after hearing all those opinions it came down to one person deciding. For the next round, each table voted one member onto the “Judge’s panel”. For this round, tables were allowed to weigh in with arguments and rebuttals. At the end the panel secluded themselves for a few moments and came back with a ruling. This ruling was a much more fair, equitable and possible to implement idea. The group was then out of time.
6th grade: Wednesday
Today went very similar to Tuesday at the beginning. When it came to the “trial”, the topic was “Should Football or Four-square be the official game of recess.” The debate was well spoken, passionate and appealed to the senses of reason. Both sides had a number of “cases” to prove their point of view. The group’s time was finished long before the group had exhausted their enthusiasm for the debate.
6th grade: Thursday
Matt began again with his discussion of points of view and letting the students try out his glasses collection. Then the group talked a little bit about the definitions of perspectives and prejudice or to pre- judge. Then, through a diplomatic process, the group chose a Judge. Like the previous days, the two sides then had a chance to develop and defend
their opinion on the topic. Chewing gum in school. Then the judge made a ruling based on the hearing. Then each side elected a member to join the “panel” of judges. After another round of arguments, the panel then deliberated and delivered a ruling. This time they created a new law that took both sides of the argument and made one new vision of justice. It was as excellent compromise. When asked what the differences between the two “trials” were, the students said “the 2nd one was much more fair”. When asked what the difference was they concluded that it was the broader array of opinions that led to the best solution.
4th grade: Monday- Mr. Smith’s class
Today Matt started with asking about the strangest food they had ever eaten at thanksgiving. He then finished that portion telling them about his “ Thanksgiving in a bottle” meal. A package of sodas flavored like thanksgiving favorites. Imagine turkey soda pop!
Then the group moved to a larger room to have space for an activity. Matt asked the group to once again name the 6 ILI words. Then he told them they could try to figure out which word this next activity was most about. To think which word it most meant to them.
Then he told the group to line up into two equal lines facing each other. After they got the spacing right, he told them to each hold out their right hand so the overall effect was like a zipper with arms overlapping every other side. Then he asked for a volunteer to walk through the “zipper” while the group would raise their arms to let the person through and then close it right behind the person all without touching the walker. As they went the group got faster and faster till they were running through and trusting the group to give them the clearance they needed. Then Matt had the group sit and talk about what they saw. They had a lot of good comments about it but a number of students said it was bout safety and trust. The more important one being trust. This is exactly what Matt was hoping they would see. They said it was similar to going to ILI sessions in that you go ahead fully, hoping that your own group will do well and that the other schools will be as trusting and trustworthy as you. “And you have to be trustworthy too to make it work.”
Then Mrs. Fitzpatrick asked a question about how this group can be ready for more challenging exercises and activities if they do well with the challenges Matt puts before them. The group responded with a thoughtful and enthusiastic “yes we can rise to the challenges and work together”.
4th grade: Wednesday- Mrs. Brewer’s class
Today this class came in with a lot of extra energy and excitement. Some people say it has to do with the full moon. He group spent some time together to remind Matt of some of their names. Then as they prepared for the activity, Matt came to the conclusion that before they proceeded, they would have to come to an understanding where everyone could trust one another. Matt need to trust the students and the students need to be able to trust each other and Matt’s instructions. After the group discussed it and agreed to be trustworthy, Matt led the group in setting up the “Zipper” (see Monday). They did well but ran out of time and not every one was able to have a turn. When Matt asked what it took to be able to do the activity the students said “trust and listening well” and ”looking out for each other”. Matt was able to discuss with them about how people lose out when people are not doing those things for each other. The group was then challenged to do these things for each other in every day situations.
4th grade: Friday-Mrs. Berryman
The group had a great time telling jokes and sharing goofy stories while a volunteer checked to see if a larger room was available for them to use. It was discovered that they would have to use the room they were in. This was not a problem but required the moving of a number of desks. During the process one student accidentally knocked a desk over. It was encouraging to see most of the class rush over to assist the student. The only problem was that there wasn’t enough room for very many people to help so they split up to take care of other things that needed to be moved. Good job students! Then Matt helped them set up the “Zipper”. The students did an excellent job listening and executing the activity and everyone got a chance to run through. Then the group sat in a circle and reflected on what made the activity so good. They said many good things like respect, cooperation and listening, which were all true but one student said trust. Matt then asked them what from the activity would be needed when they went to different places like the playground, the high school or even Wal mart. They agreed that all of them would be needed. The group looked into the future and decided that if they used all these words they would have a better time at their jobs (when they got them).
5th grade: Tuesday-Mrs. Jackson
This time together started with a short time of waiting for a few students to catch up to the group. So Matt attempted to take the ideas and requests of the group and draw one cohesive picture, which ended up being of a penguin sliding down a snow covered hill. When the group was all ready, Matt asked for volunteers, one by one, to act out in charade form something they get very excited about. A lot of fun guessing and acting. Then Matt did one of his own. His was reading the dictionary. He then went on to explain that language is one of his favorite things because, to some degree, it shapes our patterns of thought. To understand our thoughts and how we think helps us understand other people and how to get along with them. Matt then brought out the word Prejudice and asked if the students could define it. The students did a great job of defining and when they looked up the dictionary definition there much wasn’t to add. They then discussed whether it was a bad word or not. It was determined that the group’s experiences would not be as wide and adventurous if they Pre – Judged things before trying them. Then the group worked on the word Discrimination. The group had a lot of opinions about what it was and was not. After some time of debate, Matt brought out the dictionary. The group discovered that they were right on most of their ideas of the meaning of the word. When asked if they had ever seen discrimination in action, both bad and good, they had many stories. The ability to discriminate which foods are healthy, which activities are dangerous, which friends are truthful. All good uses of discriminating skills. But if we apply discrimination to groups and individual people it gets destructive fast. People’s feeling get hurt and anger starts to grow. The students all had examples of things they have seen where someone has been left out or picked on because of the decisions of a couple of people. Matt told a story of when he was in High school and would play football on the weekends. Two boys would always decide everything and who could play and who could not based on the idea that if you don’t look fast you probably aren’t so you can’t play any fun positions. Just stay of the cool peoples way. Those games almost always ended up with somebody mad or hurt feelings because they would discriminate based on the pre-judging that they knew everything and no one else had anything to contribute. The time together ended with students who didn’t get to act out things getting a chance to do charades till time was up.
5th grade: Thursday- Mr. Oxley
Today was very similar in most respects to Tuesday. The students, however, grabbed onto the conversation and asked a lot of questions. This brought the conversation to a little different level. The students had many examples and theories that they wished to share. It was very exciting to see them dig into a topic with enthusiasm.
5th grade: Friday-Mrs. Johnson
Sometimes there are moments that surpass what we were hoping for. Today started in much the same way as Tuesday. Matt is always glad to see the creativity and enthusiasm of those students who like to act and perform. Then Matt started the conversation about the correct meanings of words by describing how language changes over time. If we walked up to someone from the 1850’s and said “that ten gallon hat is, like, totally cool” the person would think he needed to take it off before it got his head cold. Then they had a test to see how well they could define the word Prejudice. They did pretty well but there were a number of thoughts about the word that made it clear how some people the students had heard use the word had used it incorrectly. After discussing it well, Matt moved on to the word Discrimination. The conversation then became much more deep and thoughtful. The students had many examples and experiences of the feelings that being considered by someone as not as worthfull create. Both of their own and seeing it in the world around them. One student asked if it was possible to Discriminate against yourself? This opened up a whole new way to look at what discrimination does to a person’s self esteem. Matt then shared a story from his youth that described how people in jr hi told him he was heavy, clumsy and dumb. Matt then never tried to do well in athletic endeavors for a long time. He instead became the goof off. The students really connected with the feelings and reality of the situations that Matt and other students were describing. At one point a students made the observation that suicide is kind of like the ultimate act of “self-discrimination”.
This helped the group move on to the “-isms”. Matt created the scenario that all people wearing Adidas shoes now had to take them off at the door and could not participate in any school extra-curricular activities. After a thorough discussion of what life would be like in that world, the group was then able to make the transfer to the racism of the days of segregation. Matt gave examples of many of the “isms” in our world. Ageism, genderism, Classism. It was one of the conversations that really get Matt encouraged. He was very excited to see the students participate so thoroughly.
6th grade: Monday
Matt’s original plan didn’t seem to fit the group on this first day back after break. The students were excited and in a high state of energy. With the high level of jitters in the room, they needed something to bring them together from all the places their minds were taking them. Matt will save the other idea for another day. Instead Matt had the group gather into a circle and proceeded to describe some of the differences in personalities and how each one has gifts. One system for thinking about the differences uses a few animals to help make sense of some of the specifics. The Otter, Lion, Golden Retreiver and Beaver. Each one has different leadership traits and styles. Then with each and every adding of a person to a group it changes. Not better or worse. But to get things accomplished the group needs to take everyone’s needs into account and use their gifts for the group’s benefit. It is up to everybody to do his or her part. Then the group was invited to grab hold of a spot on a circle of rope Matt prepared. The idea was to see, in a visual way, how what we do affects the whole group. The group did better but there are a number of directions of thought that can be pursued next time we meet.
6th grade: Tuesday
Matt began the time by passing out to each students one pair of his lifetime collection of old glasses. He then asked the students to put them on and try looking around. He gave tem a few eye exam tests from the front of the room. Many students couldn’t see enough to pass. Then Matt asked if it was hard to see clearly. Then the group talked awhile about perspectives and how we perceive things. When we try to really see things from a new point of view it is sometimes hazy or distorted. To get some practice seeing things from different points of view, the group participated in an exercise involving a mock court. When asked for a volunteer only a couple of students boldly raised their hands. Matt chose one of these students to be the judge. Each of the 4 tables had some time to assemble an opinion and argument concerning the topic “Allowing Chewing Gum in school”. After one round of hearing opening arguments, the “Judge” made a ruling on the issue. With only his point of view. Even after hearing all those opinions it came down to one person deciding. For the next round, each table voted one member onto the “Judge’s panel”. For this round, tables were allowed to weigh in with arguments and rebuttals. At the end the panel secluded themselves for a few moments and came back with a ruling. This ruling was a much more fair, equitable and possible to implement idea. The group was then out of time.
6th grade: Wednesday
Today went very similar to Tuesday at the beginning. When it came to the “trial”, the topic was “Should Football or Four-square be the official game of recess.” The debate was well spoken, passionate and appealed to the senses of reason. Both sides had a number of “cases” to prove their point of view. The group’s time was finished long before the group had exhausted their enthusiasm for the debate.
6th grade: Thursday
Matt began again with his discussion of points of view and letting the students try out his glasses collection. Then the group talked a little bit about the definitions of perspectives and prejudice or to pre- judge. Then, through a diplomatic process, the group chose a Judge. Like the previous days, the two sides then had a chance to develop and defend
their opinion on the topic. Chewing gum in school. Then the judge made a ruling based on the hearing. Then each side elected a member to join the “panel” of judges. After another round of arguments, the panel then deliberated and delivered a ruling. This time they created a new law that took both sides of the argument and made one new vision of justice. It was as excellent compromise. When asked what the differences between the two “trials” were, the students said “the 2nd one was much more fair”. When asked what the difference was they concluded that it was the broader array of opinions that led to the best solution.
