ILI - Elementary Session Summaries

LUHS/ILI 8th Grade Transition
2007
Session #1
9:00am-2:30pm May 23, 2007 LUHS School Forest

MHLT 8th Grade Students: 75 students
LdF 8th Grade Students: 44 students
AVW 8th Grade Students: 79 students
NLES 8th Grade Students: 30 students
LUHS Journey Student Mentors: 14
LUHS ILI Student Mentors: 7
MHLT Staff: Kim Kleinhans, TJ McKenzie, Karen Stinemates, Carolyn Hanson.
AVW Staff: Joanne Fitzpatrick, Laura Geigner, Jerry Jorgenson, Jocelyn Hardy.
LdF Staff: Ron Zimmer, Jeff Fieck
NLES Staff: Terry Theisen
LUHS Freshman Homeroom Teachers: Billings, Borden, Eckardt, Garry, Harrison, Harshner, Jarvinsivu, Johnson, Musson, Saykally, Toijala.
LUHS staff: Kim Wasserburger, Kim Olson, Chris Grosman, Kevin Fitzpatrick.
ILI Staff: Craig Kerr, Ernie St. Germaine, Alice McFarlane, Matt White, Bob Kovar.
ILI UW Interns: Summer Shepstone, Courtney Olson.

This was the first of two transition days planned for this 8th grade class (the second will be the first day of school in September)-and it really was a great day! 228 8th grade students, 11 elementary school staff, 15 LUHS staff, 14 LUHS Journey student mentors, 7 LUHS ILI student mentors, 2 UW-Madison interns and 5 ILI staff! Even though rain was forecast, it was a gorgeous day-just perfect. We began the day in a large circle for the welcome by Kim W who did his usual amazing job of captivating hearts and minds with his words and ideas. He asked the group to think about the concepts of life, love and laughter and explained what those are. He explained that if students consider these ideas and what they mean during the next 4 years they will have a great high school experience.

We broke the groups into 15 “families” which will become their homerooms for the next 4 years. Their LUHS homeroom teachers then took their groups and led them through a morning activity session. We had 15 stations set up throughout the school forest from low ropes to painting to small group initiatives including: Water Transport, Wild Woosey, Tire Swing, Orienteering, Toxic Waste, Elevated Electric Fence, Bog Balance, Spiders Web, Gollums Island, Winter Lodge, Diminishing Boxes, GPS, French Traverse, 14-foot Wall, and the Whale Watch. The grade school staff went along with different groups and the LUHS staff did an excellent job of facilitating all of the activities with the excellent help of LUHS Journey and ILI student mentors. We then came back together for lunch-going through the entire group doing an “attitude of gratitude” where everyone completed the sentence “today I am thankful for…”. After lunch we had time for another session and the groups all moved on to a second element in the forest led by their LUHS teacher and student mentors. We cannot say enough good things about the great group of LUHS student mentors here today-they helped with activities, led some activities and were excellent role models for all of the 8th grade students today. They also helped set up, clean up and take down after the session was over.

We’d like to thank Kim W and Kim O for the great job they did and all the behind-the-scenes work they did to make this all happen. Also-the LUHS Transition Committee should be commended for keeping all this together the last few years under the guidance of LUHS Asst. Principal Jon Lucivansky. Finally, but perhaps most importantly, the LUHS teachers did a really terrific job today. Four years ago when we started doing this Transition Day format, most of the facilitating was done by Kim W and ILI staff, ILI paid for the event and we were searching for ways to help teachers take ownership of this concept. Today, all of the facilitating in the small groups was led by teachers and LUHS student mentors with the help of ILI staff. This is a significant shift and we think much of that can be contributed to a strong and improved commitment to social and emotional learning on the part of LUHS, MHLT, LdF, AVW and NLES. Strong partnerships like this are needed to change the direction of our community to make things better for all students and this is one partnership that is definitely having an impact!

Thanks to LUHS food service for preparing all the wonderful food that was consumed rather quickly!

Finally, our biggest thanks go out to all of the students who came today with friendship in their hearts and left with great attitudes, ready for the next steps as they journey into high school. If today was any indication, next year should be a good one at LUHS.

Bob Kovar, Project Director

Intercultural Leadership Initiative

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Intercultural Leadership Initiative
2006 – 2007
AVW and LdF 8th Grade Session #3
May 3, 2007 9am – 2pm
LUHS and Brandy Park

AVW Students: 6 Teacher: Jocelyn Hardip
LdF Students: 8 Teacher: Krissy Toijala
ILI LUHS Student Mentors: 3
ILI Staff: Ernie St. Germaine, Matt White, Alice McFarlane, Craig Kerr, and Marcy Jivery

            Today was another wonderful spring day for our last elementary ILI session of the 2006-07 school year! We had a wonderful bunch of students who came today. Due to the large number of things going on this time of year for 8th graders, we have had less students from schools this week-today we had no students from MHLT or NLES. These smaller groups are working really well and the students really like this new structure. Next year we will be more careful not to schedule sessions for 8th graders this time of the year.
            We started out by welcoming them and telling them that we are proud of what they are doing and that we were happy that they chose to come. Matt then had them do the “carpet maze.” This activity challenges the students to discover a pattern in a checkerboard set up on the floor. They learn their way through by listening to sounds-one that means “continue” and one that means “stop and go back”. After the activity we processed the activity by comparing the challenge to the many difficulties and challenges they are going to face and how these will be much less difficult if they work together in the high school next fall.
            The group then moved to the rope circle where they had to balance each other. They did a good job doing it. We processed this activity by relating the activity to the importance of everyone supporting each other during the day today as well as into high school next fall. Then they all sat and stood together and did a fantastic job!
            We then had them do an activity called “Right Where I Belong.” The students had a good time with the activity. We had a good discussion on how the activity is similar to going to high school.
            We headed into our scavenger hunt where students had a list of places and things to find scattered around LUHS school. The purpose of this was to give the students a chance to get to learn their way around LUHD and they all had a great time with that.
            We headed out to Brandy Park to have a great lunch once again prepared by the wonderful staff at LUHS. Its amazing how that food is attacked everyday!
            We had an amazing rendition of “all out” boys vs. girls Matt Ball game. The boys and girls all banded together and had fun was definitely in the air. The boys especially seemed to bond really well today. All of the students really had a great time with each other and we ended the day with evals and thanking them for their efforts in ILI. We also talked about what their ILI options will be once they enter LUHS in the fall.

Bob Kovar, Project Director

Intercultural Leadership Initiative

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Intercultural Leadership Initiative
2006 – 2007
AVW/LdF/MHLT 8th Grade Session #3 Group 2
LUHS and Brandy Park
May 1, 2007 9am – 2pm

AVW Students: 3 Teacher: Jeremy Jorgensen
LdF Students: 5 Teacher: Kari Torkelson
MHLT Students: 3 Teacher: Barry Dalberto
LUHS ILI Student Mentors: 2
ILI Staff: Matt White, Ernie St. Germaine, Craig Kerr, Alice McFarlane, Bob Kovar and Marcy Jivery

Today was similar to yesterday so we’ll refer you to that summary so we’re not so repetitive. In the morning, however, we threw in the initiative “Monster”, where the group is challenged to move themselves across the room using only a certain number of hands and feet. This ended up being a really excellent activity where the students had to work together, but not without its problems. Some of the dynamics were interesting to consider, with issues arising relating in part to cultural and social differences and misunderstandings and feelings that arise from this-a true reflection of reality in our community. After working at it for quite a while they were able to achieve their goal and Craig did an excellent job helping the student’s process what had happened.

In the afternoon we allowed the students opportunities to relax and have fun with each other. We played the famous “Mat Ball” and in kickball the girls really dominated! We really would like to thank the teachers for being so active and part of the group today-the kids really thrived on that! All of the students had a great time and enjoyed the wonderful day.

This is the last time that these students will meet in 8th Grade.