4th grade: Monday- Mr. Smith’s class
Today Matt started with asking about the strangest food they had ever eaten at thanksgiving. He then finished that portion telling them about his “ Thanksgiving in a bottle” meal. A package of sodas flavored like thanksgiving favorites. Imagine turkey soda pop!
Then the group moved to a larger room to have space for an activity. Matt asked the group to once again name the 6 ILI words. Then he told them they could try to figure out which word this next activity was most about. To think which word it most meant to them.
Then he told the group to line up into two equal lines facing each other. After they got the spacing right, he told them to each hold out their right hand so the overall effect was like a zipper with arms overlapping every other side. Then he asked for a volunteer to walk through the “zipper” while the group would raise their arms to let the person through and then close it right behind the person all without touching the walker. As they went the group got faster and faster till they were running through and trusting the group to give them the clearance they needed. Then Matt had the group sit and talk about what they saw. They had a lot of good comments about it but a number of students said it was bout safety and trust. The more important one being trust. This is exactly what Matt was hoping they would see. They said it was similar to going to ILI sessions in that you go ahead fully, hoping that your own group will do well and that the other schools will be as trusting and trustworthy as you. “And you have to be trustworthy too to make it work.”
Then Mrs. Fitzpatrick asked a question about how this group can be ready for more challenging exercises and activities if they do well with the challenges Matt puts before them. The group responded with a thoughtful and enthusiastic “yes we can rise to the challenges and work together”.
4th grade: Wednesday- Mrs. Brewer’s class
Today this class came in with a lot of extra energy and excitement. Some people say it has to do with the full moon. He group spent some time together to remind Matt of some of their names. Then as they prepared for the activity, Matt came to the conclusion that before they proceeded, they would have to come to an understanding where everyone could trust one another. Matt need to trust the students and the students need to be able to trust each other and Matt’s instructions. After the group discussed it and agreed to be trustworthy, Matt led the group in setting up the “Zipper” (see Monday). They did well but ran out of time and not every one was able to have a turn. When Matt asked what it took to be able to do the activity the students said “trust and listening well” and ”looking out for each other”. Matt was able to discuss with them about how people lose out when people are not doing those things for each other. The group was then challenged to do these things for each other in every day situations.
4th grade: Friday-Mrs. Berryman
The group had a great time telling jokes and sharing goofy stories while a volunteer checked to see if a larger room was available for them to use. It was discovered that they would have to use the room they were in. This was not a problem but required the moving of a number of desks. During the process one student accidentally knocked a desk over. It was encouraging to see most of the class rush over to assist the student. The only problem was that there wasn’t enough room for very many people to help so they split up to take care of other things that needed to be moved. Good job students! Then Matt helped them set up the “Zipper”. The students did an excellent job listening and executing the activity and everyone got a chance to run through. Then the group sat in a circle and reflected on what made the activity so good. They said many good things like respect, cooperation and listening, which were all true but one student said trust. Matt then asked them what from the activity would be needed when they went to different places like the playground, the high school or even Wal mart. They agreed that all of them would be needed. The group looked into the future and decided that if they used all these words they would have a better time at their jobs (when they got them).
5th grade: Tuesday-Mrs. Jackson
This time together started with a short time of waiting for a few students to catch up to the group. So Matt attempted to take the ideas and requests of the group and draw one cohesive picture, which ended up being of a penguin sliding down a snow covered hill. When the group was all ready, Matt asked for volunteers, one by one, to act out in charade form something they get very excited about. A lot of fun guessing and acting. Then Matt did one of his own. His was reading the dictionary. He then went on to explain that language is one of his favorite things because, to some degree, it shapes our patterns of thought. To understand our thoughts and how we think helps us understand other people and how to get along with them. Matt then brought out the word Prejudice and asked if the students could define it. The students did a great job of defining and when they looked up the dictionary definition there much wasn’t to add. They then discussed whether it was a bad word or not. It was determined that the group’s experiences would not be as wide and adventurous if they Pre – Judged things before trying them. Then the group worked on the word Discrimination. The group had a lot of opinions about what it was and was not. After some time of debate, Matt brought out the dictionary. The group discovered that they were right on most of their ideas of the meaning of the word. When asked if they had ever seen discrimination in action, both bad and good, they had many stories. The ability to discriminate which foods are healthy, which activities are dangerous, which friends are truthful. All good uses of discriminating skills. But if we apply discrimination to groups and individual people it gets destructive fast. People’s feeling get hurt and anger starts to grow. The students all had examples of things they have seen where someone has been left out or picked on because of the decisions of a couple of people. Matt told a story of when he was in High school and would play football on the weekends. Two boys would always decide everything and who could play and who could not based on the idea that if you don’t look fast you probably aren’t so you can’t play any fun positions. Just stay of the cool peoples way. Those games almost always ended up with somebody mad or hurt feelings because they would discriminate based on the pre-judging that they knew everything and no one else had anything to contribute. The time together ended with students who didn’t get to act out things getting a chance to do charades till time was up.
5th grade: Thursday- Mr. Oxley
Today was very similar in most respects to Tuesday. The students, however, grabbed onto the conversation and asked a lot of questions. This brought the conversation to a little different level. The students had many examples and theories that they wished to share. It was very exciting to see them dig into a topic with enthusiasm.
5th grade: Friday-Mrs. Johnson
Sometimes there are moments that surpass what we were hoping for. Today started in much the same way as Tuesday. Matt is always glad to see the creativity and enthusiasm of those students who like to act and perform. Then Matt started the conversation about the correct meanings of words by describing how language changes over time. If we walked up to someone from the 1850’s and said “that ten gallon hat is, like, totally cool” the person would think he needed to take it off before it got his head cold. Then they had a test to see how well they could define the word Prejudice. They did pretty well but there were a number of thoughts about the word that made it clear how some people the students had heard use the word had used it incorrectly. After discussing it well, Matt moved on to the word Discrimination. The conversation then became much more deep and thoughtful. The students had many examples and experiences of the feelings that being considered by someone as not as worthfull create. Both of their own and seeing it in the world around them. One student asked if it was possible to Discriminate against yourself? This opened up a whole new way to look at what discrimination does to a person’s self esteem. Matt then shared a story from his youth that described how people in jr hi told him he was heavy, clumsy and dumb. Matt then never tried to do well in athletic endeavors for a long time. He instead became the goof off. The students really connected with the feelings and reality of the situations that Matt and other students were describing. At one point a students made the observation that suicide is kind of like the ultimate act of “self-discrimination”.
This helped the group move on to the “-isms”. Matt created the scenario that all people wearing Adidas shoes now had to take them off at the door and could not participate in any school extra-curricular activities. After a thorough discussion of what life would be like in that world, the group was then able to make the transfer to the racism of the days of segregation. Matt gave examples of many of the “isms” in our world. Ageism, genderism, Classism. It was one of the conversations that really get Matt encouraged. He was very excited to see the students participate so thoroughly.
Intercultural Leadership Initiative
2009-2010
In school visit to Lac du Flambeau 4th, and 6th grades
10-21-2009
Matt was at LdF school again for In-school sessions for 4th and 6th grade. Please see 10/19/09 write up for 4th grade or the attached document.
Matt only had a short time with the 6th graders as they had an opportunity to go on a field trip. He spent the short amount of time with a brain teaser that is leading up to the content of what he will talk with them about.
2009-2010
In school visit to Lac du Flambeau 4th, 6th, and 7th grades
10-20-2009
Today marked the first of this year’s ILI visits to class rooms in LDF. Throughout this week Matt will be with each of the classes 4th through 8th grade. This is an opportunity to visit with classes before they attend sessions with other schools so we all come more prepared and also to visit afterwards to have some time to sort out and discuss what we saw while with other schools.
4th Grade (Ms. Halverson) :
The first fourth grade sessions were only a couple of weeks ago and still fresh on the student’s minds. Craig asked the students about what they liked or thought was fun from their time at ILI. A number of students responded that they liked meeting and making friends with new kids. Other students said that they liked the cranberry marsh. One student reported that they had made cookies with their mom and grand-mother with the cranberries they received. The student also let the class know that they were really good! After talking about the session, Craig asked them if they could remember the 6 words we talked about at the beginning of the session. With a little help they were able to come up with all 6. It was great to see them thinking about when we were together trying to remember the words. Then, we discussed each word a little. Craig talked to the students about the importance of the word Safety. We spent the rest of the time talking about this word and how important it is in our lives, both in and out of school.
6th Grade (6th grade is split into 3 groups that rotate every few weeks through guidance classes. This is ILI’s first visit of the year but it is group 3. ILI will visit often to get each group the same number of visits; instead of one meeting a week, they meet everyday. Matt will be with them all week.)
Matt started where the group left off yesterday. Matt took the group on a little history tour of the treaties; when they were made and what was in them. As he unfolded the story the students made a number of connections to people and places they were familiar with. “Oh, my uncle was there” or “My Grandpa knew them” or “I visited that place”. As they understood the connection of history to their own lives they hopefully will see it as knowledge worth learning and using in their lives. They did a good job of interacting with Matt on the issues. They will pick up from there tomorrow and move into how this will apply to their lives with some interactive activities.
7th Grade:
The group started with some riddles and mind teasers on the board to get warmed up. Then Matt put a specific challenge on the board. It is a maze/logic puzzle in which a long series of “Matches” are laid in lines (drawn on the board), end to end, with each match being “lit” by the one previous to it in the chain. The students then have to follow the splitting, turning and reconnecting of the lines of matches to figure out which one will burn last. They have to do this without moving from their seats, which can be quite a challenge. They then all record their guesses. With that done the group can come up and count until they find the real answer to see if their early calculations were right. Then Matt asked the group about how the activity reminded them of things they see at school. There were many thoughts and ideas. “When one person gets away with something the whole group thinks they can too”, “If one thing gets started it tends to keep going; whether it’s a bad thing or a good thing” and a number of other creative takes. Matt told them that there was not ONE right answer. It was possible to have many true points of view of the same moment or event. The group ran out of time shortly after that point.
2009-2010
In school visit to Lac du Flambeau 4th and 6th grade
10-19-2009
Today marked the first of this year’s ILI visits to classrooms in LDF. Throughout this week Matt will be with each of the 4th through 8th grade classes. This is an opportunity to visit with classes before they attend sessions with other schools so we all come more prepared and also to process afterwards; to have some time to sort out and discuss what we saw while with other schools.
4th grade (Mrs. Rhonda Maulson) :
The first fourth grade sessions were only a couple of weeks ago and still fresh on the student’s minds. Matt spent a little time at the beginning to let the students share things that stood out or were fun for them and to ask questions. The students have excellent memories. They came up with all of the important ILI “Pillar” (Safety, Respect, Pride, Cooperation, Communication, and Fun) words from memory. After answering some of their questions, Matt asked the students to sit in a circle on the ground. Then he brought out a small collection of rocks. Each rock was very different from the others and with its own unique story. Matt told the students stories about each rock. Then they asked about the rock with the duct tape on it. Matt replied by telling the story of how he found that rock at a special place during a wilderness hiking trip. It was found at a place that gave his group shelter in bad conditions and he had always thought of it as a symbol of being safe.
Years later someone dropped his safe rock and Matt had to tape the pieces back into place. Matt then asked how this story relates to ILI. Through discussion they decided that if someone gets hurt (inside or outside) from something we say, it will be very hard for that person to trust us. We could try to put it back together to be ok, but it would still be better to try not to make others feel unsafe.
6th grade (6th grade is split into 3 groups that rotate every few weeks through guidance classes. This is ILI’s first visit of the year but it is group 3. ILI will visit often to get each group the same number of visits; instead of one meeting a week, they meet everyday. Matt will be with them all week.)
Matt started by answering the groups questions about the when and wheres of this years events. Then he took time to have the group participate in a guessing activity as a way to share some of what they did during the months since he last saw most of them.
After a fun time of catching up, Matt asked why ILI was started. They had a lot of good insights and ideas. Then Matt asked Mrs. Grams to share, from her own experience, why it was important to start the program. This led to a discussion of some of the immediate history preceding ILI’s founding. Matt will pick up tomorrow where the group had to stop because time was up.
Intercultural Leadership Initiative
2009-2010
LdF/NLES 5th Grade Session #1
10/13/09 9am-2pm
Faith Free Church
LdF Students: 13 LdF Teacher: Karen Lewis
NLES Students: 20 NLES Teacher: JoAnn Busalacchi
ILI LUHS Mentors: 5
Parent: Kathy Hough
ILI Staff: Ernie St. Germaine, Joe Graveen, Licia Johnson, Matt White, and Craig Kerr
Today’s theme was the same as yesterday, “Cooperation-Sharing”, and the schedule of the day was similar to yesterday (Please see Monday’s write-up). However, today because we had a smaller group we split into three groups instead of four.
One of the groups today did an activity towards the end of the day where the whole group had to get a large sized globe colored beach ball into a bucket. This sounds rather easy, however the ball in on a hoop with strings attached to it and the students are holding the strings that are 8-10ft. long. This is not an easy task by any means. The students really had to work hard together to accomplish this challenge. They had some difficulty with it but everyone stuck with it and as the communicated and tried new things they were able to achieve their goal. They were all jumping up and down after they successfully finished. It was great to see! Next they did the shoe tying activity from yesterday (Please see Monday’s write-up). One pair was a boy and a girl from different schools. The boy had been hesitant and a little shy earlier in the day, but when they successfully accomplished the task they both jumped up and gave each other a BIG HIGH-5!!! They had big smiles to match the high-5. They truly get the idea of the theme of “Cooperation-Sharing”. They cooperated to accomplish the task and shared in the joy of that accomplishment together!
Another group had successfully accomplished a number of challenges through out the morning, but one student felt that they had not been completely involved. The facilitator invited the student back into the group, and they responded that the facilitator had not involved him, it was the group. The group had to process this and came up with a plan. The first thing that they tried did not work and came up with another idea. They moved their whole group over to where the student who felt excluded was sitting and made him part of the circle. This action by the group totally changed this student’s experience for the rest of the day and they were totally involved and joyful for the rest of the day. Sometimes as adults we think that a person who feels excluded brought it on themselves and they just need to get over it and get involved. But this group of students shows us that no matter the cause of the feeling, when we take time and intentionally include others it usually ends up in a positive experience for everyone.
Next meeting Feb 9th.
Intercultural Leadership Initiative
2009-2010
AVW/LdF/MHLT 5th Grade Session #1
10/12/09 9am-2pm
Faith Free Church
2009-2010
AVW/LdF/MHLT 5th Grade Session #1
10/12/09 9am-2pm
Faith Free Church
AVW Students: 9 AVW Teacher: Bruce Oxley
LdF Students: 21 LdF Teachers: Dorothy Dorn and Lori St. Germaine
MHLT Students: 20 MHLT Teacher: Nancy Peterson
ILI LUHS Mentors: 7
LUHS Staff: Rae Lundberg
Parents: Erik Boyer, Annie Ertl, and Jodi Doolittle
ILI Volunteers: Kathy Hough, John and Gretchen Spickerman
ILI Staff: Ernie St. Germaine, Joe Graveen, Licia Johnson, Matt White, and Craig Kerr
We had planned to be in the LUHS school forest today, but the weather had other plans. It is always good to take time and enjoy the first snow of the year, so that is what we did. The high school students had all the 5th grade students link arms with a partner and make two circles (a smaller inner and a larger outer). Then they played “Elbow Tag” in two circles. The students really enjoyed getting to play outside in the first snow of the year. We all can take a lesson out of enjoying the little things in life with the joy of a child!
Next we headed into the large gym. Matt welcomed everyone and explained to them how important they are to us, and he also had the taller people introduce themselves. Then Craig had the students get into groups of 6, and divided the groups of 6 into 6 different groups. Each group was given one of our 6 ILI Foundation Words (Safety, Respect, Pride, Communicate, Cooperate, and Fun), and given the instructions that they were to illustrate the word and give its meaning in the context of ILI sessions. They students did an amazing job of illustrating their words! No group was the same and each had a different approach to how they illustrated their word. Every student in each group participated in some way, and it was great to watch as each group presented and explained their word!
After we all agreed to abide by these 6 words we split up into 4 groups. Each group rotated through 4 different locations in the church during the day. Each facilitator took their groups through a different progression of experiences. In ILI we have plans set up for what we would like to accomplish throughout the day with our students. Each facilitator has a road map of how they are going to get to that point with their group. However, as when you travel, there are road signs and detours that also give you directions. We take these road signs (students working together/gelling; communicating/interacting; etc.) from the students and sometimes have to change the “road” (activities/stories/discussions/etc.) we are on to get the group to our final destination.
Today our theme was “Cooperation-Sharing”. Each group spent a significant amount of time getting the students acquainted with each other because some of the students had never been to ILI before, and the others had not met since the beginning of this calendar year. It is great to watch the groups go from grouped by school to all mixed as they begin to get comfortable with each other and get to know one another. After that foundation was laid, the facilitators used different activities to illustrate the theme.
One group did an activity where they had to get into pairs and one person had to untie their shoe. Then, as a pair (one hand from each person) they had to tie the untied shoe. It was an incredible experience to watch the students who were not sitting next to each other at the beginning of the day work together so well. The excitement they shared when they were able to accomplish this task was fantastic! The smiles, the visible joy on their faces and in their body language, and their connections with their new friends was powerful.
Another group that had finished their challenge of getting their whole group across a “chocolate river” using only 3 “marshmallows” was very pleased with their performance. They sat down to talk about the experience and how they saw cooperation and sharing in their group. During this discussion one of the students asked why everyone calls Uncle Ernie, “Uncle”. Ernie went on to explain the traditional roles and relationships of Uncle and Auntie; Grandma and Grandpa; and finally cousins. When he explained the role and relationship of cousins as someone you are really close to but not necessarily related to, two pairs of boys (one from LdF and one from either MHLT or AVW) looked at each other and said “COUSIN!!!” with big smiles and great joy. It was a memorable moment as this is a picture of how we hope the students will relate to one another!
Next meeting Feb. 8th.
2009-2010
LdF/NLES 4th Grade Session #1
10/1/09 9am-2pm
Free Church/Vilas Cranberry Marsh
LdF Students: 15 LdF Teacher: Rhonda Maulson
NLES Students: 12 NLES Teacher: Jean Kaziak
LUHS ILI Mentors: 7
ILI Staff: Matt White, Ernie St. Germaine, Joe Graveen, Craig Kerr, and Licia Johnson
LUHS Staff: Rae Lundberg
It was a beautiful day today, but to be fair and consistent we had our morning part of the session at the Faith Evangelical Free Church.
Much of the day went as the other two days in terms of schedule (Please see Monday’s write-up). However, each group is different and we adjust to them so that each day is not an exact copy of the day before.
As the day started it was visible that this group was going to mix pretty easily. In the first activity the students were intermingled at the very beginning. Through out the day three pairs of girls from the different school became fast friends. It was amazing to see how quickly they became friends. By the end of the day all the students were intermixed and the connection between those three pairs were stronger. At the end of the day as we were talking about how the day went the high school mentors commented on the girls and how fast they became friends. They said that they were shyer when they were in ILI. We asked them if they remember if they had high school mentors with them. They replied that they did not have mentors until the 6th grade. Coincidently, or not, that is when they felt that they could open up more. We talked to the mentors about the importance of having them at the sessions because when they interact with all the students it models that it is okay and safe to be friends with everyone.
We are thankful for the use of the facility at the Faith Evangelical Free Church and the wonderful people at the Vilas Cranberry Marsh and Cranberry Square.
2009-2010
LdF/MHLT 4th Grade Session #1
9/29/09 9am-2pm
Faith Free Church/Vilas Cranberry Marsh
LdF Students: 16 LdF Teacher: Patti Maulson
MHLT Students: 13 MHLT Teacher: Ann Konopacky
LUHS ILI Mentors: 6
LUHS Staff: Nancy Miller
ILI Staff: Ernie St. Germaine, Joe Graveen, Matt White, and Craig Kerr
Due to the cold weather we had our morning part of the session at the Faith Free Church. We are thankful for them allowing us to use their facility as a backup plan due to inclement weather.
We started the day similarly to yesterday, except one thing. When the students arrived after the bus ride we decided to get them moving around before we had them sit and learn the 6 foundational ILI words. It was also a good way to get the students nervousness and anxiety of their first ILI out of their system. When the students lined up to do the first activity it was interesting to see. One of the high school mentors commented on how the students were actually separated into two distinct groups based on their school. Craig encouraged that student to keep that picture in their mind as see how the group changed over the day.
The rest of the day went very much like yesterday (please see yesterday’s summary). During our talk about the 6 foundational ILI words the high school mentors did an outstanding job with the skits to illustrate these words. We cannot say enough good things about our mentors, or how important our mentors are to our program, and how much more successful the days are with their participation!
As we were wrapping up for the day, Craig asked the mentor who had noticed the separation between the 4th graders at the beginning of the day what they noticed about the group by the end of the day. The mentor commented that at the beginning of the day all the students were separated and by the end of the day they were all intermingled. All of the mentors agreed and thought it was really cool how the students got to know about each other and by the end of the day you couldn’t see separation between the schools.
2009-2010
AVW/LdF 4th Grade Session #1
9/28/09 9am-2pm
Free Church/Vilas Cranberry Marsh
AVW Students: 16 AVW Teacher: Jan Brewer
LdF Students: 12 LdF Teachers: Kristin Halverson, Bryn Wagner
LUHS ILI Mentors: 5
ILI Staff: Ernie St. Germaine, Joe Graveen, Matt White, and Craig Kerr
Today truly felt like fall, and wouldn’t you know it was also the first ILI session of the year. However, the students today brought all the sunshine within themselves and shared it with one another! The students started the day timid and shy around one another. This was their first meeting, but you could tell they were excited to be there.
We had the students sit in a circle and we welcomed them and let them know how important they are to us and that each one of them is special. Then the “taller” people introduced themselves around the circle. Seeing the high school students introduce themselves and realize that they were in a new role, a responsible role, was a great experience.
Next, we introduced the ILI foundation words: Safety, Respect, Pride, Communicate, Cooperate, and Fun. These are the words that we go over every session. They are the foundation on which we build every program. After we were done acting out the words and interacting with the students so they could guess them we began our activities.
We started with an ILI favorite, “Captain Says.” This is an activity that is similar to “Simon Says” but it uses ship terms to follow. The students love this activity and do a great deal of interacting to stay in the game. This activity mixes the students up in a way that is non-threatening and fun.
After we had our snack we broke up into three groups and spent the rest of the morning focusing on getting to know each other’s names. This is so important, because without this step, it is almost impossible to get to know someone. We say that knowing someone’s name is the gate to friendship. There were several different activities we did that helped the students to get to know one another’s names. At the end of each activity the students would go around their group and name everyone in their group. Once the activity was done, the students switched groups and were with a new group of students and they did an activity that helped them learn the new names. Watching this experience is incredible. The students begin the day only knowing the student’s names from their own classroom, and many leave knowing everyone’s name in the whole group! What an incredible transformation.
After lunch, we loaded up the bus to head to the Vilas Cranberry Marsh in Manitowish Waters. We have toured this Marsh almost since the beginning of ILI 12 years ago. We are thankful for the Winters who graciously host us every year. When we arrived at the cranberry marsh Bob Winters gave a wonderful talk about the cranberry production that happens on the marsh. The amount of cranberries produced in staggering. When he was done talking with the students and answering all the wonderful questions that were asked, we took a stroll around one of the dikes where the cranberries are grown. Then, we headed back to the Cranberry Square and had some yummy goodies.
We wrapped things up and everyone headed back to school.
Intercultural Leadership Initiative
2009-2010
Vilas County 6th Grade Conference:
Connecting Youth with Positive Alternatives
9/23/09 9:00am-2:00pm
St. Germaine Firehouse Park
ILI Students: 9
ILI Staff: Ernie St. Germaine, Matt White, and Craig Kerr
Today we took a number of our Junior and Senior students to the Vilas County 6th grade conference in St. Germaine. This event was born out of statistics that reported that significantly more 6th grade students were experimenting with drugs and alcohol than were getting involved with positive activities in their community. There were 7 rotations being led by different organizations. ILI has been asked to facilitate sessions at this event since its inception. We really enjoy being a part of an event that gives students the opportunity to learn and be a part of positive things that are going on in the community.
The ILI rotation is based on the activities we do with students in our 4th-8th grade program. However, the idea today was to have the students do most of the facilitating. A few of the students have been in ILI since they were in the 4th grade and have a great understanding of what it is we are trying to achieve through the activities. They understand not only because we have talked to them about it, but because they have experienced in their own lives. After the first couple of sessions led mostly by staff, the students ran all of the activities. What an incredible experience to see these students embrace the responsibility and do an outstanding job facilitating! The students really valued the experience working with the younger students; both learning from them and being looked up to.
We would like to share with you the thoughts of a couple of the students who facilitated.
“I really like coming to ILI to help because you really do teach the children something and they do listen to you. These children impact the facilitators as do the facilitators to the children. I really hope we do more things like this because it gets involvement between schools and builds friendships like none other!”
“Today I got to lead groups, play, mentor, and just hang out with kids. I had a blast! I got a few chances today to talk and really get to know a few kids and I am really thankful for that. It’s not often that I feel like I’m using my time to help others, but when I’m working with ILI I really do feel like I’m doing good work. But most importantly, I think it’s fair to say that I’ve learned more from these kids than they’ve learned from me. I really do believe ILI makes a difference, I know this because it’s made a difference for me.”
We are thankful for this opportunity for the students to put into practice what they have learned and we are proud of them the outstanding job they did!
2008-2009
Spring 6th Grade Overnight #1
April 17 & 18, 2009
Camp Nawakwa
We had a group of nineteen 6th grade students from all four K-8 schools at the overnight! The students were very excited as the bus pulled up to the Bridge Builder building at Camp Nawakwa. The students piled off the bus and we began with some activities that helped the students to get out some of the energy that was created by their excitement of being at the overnight. Then we began the process of getting to know one another. The students enjoyed this process and began to learn each other’s names. Names are so important to know because without knowing them it is very awkward and intimidating to have a conversation. This is always something that we spend a great deal of time with because of its importance. Once we had the opportunity to get to know each other’s names, we headed back outside and did some more activities to allow the students to release some more energy that they had saved up from the school week. While some of the students were outside, a group of students were inside getting our spaghetti dinner ready. They were surprised that we were having them prepare the meal. The staff helped the students with instructions, but the students worked together to get the meal together. They really enjoyed the opportunity and responsibility of their jobs. The students connected and worked really well together. The interaction among the students was great as they learned about each other and accomplished a goal all at the same time. The meal that they prepared was great! All of the other students really enjoyed it and many went up for seconds. We had another activity time while the clean-up crew cleaned up from dinner. Two of the students, in particular, were sharing deeply about their families. The compassion and understanding that they had for each other was astonishing. They were being totally honest and real with one another and creating an incredible connection. It was wonderful to witness.
We gathered around the fire and began to tell stories. It was really cool to see the students listen to one another as they told or read their stories. As someone was telling a scary story one of the students made a rustling sound in the leaves behind some of the students with a stick and there was a great cry that went up and all the students, including the ones that screamed, began to laugh. They were truly enjoying being with each other and sharing who they are with one another and being accepted.
On Saturday we had a wonderful breakfast of pancakes and sausage! We had a few activity times set throughout the day and the students went throughout the day going to different activities. We did some group building in the morning and the students worked well together. We also had some time where the students could just get to know one another on their own terms. To watch the students interacting in this way was wonderful to see friendships form and information shared as the students learned more about each other. The overnight was a success as we saw students getting to know one another, helping with chores, sharing with each other who they are, and pitching in all together to clean up before we left Camp Nawakwa. We are thankful for these students and their willingness to make
2008-2009
5th Grade Overnight
April 24th –April 25th 12:00pm-4:00pm (the next day)
Camp Nawakwa
We had 43 excited fifth grade students with us for the overnight. We started early because three of the four schools had early release from school. We met at the Lac du Flambeau school and did a number of activities to help the students get to know one another and enjoy the wonderful weather we had outside. During this time one student was off by himself and a couple of students asked who he was, I told them his name and they went of running calling his name and started a conversation with him. It was great to see how the students reached out to him and how he positively responded to them.
When AVW arrived we all loaded the big blue bus provided by the Faith Evangelical Free Church and we headed out to Camp Nawakwa. The boys were dropped off at their sleeping cabin and the girls were taken to theirs. The boys and girls had time to get situated in their cabins and talk about expectations for their areas and then we all gathered to talk about the overall expectations for the overnight. Before sitting and talking about the expectations for the overnight, we did some activities to help the students get acquainted with one another and get some of that excitement out in a positive way. Then, we headed inside and Matt talked with the students about what we expect of them throughout the overnight by using the ILI pillar words. The students knew all of them and explained what each one meant. It was good to see the students internalizing what we are trying to impart to them.
We started with some activities while the dinner crew worked on dinner. The students enjoyed playing together and getting to know one another. We forget how important play is in getting to know others as we get older. The environment of play relaxes rules and social constraints that other settings have and allows exploration of others and ourselves. You can really see this as the students interact with one another and learn about each other. We all gathered and had a wonderful dinner. Then, a bad storm blew in. We changed gears and took the students down to the south lodge for some indoor activities. The rain and wind outside did not stop the students from learning about each other and having a good time inside. We headed back to the boys and girls accommodations and got ready for stories and bed.
The next day the students had three activity times in which to sign up. Throughout the day the students went to their activities. During one activity period time the students were working on group building initiatives. The cooperation the students showed at the beginning was a shadow of how they worked together and communicated at the end. The students recognized that it is hard to accomplish something if everyone is only thinking about themselves. When we think about everyone involved and how we can involve everyone to solve the problem, it is much easier to do it. The students worked well together and learned about themselves and the other students in their group. They were very proud of what they accomplished.
Intercultural Leadership Initiative
2008 – 2009
LdF/NLES/AVW 7th Grade Session #2
4/3/09 9am – 2pm
Camp Nawakwa
AVW Students: 4
LdF Students: 9 Teacher: Jennifer Austin
NLES Students: 2
LUHS Mentors: 3
ILI Volunteer: Kathy Hough
ILI Intern: Joe Graveen
ILI Staff: Matt White, Craig Kerr, Alice McFarlane
Craig:
We followed the same progression as we did all week. The student’s performances and their participation in the discussions were great. One student in particular stood out today. This is a student that often is seen as a tough and hard to reach student. Today I saw this student laughing, engaging with their peers, and sharing something that they were afraid of when they were younger. I was impressed with how this “hard” student became softer and was willing to share, socialize, and problem solve today. This student brought me a lot of hope today.
Matt:
It was great to see a mix of students get to have a chance to shine. Some
who are used to being appreciated got an opportunity to play support for
others. And a few students who's gifts are often not seen as positives
were able to lead and get seen doing what they are good at. It was a lot
of laughs and wittiness.
Alice:
Right after lunch, we gave the students the option to do an inside or outside activity. They excitedly chose outside. So we enjoyed some activities outside in the fresh air. It is fun to see all the students laughing as they move and play together.
Intercultural Leadership Initiative
2008 – 2009
AVW/LdF/NLES 7th Grade Session #2
4/2/09 9am – 2pm
Camp Nawakwa
2008 – 2009
AVW/LdF/NLES 7th Grade Session #2
4/2/09 9am – 2pm
Camp Nawakwa
AVW Students: 2 Teacher: Lynne Currie
LdF Students: 5 Teacher: Katie Black
NLES Students: 3
LUHS Mentor: 1
ILI Staff: Ernie St.Germaine, Matt White, Craig Kerr, Alice McFarlane
Craig:
When the students arrived today two students from different schools (AVW & LdF) found each other and made sure that they were sitting next to each other. The students mixed very well today and it was fun to see them open up to and to interact with each other through out the day. We are thankful for the students and their willingness to build bridges where others have not been able to find away to meet.
Alice:
During the morning we asked the students to write down 3 fears people have. Then we read through the fears. After each was read, the students stepped into rope circles to show if it was something they were really scared of, a little scared or, or not at all. We talked about how we all have fears, just different ones, and that the importance of respecting each other as we share.
Matt:
Matt saw a lot of energy and positive feelings. The students had a good
time laughing and sharing the moments of the day together. The Name game
today had a lot of positive feeling to it.
Intercultural Leadership Initiative
2008 – 2009
AVW/LdF/MHLT/NLES 7th Grade Session #2
3/31/09 9am – 2pm
Camp Nawakwa
NLS Students: 3
LdF Students: 11 Teacher: Lori Brokopp
AVW Students: 4 Teacher: Dan Lathrop
MHLT Students: 6 Teacher: Ruth Warbalow
ILI Staff: Matt White, Craig Kerr, Alice McFarlane
ILI Intern: Joe Graveen
Craig:
Today was another bigger group. Like yesterday they were a little apprehensive in the morning but warmed up quickly to one another as the morning progressed. Again one of the highlights of the day was the way that the students interacted and worked together to solve the mystery of what happened in the “CSI” rooms. The creativity and enthusiasm that the students exhibited as they problem solved and theorized was amazing! The students were having such a great time and using their critical thinking skills. To watch each group perform was fantastic! Watching them perform for each other and be validated was very moving. I am thankful for the students and their leadership in how we all can get along.
Joe and Matt shared again this after noon (Please see Monday’s write-up). It is important for the students to understand this issue as they will hear about it as the spring comes and as they get older. The treaty protests were a volatile time in our community and many still bear wounds from that time. We want to be able to educate and inform our students about the facts of the harvest.
Matt:
Matt was impressed with the enthusiasm of the students today. They seemed like
they really wanted to solve problems. The thoughtful looks on faces while hearing facts and statistics (kind of a boring subject but they invested the time to listen) encouraged Matt to look to the future and see what potential for change these students have inside them. Hearing them come up with scenarios for the "Northwoods CSI" was fun. To hear how some of the students' imaginations work is a real treat.
Intercultural Leadership Initiative
2008 - 2009
AVW/LdF/MHLT/NLES 7th Grade Session #2
3/30/09 9am - 2pm
Camp Nawakwa
AVW Students: 4 Teacher: Joan Mestelle
MHLT Students: 6 Teacher: Dan Pointer
LdF Students: 9 Teacher: Lesley Grams
NLES Students: 4
LUHS Mentors: 2
ILI College Intern: Joe Graveen
ILI Volunteers: John and Gretchen Spickerman
ILI Staff: Matt White, Craig Kerr, Alice McFarlane
Alice:
Our theme for 7th grade was F.E.A.R. (False Evidence Appearing Real). Throughout the day our activities and discussions focused on situations where we have had fear, but it was based on false evidence (ex: monsters under the bed). We talked about where are fears come from (media, our imagination, experiences) and the ways we can overcome fear: facing our fears, getting older and learning more.
Craig:
The students were apprehensive in the morning when they all arrived. But as the morning continued they warmed right up and began to interact and connect with students from the other schools. During the “Crime Scene Investigation” activity the students really worked well together and enjoyed the process of trying to figure out what exactly happened in the room that they were investigating. Students started to brainstorm ideas and added to each other’s stories. It was wonderful to watch them interact in such an organic and spontaneous way. When they figured out what really happened they were very pleased with themselves and the investigative work they all did. The students in each of the three groups did a wonderful job of acting out their scenes for each other. Uncle Ernie has always told us the students like to perform and once again it showed itself to be true!
Joe and Matt shared different sides of the spear fishing issue in the afternoon. Joe shared his personal experiences and Matt shared the statistics gathered by both the Dept. of Natural Resources and the Great Lakes Indian Fish and Wildlife Commission (GLIFWC). Most of the students were born after the treaty protests, but we feel like it is still an issue in the community that we would like to educate the students about. It is timely to present this information because the spring spearing season will soon be here.
Matt:
Matt was very satisfied with many parts of today. The absence of any discouraging
words was great to see and .....not hear. It was fun to see the students willing to
come and just get along without much fuss. It seems like this in itself is a form of
progress. The students are still getting used to the small format. It says that
we need to find a way for them to really be able to sit and get to know each other.
Maybe we need to have a "No program" program day somehow. Lots of smiles.
Seeing the physical effects of losing during the uneven card game was very telling and
made a good picture in Matt's head of what that might be like. To always lose. It was
also interesting to see the students listen to Joe. They had a very curious attitude
towards it. They listened respectfully and quietly even though it was unfamiliar to
them. Sitting and really listening to someone share their thoughts for that long is an
unfamiliar thing. I think it was good for them to experience.
Intercultural Leadership Initiative
2008 – 2009
LDF/NLES 4th Grade Session #2 Group 2
Camp Jorn, Manitowish Waters
February 26, 2009 9am – 2pm
LDF Students: 12 Teacher:Rhonda Maulson, Donna Clark
NLS Students: 20 Teacher: Jean Kaziak
ILI Mentors: 2
ILI Alumni: Chelsea Nehm
ILI Staff: Craig Kerr, Alice McFarlane, Matt White
ILI Intern: Joe Graveen
Even though today’s group had the most students, they started out quieter than the previous groups. As the day progressed and the students re-learned names the noise level returned to normal.
One of the mentors was our Captain for ‘Captain Says’. He did a fine job of running the ship, and making sure the students were paying attention to instructions. Once he called ‘Stern’ (the back of the ship), and most of the students ran to the back of the room. But, he had not called out ‘Captain Says Stern’, so those students had to walk the plank.
During the name games, you could hear different names being called out in the room. We had three groups for learning names, and then rotated several times so that by the end, all the students had the opportunity to learn everyone’s name. One of the mentors added some creative rules to ‘Toe Tag’. At one point he told all the students in the circle that they had to close one eye, and then it switched to holding their left hand on their hand. It is great to see the mentors building on games they already know. Some of the students passed a ball around the group while saying names. They were timed to see how fast they could get through the whole group. Students had ideas for ways to make their time faster- great ideas!
The students were excited to receive the ILI t-shirts and to get a chance to sign them all. Some of the shirts look large on the students, but we intentionally give them a bigger shirt so that they can grow into it and still wear it in the coming years.
Thankfully the snow held off, so we were able to go outside with the students again today. They had a great time running around. One of the activities helped us remember each others names. Another one involved speedy moves and planning to make it through to the other side without getting tagged.
Matt led the ‘Ancient Numbers’ activity to introduce assumptions. He placed several items on the floor and had the students guess the number. Little by little, more students figured out the puzzle. Matt gave clues along the way. Towards the end, he tossed all of the objects behind him and the students quickly moved to see how the objects were arranged on the floor so that they could guess. But, the real answer was on the floor in front of Matt. The students assumed that the objects represented the number. The students wanted to try out the activity, so a student picked up the objects and gave a great example of the ancient numbers. One way to see if an idea has been learned is for the students to teach it to others. It is clear that this student had learned the idea and how to show it to others.
Matt and Craig shared several stories about assumptions. During Craig’s story, the students added sound effects that brought the story to life. After Matt shared a story, he asked the students what assumptions were made in the story. The students did a great job noticing all the characters that had made an assumption and the impact it had on the others. Two students helped Matt to act out a skit about making assumptions; they did a great job performing in front of the group.
Intercultural Leadership Initiative
2008 – 2009
AVW/LDF 4th Grade Session #2 Group 1
Camp Jorn, Manitowish Waters
February 24, 2009 9am – 2pm
AVW/LDF 4th Grade Session #2 Group 1
Camp Jorn, Manitowish Waters
February 24, 2009 9am – 2pm
LDF Students: 9 Teacher: Sue Adams
AVW Students: 15 Teacher: Jan Brewer
LUHS Mentors: 4
ILI Alumni: Chelsea Nehm
Visitor: Mr. Holt- AVW Principal
ILI Staff: Craig Kerr, Alice McFarlane, Matt White
ILI Volunteers: John and Gretchen Spickerman
The students entered the room with lots of energy this morning! As we reviewed the 6 words, the students gave good definitions and examples. We even had one student sing a song to describe ‘Fun’.
We had a new captain for the ‘Captain Says’ activity today, Captain Chelsea. Chelsea is an ILI alumna who was in the first group of 4th grade students. She graduated last year from LUHS after spending a year in Slovakia through Rotary. In a few weeks Chelsea will leave for California to continue her training for linguistics in the National Guard. We are proud of her and excited to have her back with us for some sessions.
One of the LUHS mentors did a great job of introducing our next activity of ‘Mosquito Tag’. The students really got into the game while laughing as they tried to get away from the mosquitoes. This activity requires students to work together to unfreeze the other students.
After snack time, we gave ILI t-shirts to the students. They were eager to sign all of them and put them on. Each student ends up with a colorful t-shirt back, full of the names of everyone in their group.
Once all the shirts were signed, Craig asked if there were any students who remembered everyone’s name. There was one student who was able to say everyone’s name. Very impressive! The rest of us needed some help to remember names, so we split into smaller groups. In each small group the LUHS mentors led several activities to help us learn names. Learning someone’s name is very important, it helps open the door to friendship. When the whole group came back together, we learned how to say ‘thank you’ in several languages. Chelsea taught us how to say it in Slovak, and another student taught us how to say it in Chinese.
After lunch we went outside to enjoy the ‘warm’ weather. We played the ‘Handshake Game‘, ‘Alaskan Baseball’, and ‘Green Giant’. These activities get the students moving, draw upon their memory of names and require them to work together.
Our word for the day is ‘Assumptions’. Craig did an activity with the students that requires thinking outside the box. Once all of the students had figured it out, the group talked about assumptions and how easy it can be to make them. Stories were shared about assumptions. The students defined the word as, ‘A guess without all the details.’ The group spent some time talking about how making an incorrect assumption can hurt people and lead to bigger problems later. And we may miss out on some friends. They continued to talk about ways to learn more about people by asking questions and taking time to get to know them.
Then, after the LUHS students led us in a couple final moving around activities, the students helped ILI out by telling us what they liked and what we could do better.
We always appreciate their ideas. Then it was time to get on the bus.
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2008 – 2009
MHLT/LDF 4th Grade Session #2 Group 3
Camp Jorn, Manitowish Waters
February 23, 2009 9am – 2pm
MHLT/LDF 4th Grade Session #2 Group 3
Camp Jorn, Manitowish Waters
February 23, 2009 9am – 2pm
LDF Students: 10 Teacher: Patti Maulson
MHLT Students: 10 Teacher: Deb Kuepper
LUHS Mentors: 4
ILI Staff: Craig Kerr, Alice McFarlane, Matt White
ILI Volunteers: Sue Fritsche, Dick and Joan Fahning
To start the day, we asked the students if they remembered where we had our very first session and the 6 words we talked about. The students have a great memory! One student remembered that a word meant caring for others, which reminded another student of the word--Safety. Matt described the words as a road map that lead to fun. If any of the words (safety, respect, pride, communication & cooperation) are left out, then we cannot have fun.
Once the students agreed to act out the 6 words during the day, we moved to activities. ‘Captain Says’ has become a favorite of many students. The activity requires good listening, a quick response, and working together to stay in the game. Students who had to ‘walk-the-plank’ joined into a large game of ‘rock-paper-scissors’.
It is always great to have the high school students here. They introduced ‘Mosquito Tag’ by asking the students what they remembered about the game. It was neat to see the mentors leading activities they played as 4th graders.
During snack, Matt drew an optical illusion on a white board to introduce the word of the day- Assumptions. Eventually all the students had gathered around to see what he was drawing and to make a guess.
The big event of the day was signing t-shirts. Each student received a t-shirt with the ILI logo on the front. Craig explained that the logo was created by 4th graders during the first years of ILI. It represents each of the schools and words that describe ILI. ‘Leadership Material’ is on the back, because we believe each student can be a leader. We took time for the students to sign the t-shirts.
The mentors huddled together, and planned out the name games they wanted to play with the 4th graders. They did a good job of coming up with a plan and running the activities. One of the students had a good idea for how to split the group in half. After participating in several name games, the students were ‘tested’ to see how many they remembered by playing the ‘Blanket Game’. A blanket was held up, and the two groups gathered on either side. Each group chose one student to move close to the blanket. Then on the count of three, the blanket was dropped and the student had to call out the name of the other student.
After lunch Craig introduced ‘Ancient Numbers’ to the students. It is an activity that challenges students to think outside the box as they guess the number represented by a symbol on the floor. It took several rounds for students to figure it out. Each time another student figured it out, you could hear an exclamation and see their hand shoot in the air to make a guess. Craig talked with the students about how easy it was to make an assumption during the activity.
The students all wanted to go outside, so we bundled up to enjoy the sunshine. We played ‘Partner Tag’, ‘Green Giant’ and ‘Alaskan Baseball’. It was an added challenge to run on packed snow, but the students still had some acrobatic moves and creative maneuvers to avoid being tagged. One of the high school mentors did a good job explaining the ‘Green Giant’ activity to the students. There was lots of laughter and shouts as we played outside.
After running around, we took a break inside to warm up. Craig asked the students how they would define ‘assumption’. One student said, “it is the first thought about something or someone you have with out knowing anything about them.” Matt and Craig told stories about people who have made assumptions, including themselves. The students were asked what they can do to not make assumptions. They answered with: “get to know people” and “ask questions.” Great answers!
2008 – 2009
LdF//MHLT/AVW 5th Grade Session #2 Group 1
2/9/09 9am – 2pm
Camp Nawakwa
AVW Students: 17 Teacher: Linnea Jackson
LdF Students: 29 Teacher: Lori St.Germaine and Dorothy Doorn.
MHLT Students: 13 Teacher: Candy Lucarelli
ILI HS Mentors/Facilitators: 9
ILI Alumni: Chelsea Nehm
GLIFWC Wardens: Emily Miller, Tom Kroeplin
ILI Volunteer: Pam Cisney
ILI Staff: Ernie St.Germaine, Matt White, Craig Kerr, Alice McFarlane
Craig: We had a wonderfully big group of students today, and they brought their regular 5th grade enthusiasm with them. It was great to see them again and they were happy to see each other as well. A number of students from different schools greeted each other with hugs a they entered the room. We enjoyed seeing these reunions and it motivates us to continue with the work of bringing students together.
The group with Craig mixed very well. He enjoyed watching the students connect with each other and their high school mentors as they participated in the activities of the day. We started off with Warden Emily Miller giving us a briefing on the importance of dressing to be outside in the winter. After we finished listening we put on our snowshoes and headed off for a little adventure. The students and mentors were like young animals that were just learning how to walk. They were falling over and laughing, getting up and trying it again. When everyone had the hang of it we had a little relay race. Snow was flying everywhere and smiles were brightly shining, and they were breathing hard. Next it was off for a walk through the woods and onto the lake. When we got to the lake Emily showed the students the ice picks she carries with her so that if she falls through the ice, she can pull herself out. We continued our walked and ended back at the beginning. Students were helping each other all along the way. When we got back to the beginning Craig asked everyone to find someone who was waiting for snowshoes. Once they gave their snowshoes to someone else, they were asked to help that person get their shoes on. It was great to see them working together.
The next activity we did was ILI Jeopardy. The students have enjoyed this activity over the years and continue to get excited when they see that we will be doing this activity. We split into boys and girls. Each team decided a way that they would pass around their spokesperson and the game was on! The students worked together and with their collective minds did pretty well on most of the answers. However, one student got himself/herself into a little pickle by raising their hand too quickly. This was a lesson in and of itself. We finished and headed into lunch.
Uncle Ernie told us several wonderful Ojibwe stories after lunch that they students really liked.
After the story we stayed in the dining hall to continue to get to know one another with some activities that helped us to recall everyone’s name. This is so important as we try to help the students to understand that it is okay to ask someone their name if you have forgotten it. We all forget and we should be okay with asking someone their name. We as adults could do a better job modeling this for our youth. They enjoyed the activities and many of them were able to name all 25 people (including leaders and mentors) in our group. That is a lot of people to remember. The students interacted very well with one another and were happy to be reconnected and get to know new friends.
Alice: Alice's group started in the dinning hall with name games. The high schoolers led the games without any reminders of how the activity was played. It is great to have the high school students there, now having them lead activities that they played when they were in grade school. Once they had learned names, we pulled out large pieces of paper. On each sheet we wrote a different country that represented the heritage of a student in the group. The students then signed their name to any country that was a part of their heritage. They could also add other information they knew about the country. One student drew the flag of his country and other students wrote words they knew in the language of the country. Our group was the first to write on the paper, so it was fun to come back at the end of the day to see more names on the paper, and to see more countries represented.
Our next stop took us outside, where it sprinkled for a few minutes, but then thankfully stopped. Emily Miller from GLIFWC shared ice rescue information with the students before we tried out the snowshoes. We did a relay race in pairs, which is more challenging
with snowshoes on in the deep snow. After that we explored on the lake. By the end of our exploration, the students were tired and some were taking a break in the snow.
For the last part of the day, another warden from GLIFWC shared with us about trapping and furs. The students guessed as he pulled each one out. The furs were passed around. It was fun to watch the faces of the students, each reacting differently to the furs. Some were eager to reach out and feel the fur, others were hesitant, yet still couldn't help reaching out a hand.
Matt: Matt said he enjoyed the day very much.
Uncle Ernie: When uncle Ernie monitored the ILI Jeopardy Game, he allowed the HS Student Facilitators to run the show. They did a very good job and kept the kids involved. However, some of the students had eager hands and since ILI does not deduct points from the teams who make an incorrect response, there is no consequence for raising a hand just for the opportunity to guess first. Uncle Ernie also noticed one more thing in the group that he used later in the first story he told the students after lunch.
Craig began the story session with an excellent demonstration of how traditional stories work. He had a volunteer 5th grader come up and join him. Craig explained that stories are like two people walking down the road together. But if one of them is distracted, he stops and looks to see what it was. Meanwhile, the other person who did not hear or see the distraction, continues on down the road. If an elder is telling a story and someone interrupts, or is talking too, the elder will just stop the story. But, the story just keeps on its journey. The elder might be able to catch up to that story some day, but most likely not that day. Thus, the story is lost for everyone on that day.
Uncle Ernie then started by asking if any of the students had ever heard Opitchii nagamoonaan. Craig raised his hand, then began whistling the song of the Robin. Some of the students heard it while others, who were not paying attention, could not hear the song. Uncle Ernie then asked if anyone could hear the song. He said “some can’t because some aren’t paying attention. There was almost immediate silence and then everyone in the room could hear Craig’s call of the robin. Uncle Ernie then told them, Opitchii is the Robin. Opitchii nagamoonaan, is the Robin’s song, it is him singing his song. He then asked if there was anyone who had ever heard Robin’s song in the winter time and many of the students raised their hand. Uncle Ernie then explained that the Old time Indians say that if you hear Robin sing, if you hear him call in the winter time, he is calling out, “nindaatchige, nindaatchige. Nindaatchige, nindaatchige.” He is predicting something. If you hear him, he is letting you know that whatever it is you are doing, you had better think carefully about it and maybe change what it is you are doing.
Suddenly, many of the students lowered their hands.
Uncle Ernie then told a much more light-hearted story, a traditional Ojibwe love story. The actual story is not to be written because in oral tradition, those old time stories are meant to be told, never written. So if anyone is interested, perhaps they should attend the 5th grade session on Thursday, or ask your child who attended and let them tell you about the young princess who saved the day.
Uncle Ernie took the time to select a young student that he had seen in the session earlier, one who seemed to be shy and not included so much in the activities by the others. He selected her to be the heroin, not to embarrass her but rather to allow her to feel what it is to be a true hero.
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Intercultural Leadership Initiative
2008-2009
8th Grade Overnight
Camp Nawakwa
February 6 & 7, 2009
8th Grade Overnight
Camp Nawakwa
February 6 & 7, 2009
ILI Students: 14
ILI Staff: Craig Kerr, Alice McFarlane and Matt White.
For the second overnight with the 8th graders, we had two separate buildings that the students stayed in. The girls liked having a separate place so that they could have 'girl-time'. I heard several students say that they were surprised by how easy it was to meet people over the weekend. The group was very similar to the first overnight, with a few new students. So they were sharing stories about the first overnight and had an experience to build upon.
We started with the activity we began with last time, by request of the students. It is a rhythm activity, requiring focus and coordination. The whole group played, and then our volunteer chefs stepped out to prepare dinner. It was fun to see the speed of the activity pick up the longer the group played.
We asked for volunteers to cook each meal and to clean up. The students did a great job preparing the food, and coming up with creative ways to present the meal. Some were very particular about how items were arranged, wanting it to look just right. One of the breakfast cooks was very proud of preparing a full batch of pancakes without making a mess. It was fun to see the students taking pride in their work.
Buzz Word became a popular game for the weekend. It is a game where a team is given a 'buzz word', and then read clues so they can guess a phrase, song, movie or object. We played it at different points throughout the weekend. Sometimes just girls, or just boys. At times we played by the rules, or we all sat in a circle and passed around the cards so each person had a chance to read the clues.
The boys had a great night playing games, taking walks in the dark and telling stories. They did and excellent job of including everyone and treating each other with equal consideration. Good job, gentlemen.
Saturday morning, we made our way to the tubing hill after enjoying our breakfast. Thankfully the warm weather had not melted away the snow. The first student down, did not even make it half way down the hill. But as each person went down, they went a little bit farther each time until we had a smooth run. They had a great time taking running starts to see how far they could get on the run, and others requested a special spin from Matt or Craig.
We closed up the weekend by talking with the students about leadership, and how each of them is a leader, yet they will lead in their own way. We went around and everyone shared a high light from the weekend and something that they learned. It was obvious that they had enjoyed their time, and many wished that we could stay longer. They are already looking forward to the next one.
Thanks again to Camp Nawaka for allowing us to stay in their cabins and the use of their tubing hill!
The next overnight is the “Service Learning” that is scheduled for March 6-7. This is the annual overnight camping experience in the traditional winter lodge located in the LUHS School Forest.
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Intercultural Leadership Initiative
2008-2009
In School ILI at AVW
Fourth Visit Grades 4-6
January 26-30, 2009
This was our fourth visit to AVW and we are pleased to see that the fruits of our visits are beginning to show. We have seen:
· an increased connection between ILI staff and the students which helps us understand their needs better.
· an increase in students’ anticipation for upcoming sessions.
· that the increased number of visits keeps the lessons at the forefront of their minds making conversations easier. The counselors tell us that students are talking about ideas they have heard from ILI in other classes and conversations.
Fourth Grade
The idea we focused on was that there are two sides to every story. This week we enlisted the acting skills of the fourth graders. In small groups, they performed short skits demonstrating the same situation from a different point of view. The audience tried to define the similarities and differences for different characters in each retelling. While actors prepared, the ‘audience’ participated in ‘Detective’. This activity includes one detective, one leader and followers. The detective returns to the circle and has to determine which student is leading the others in various motions. It was great to see the students having fun and full of energy.
Fifth Grade
The ILI staff began by asking students to share stories of family traditions and heritage. We asked them to write as much about their heritage and traditions as they could remember. Then we participated in an activity called ‘Have You Ever?’ All the students stood on a spot in a circle. One student stands in the center and calls out an item from their list. Any student who shares that heritage or tradition has to move to a new spot. This always leaves one student without a spot to be the next person in the center. Through this activity, students learned how many things they share with one another. After the activity we discussed what it means to be proud of where you come from and traditions that have been handed down to you while being willing to see the good in the traditions of others.
Sixth Grade
The sixth grade students did great engaging in a discussion on the ‘Ladder of Prejudice.’ The ‘Ladder of Prejudice’ uses five words to describe the progression that can take place from a negative idea about another person or group to taking action to hurt another. The progression includes speech, avoidance, discrimination, physical attack and extermination. The students brought up examples from a video they watched last week about the Children’s March in Birmingham, Alabama.
Intercultural Leadership Initiative
2008 – 2009
LdF/NLES/MHLT/AVW 7th Grade Session #1 Group 4
1/23/09 9am – 2pm
Camp Nawakwa
AVW Students: 6 Teacher: Joan Mestelle
LdF Students: 8 Teacher: Brad Soukup
NLES Students: 4
MHLT Students: 4 Teacher: Ruth Warbalow
ILI Intern: Joe Graveen
ILI Alumni: Chelsea Nehm
ILI Volunteers: John and Gretchen Spickerman, and special Pizza Chef, Grandson Trevor Lesch, age 6
ILI Staff: Ernie St.Germaine, Matt White, Craig Kerr, Alice McFarlane
Craig: We had representatives from all four middle schools today. The students enjoyed the activities we did to help them get acquainted and get out some stored up
energy!
We split the group into four smaller groups today to discuss some of the Global, National, State, and Local issues. Each small group brainstormed what they
thought were issues in these areas. From there, they decided what issues were the most important. After some discussion, the students began to come up with
ideas of what they can do to help solve the issue. One of the issues that came up in almost every group was Global Warming. There were a number of good
practices to use to help with the issue like turning things off when you aren't using them, going outside so that you watch less TV and play fewer video games,
etc.
This was just a small example of what the students thought of as issues that need to be addressed. They had some really good answers for solutions to issues
they see. We would do well to involve students more in coming up with solutions.
Matt: Matt saw and felt a great, positive sense of humor amongst the students today. There was a spirit of togetherness and fun in the air. They were able to get each other laughing without cutting each other down. They didn't need to make others smaller to feel big themselves. That means they came into the day with a sense of pride about themselves. That is just what we hope for, students who are proud of their own abilities yet make situations comfortable for others.
Uncle Ernie: What a very special week this has been for everyone involved. In the traditional teachings, the old ones said that this is the time of the “great cracking.” It will get so cold in this moon that trees will crack and snap, ice moans and cracks. Even the animals will experience this. The buck deer, if he is still carrying his antlers, can have them snapped off in the cold. The old ones taught that it is in this moon, when the cold comes, that we Anishinaabe, we human beings, we should step outside in the very cold of the morning and breathe in the powerful air. It will make your nostrils shrink in the cold. During this moon, all things, including we Anishinaabe, are turned. Soon akii, our mother earth will awaken from her rest and spring back to life. The maples will offer the first fruits of the year when they offer their sap to us. Life will be good. This week, people of color were given hope for the future. If all people, all colors, all races, come together of one mind, think of what we can do.
Intercultural Leadership Initiative
2008 – 2009
AVW/LdF/NLES 7th Grade Session #1 Group 2
1/22/09 9am – 2pm
Camp Nawakwa
AVW/LdF/NLES 7th Grade Session #1 Group 2
1/22/09 9am – 2pm
Camp Nawakwa
AVW Students: 7 Teacher: Joan Mestelle
LdF Students: 7 Teacher: Karen Demers
NLES Students: 5
ILI Intern: Joe Graveen
ILI Volunteers: Dick and Joan Fahning
ILI Staff: Ernie St.Germaine, Matt White, Craig Kerr, Alice McFarlane
Craig: All the students arrived together on the bus today, piled out, and went inside and sat in a circle. The students were happy to be at ILI. A number of students remembered each other's names as we began reacquainting the students. The students interacted and mixed very well. Having the smaller groups helps this process.
We did a number of activities today and the students seemed very comfortable with each other. Their interactions were not forced, but seemed natural and spontaneous. What stood out to me most was when we talked about the events of Monday and Tuesday, the students had a real sense of the importance of those days to their own lives. I am very proud of these students and how they continue to develop as leaders.
Alice: “Two things reduce prejudice: education and laughter.” (Dr. Laurence J. Peter) Today there was a lot of laughter as the students participated in different activities. Matt told a story that required the students to listen for a key word. Each time they heard the key word, they had two movements to make. He said words that sounded close to the key word, which caused several students to jump start on the action, and resulted in laughter. The laughter seems to bring the students together as they share in common experiences.
Matt: Throughout the day Matt noticed the absence of negative thoughts or comments. It was a very peaceful day. The student’s laughter and sense of sharing while participating in running activities lifted Matt's heart. The students gave examples of how we would hope they enter into cooperative situations with people they only know a little. They helped each other up, brushed each other off, took turns and asked before assuming it was their turn. They took the art of getting each others names seriously. It is very difficult to put into words on paper but it was very peace-ful.
Uncle Ernie: The students made again bead rings. The story of the traditions in the artwork of Indian people was explained. Much of traditional people’s work will show their connection with all life around them. In addition, Indian people recognize that there is a higher power, a higher authority in charge of all things. As such, even the smallest items often have powerful names. This is true even with a single bead whose name in Ojibwemowin is Manidomins or spirit seed. Because it has such potential to become something beautiful, it has been given such a name. Isn’t this true with all of our young people?
Intercultural Leadership Initiative
2008 – 2009
LdF/NLES 7th Grade Session #1 Group 2
1/20/09 9am – 2pm
Camp Nawakwa
NLS Students: 5
LdF Students: 10
Counselor: Lesley Grams
ILI College Alumni: Ann Johnson
ILI Volunteers: John and Gretchen Spickerman
ILI Staff: Ernie St.Germaine, Matt White, Craig Kerr, Alice McFarlane
Craig: Today was a truly momentous day! As we were going through our session program plan, we veered from it to take in a significant moment in our history. We loaded all the students onto the school bus and headed to the welcome center at Camp Nawakwa. We all huddled around a laptop that had a hard time streaming the video feed from the inauguration of Barak Obama our 44th President. Thankfully, Mrs. Grams had signed up for a spot over the internet to view the ceremony and we all crowded into the office and watched the swearing in and speech of our President. A moment, regardless of anyone’s political affiliation, that was truly history in the making.
We returned to the building where we were having our session and the students talked about what stood out to them during what we viewed. A couple of the students said how President Obama used his words. A few students said how he talked about the problems we face and how we can overcome them. One student said how he talked about how others have died so that we might be free. The students were sincere and thoughtful about what stood out to them and it was impressive what they took in and what was on their minds.
At the end of our time today Matt asked the students to answer this question, “What is one thing you can do this year that will make things better than they are?” Here are their answers: One thing I can do is…
- make friends from different cultures.
- get good grades…
- help my family.
- act very responsibly to others and help people when they need it.
- help my community.
- help people.
- talk with others.
- get my grades up in school.
- to get a job and help my family.
- convince people to recycle, raise money for people who need it, and donate to hospitals.
- raise money for homeless shelters, pick up garbage, and turning off the lights and not wasting water.
- turn off things when I am not using them and help my parents around the house.
- clean up the roadsides.
These students have great ideas inside of them. I hope we all will do our part to help them achieve their potential and dreams!
Alice: Today during our session, we were able to watch President Obama give his Presidential Innagural Address at the Camp Nawakwa office. After watching and hearing the speech, we took the time to ask the students what part of it stood out to them. It was interesting to hear all the different parts that they noticed. One student said he noticed the words Obama used and how he spoke, another said he was impressed with Obama's confidence to speak in front of so many people, and one student was struck by the reference to all those who have served our country and worked hard to make it possible for us all to be here today. It is always good to hear what the students think. And in hearing all their thoughts, it was a reminder of how we can all see and hear the same thing, yet walk away with unique perspectives.
Matt: I was impressed with how the students absorbed the historic importance of the day. Most of the students really listened to the speech and looked for ways that it applied to how their lives will be lived. When the staff asked what thoughts they had from the speech, many of their answers showed that they are readying themselves to join in the guiding of our nation in the future. They have many gifts that will be available to their communities when they take up the roles of leadership. It will be neat to watch them do so.
Uncle Ernie: As with the Monday 7th Grade Session, the students made bead rings. The students are alert and attentive when the story of the bead ring is told and why there is always an error, a mistake, in traditional work. If you study traditional work closely, you will always notice a bead out of place, a different color bead. Indians believe that they are not able to create perfect things, only Creator does that. When Uncle Ernie told the students, “I know that to be true because Creator made you,” some of the students expressed surprise, others joy and happiness.
Intercultural Leadership Initiative
2008 – 2009
LdF/NLES 7th Grade Session #1 Group 1
1/19/09 9am – 2pm
Camp Nawakwa
MHLT Students: 7 Teacher: Ruth Warbalow
LdF Students: 10 Teacher: Lori Brokopp
Special Guests: Ada Deer and Joyce Barnes
ILI College Alumni: Ann Johnson
ILI College Intern: Joe Graveen
ILI Volunteers: Dick and Joan Fahning
ILI Staff: Ernie St.Germaine, Matt White, Craig Kerr, Alice McFarlane, Bob Kovar
Today was a wonderful day with the students. It was an unusual, but inspiring. Today we learned about each other by working together to create something beautiful. Uncle Ernie taught the students how to make bead rings, and they really worked hard at making them. The rings were made up of so many colors--just like what we celebrate today with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr's birthday, the joy of many people of many colors coming together for freedom--and they were very beautiful. The students interacted as they worked and shared their stories with one another.
We had a number of impressive speakers today. Joe, ILI intern, talked about his background and how he came to be interning with ILI. The students listened intently, asked him questions about his journey, and looked with admiration throughout the process.
Ann spoke as well to the students about what ILI had meant to her in her life. Ann was involved with ILI since she was in 8th grade and is now finishing up college. Sharing her story she related how ILI had helped her shape the way that she thinks and is very grateful for that time. The students also listened intently, asked good questions, and looked on with admiration.
Finally, Ada spoke with the students and challenged them to be educated, speak out for what they believe in, and take action. She is an incredibly inspiring person and the students responded well to even though they did a lot more sitting today than what they normally. Her words were filled with passion, instruction, guidance, humor, and many jewels that will come to the surface of these student’s lives in years to come.
Alice noticed that during the first round of a circle “name game,” the students were mostly tossing to the other students from their school, because those were the names they knew. It was great to watch the second round of the name game, after they had heard everyone's name a few times. Most students now chose to pass to a student from the other school, using the name they had just learned. It showed the importance of names, and of taking the time to learn them. It is possible to go through a whole day and not learn the names of those around you, but you miss out on what you could have learned from them. The simple act of learning another person's name, opens the door for you to get to know them.
Today there were a few first time students. Matt was proud of how the people with experience never made the new folk feel like they had missed out on anything and helped them join right in. The new students did a great job sharing their thoughts boldly and contributing to the discussions. It was great to see ILI students living out the ideas of inclusion and making people comfortable. Good job, students!
The new facility at Camp Nawakwa is a wonderful location to have the ILI sessions. The Camp has made us feel at home in a very short time. The view of the lake is outstanding and with the snow coming down yesterday, it was truly a blessing. We have always appreciated the warm welcomes we have received from everyone, no matter where we have gone and where we hold our ILI sessions. It is truly a tribute to the warmth and generosity of our neighbors and friends here in the northwoods.
2007 – 2008
LdF/NLES 6th Grade Session #1 Group 2
1/13/09 9am – 2pm
Camp Jorn
LdF Students: 20 Teacher: Lesley Grams
NLES Students: 13 Teacher: Scott Peterson
LUHS Mentors: 2
College Mentors: Chelsea Nehm, Joe Graveen, Intern
GLIFWC Wardens: Thomas Kroeplin and Chief Warden - Fred Maulson
ILI Staff: Ernie St. Germaine, Matt White, Alice McFarlane, and Craig Kerr
ILI Volunteer: John and Gretchen Spickerman
The students in Craig’s group followed a similar progression of activities as they did yesterday. (Please see 1-12-09 write-up.) The group was smaller today and the students were very curious about the different activities that were being presented. Many of the students had stories to tell about spearing through the ice with their relatives and all enjoyed swimming the decoys around in the plastic container.
Also the students really enjoyed learning about and handling all the different animal pelts that Warden Kroeplin showed them and many of the students shared stories of animals they have seen around their houses or while riding in the car. One particular student was able to explain the reason the weasel, which is white in the winter, has a black tipped tail. The black on the tail acts as “bait” for a predator so that it attacks towards the tail instead of the weasel’s body. Often because of the black tipped tail, the predator (koo koo ka’oo, the owl) misses all together.
The students really “gelled” as a group towards the end of the day while in the Dining Hall. We focused on getting everyone’s name correct and had a great time doing that with a couple of activities. The students were expressing themselves in a positive manner and all the students were truly enjoying each other. When we finished the activities we had a good discussion on the ideas of stereotypes, prejudice, and racism. The students had a good understanding of what stereotypes were, but needed prejudice and racism explained a bit more. Craig gave some explanations and Ernie related a story that all the students listened to intently. The students went away with a new understanding of one another and the knowledge of what ILI hopes to accomplish.
Matt's group had a lot of energy and asked, perhaps, even more questions than Monday's, especially about the furs and trapping. They were challenged in thinking through some challenging subjects. "How do we learn from the generations before us so we can be ready to teach those behind?" "What does respecting someone really look like?" "What does prejudice and discrimination look like when it is 'small'?" Fred Maulson encouraged them to see beyond what we see at first to find what we have in common with not just the people in the Lakeland area but with all people no matter where we are.
The students in Alice’s group were full of energy and excitement today. The cold weather made almost everyone run to our first building. We first listened to Uncle Ernie tell the story of waboos, the rabbit, and then learned about trapping and furs from the GLIFWC Conservation Warden, Thomas Kroeplin. During our group time, the students brainstormed their favorite ILI activities. Then they voted on which ones they wanted to play first. We started with their first pick, and when the time came to switch to the next activity, they all decided that they wanted to continue with the first one. They were really into the activity, using their seemingly endless energy, and different strategies. It was fun to see them enjoying their time together.
After the students had boarded the buses and headed back to their respective schools, the ILI staff took some time to talk with the student mentors, college students and the Wardens about how the day went and to get everyone’s perspective on how we can continue to improve the sessions.
Intercultural Leadership Initiative
2008 – 2009
LdF/AVW/MHLT 6th Grade Session #1 Group 1
1/12/09 9am – 2pm
Camp Jorn
LdF/AVW/MHLT 6th Grade Session #1 Group 1
1/12/09 9am – 2pm
Camp Jorn
LdF Students: 14 Teacher: Lesley Grams
AVW Students: 19 Teacher: Carl Karaffa
MHLT Students: 12 Teacher: Deb Hunter
LUHS Mentors: 4
College Mentors: Chelsea Nehm, Joe Graveen, Intern
Wisconsin DNR: Michael MacKenzie, Retired
GLIFWC Wardens: Thomas Kroeplin, Jonas Moermond, Emily Miller
ILI Staff: Ernie St. Germaine, Matt White, Alice McFarlane, and Craig Kerr
ILI Volunteer: Dick Fahning
Craig’s group left the dining hall and as soon as they were outside, Craig asked them to get a partner. As they walked to the Program Center, he had them find out three things about their partner. When they arrived at the Program Center everyone stood in a circle next to their partner and introduced them and told one of the things that they had learned about them. We went into the Program Center and divided up into two groups. One group went downstairs to talk about treaty rights and the other group stayed up stairs and learned about spearing through the ice with decoys. The students were really intrigued and curious about both topics. They enjoyed trying to swim the decoys around in a small clear plastic container while others enjoyed lying on the floor and looking through the sides of the container at the fish decoy. The students had great questions for the Great Lakes Indian Fish and Wildlife Commission Wardens who were talking to the students about treaty rights.
Next we went to the Long House, again in pairs to learn about each other. We introduced each other and told one thing we learned about each other. When we went into the Long House it was full of furs. We again split up the group, but this time it was boys and girls. The boys went with Uncle Ernie and learned how Waboos (the Rabbit) got his long ears, long back legs, short nose, and split lip. If you know a student who came today make sure you ask them to tell you the story! The girls were given a talk by Mike, a recently retired DNR warden, who brought a number of different furs for the students to see, feel, and some students even wore them. Halfway through the session the boys and girls switched.
Before we went to lunch we like to take time to be grateful for what we have because it reminds us of the good we have in our lives and in our selves. Craig showed the students how to say “Today I am grateful for” in Ojibwe. He told the students that they could say it either in English or Ojibwe. A number of students and a teacher gave it a try and did a really nice job with Ojibwemowin (Ojibwe language).
After lunch Craig’s group stayed in the Dining Hall to remember names and get reacquainted with one another. We did this though a number of different name activities. The students really enjoyed them and did a great job learning each other’s names. Over half of them were able to name everyone’s name in the group. Naming that many people in front of the group is hard. Once we were reacquainted, Craig began a discussion on stereotypes, prejudice, and racism. Craig explained the concept of stereotypes and the students shared some stories about the topic. Then Craig described the difference between prejudice and racism. Craig explained that prejudice and racism are similar in that people do not like other people based on skin color and/or ethnic background. To be racist the people of your ethnic background have to be in power. Otherwise you are prejudice. We had a wonderful conversation about this with the students.
Matt’s group was very impressive with their inquisitive spirit today. The boys especially had many things to ask the wardens and Joe. They were interested in the history of treaties, wardens’ jobs, fishing technique and many other things that were presented to them. The students’ excitement showed in how enthusiastically they asked about when we meet next. It is great to see them look forward to being together.
The students in Alice’s group were very curious and energetic today. They had lots of questions at each of the rotations as we learned about trapping, furs, snares and decoys. They were also eager to play their favorite ILI games, so we had to vote to see which one we would play first. At the end of the day, the high school mentors shared with the students how ILI has helped them in school and in their lives. The younger students are always eager to hear what the high school mentors have to say.
After the students had boarded the buses and headed back to their respective schools, the ILI staff took some time to talk with the student mentors, college students and the Wardens about how the day went and to get everyone’s perspective on how we can continue to improve the sessions.
Intercultural Leadership Initiative
2008-2009
In School ILI at LDF
Third Visit Grades 4-8
January 5-9, 2009
In School ILI at LDF
Third Visit Grades 4-8
January 5-9, 2009
Fourth Grade
We introduced Assumptions, which is the topic for the upcoming 4th Grade session with the other schools in February. We were able to meet with the same students multiple times over the course of the week. Throughout the week we did a lot of acting and presenting scenarios where the students had to identify who was making an assumption. Their enthusiasm for acting was refreshing and energizing.
Fifth Grade
We focused on pride and problem solving. After talking about the definition of pride, the students completed two sentences to describe pride in themselves and others. The students had a chance to share their pride sentences. Then they were then given the opportunity to act out scenarios from their own experiences. While they were preparing the skits, the rest of the students worked to solve wordles and mind puzzles. They did a great job solving all of them.
Sixth Grade
The same small group of sixth grade students meets for guidance each morning; we met with them 4 days in a row. Over the course of the week, we discussed how stereotypes lead to discrimination which develops into the ‘isms’ (ex: racism, sexism, and ageism). The students participated in acting, riddles, and story telling as we explored these concepts. The last day we discussed what some of our responses can be when we see or experience discrimination.
Seventh Grade
We began with word mysteries that led into the topic of stereotypes and discrimination. The goal was to end up with definitions that the students would find usable. We ended with a discussion of how stereotypes affect people’s feelings, an exploration of the toll it takes on people.
Eighth Grade
Students in 8th grade rotate through guidance in small group weekly. This week’s group was challenged with the “Ladder of Prejudice”. We started with a refresher on definitions for stereotypes, racism, discrimination, prejudice, and assumptions. These terms were needed to intelligently discuss the “Ladder of Prejudice”. The ladder lets students rank different levels of prejudice, starting with speech (media, name calling, ideas), up to extermination (holocaust, genocide). We discussed some of the realities of our world and how some people step up to the next rung on the ladder. It was a great discussion with interested students participating with their whole mind.