Bob Kovar, Project Director

Intercultural Leadership Initiative

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Intercultural Leadership Initiative
2006 – 2007
AVW/LdF/MHLT 8th Grade Session #3 Group 1
April 30, 2007 9am – 2pm
LUHS and Brandy Park

AVW Students: 2 Teacher: Linn White
LdF Students: 5 Teacher: Tiffany Bauman
MHLT Students: 6 Teacher: Carolyn Hanson

We met in the Multi-purpose room to begin our day and began with “Carpet Maze.” The students did a great job figuring out the pattern together. When we sat to discuss the problem solving the question was asked about how this activity related to what they would be going through in a few months. The student’s responses were: “It is like going to high school and trying to find our way around.” “It is like going the wrong way.” “It is like making bad choices and learning from them.” “It is like learning from other’s bad choices and making good ones. “

Then we had a wonderful time in small groups going around the school trying to find the answers to questions put together by the ILI staff. The students had a wonderful time searching the building, asking questions of staff and students, and filling the answers on their group’s sheet.

We ended our time around the school with Mrs. Logan, the LUHS Latin teacher. She had a good time with the students. She talked about the Roman Empire and the importance of it to us today and showed the students a short film.

We loaded up and headed over to Brandy Park. When we arrive we circled and had our “Attitude of Gratitude.” We had a wonderful lunch prepared by the kitchen staff at LUHS!

After we ate we played!! It was a time to celebrate our time in ILI. Matt led the group in a couple of games. The students really began to connect while playing these games. We processed the day in a circle before we left-we told the students we were proud of their efforts in making our community a better place for all and we reminded them that when they enter LUHS that they can count on us to be there for any need, question, problem or idea they want to discuss. We are very excited for this group of students to have a good experience in LUHS. We finished the day with a written evaluation-we asked the students to write down what ILI has meant to them during their elementary years. Everyone wanted to spend the rest of the day in the park together!

Bob Kovar, Project Director

Intercultural Leadership Initiative

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Intercultural Leadership Initiative
2006 –2007
AVW-LdF-MHLT 7th Grade Session 3 Group 4
Camp Jorn
April 27, 2007 9am – 2pm

AVW Students: 7 Teacher: Joan Mestelle
LdF Students: 4 Teacher: Leslie Grams
MHLT Students: 5 Teacher: Barry Dalberto
LUHS ILI Mentors: 2
ILI Volunteers: John and Gretchen Spickerman
Community Visitors: Sonia Darlington and Peter Koncz from Beloit College
ILI Staff: Marcy Jivery, Craig Kerr, Alice McFarlane, and Matt White

Today was a beautiful spring day. The sun was shinning and the birds and animals were all telling us what a wonderful day it was. We started our day as we have all week with the students voting on different choices. We then split them up into two groups to do some warm-up activities. The groups came back together and then split up again to do some more warm-up activities. The students really enjoyed these activities and it was a great way to get them reacquainted.

We had snack and the students tried to see who could touch the highest point on the cross beams in the program center. After everyone had tried Craig told the group about how far Calvin Johnson jumped in the standing broad jump. The distance was marked on the floor and the students and staff gave their best shot at trying to jump as far as they could.

When everyone had tried as much as they wanted Craig led the group in an exercise that helped them go farther than they thought it was possible. They did it through visualization. The students and teachers thought that it was a really cool exercise.

We had the group split into two and one group went outside and another went down stairs. Both groups worked on a problem called “Carpet Maze.” They were very successful and had a good time with the activity.

When the groups wrapped up their activity they headed to lunch.
After lunch we all sat in a circle and talked with our guests from Beloit College. Peter is a student from Hungary and is attending Beloit College and Sonia is a Professor who is teaching an Education class. The conversation included the following topics: Hungary, African nations, Stereo Types, and Ethnic Backgrounds.

After the talking time we decided to liven things up again with a game of “Shuffle Your Buns.” The students really like this activity and all the adults were just as into the activity as the students.

The students then split into their groups for the remainder of the day. The group with Matt continued with the “Carpet Maze” and then moved into the activity called “Shackles or Handcuffs”. This is as activity where two people are connected with string and they have to figure out to get “un-connected.” The students had a hard time with this activity but kept trying to figure it out. One student had heard from her friends how to do it so was able to help others figure it out. In the closing of this group one of the students remarked that we are all presents and when you put us all together we make an even bigger present.

Alice and Marcy did an activity called “Right Where I Belong.” The students really enjoyed this activity and worked well together to figure out where they needed to get. Towards the end of their time together the students sat in a circle and shared stories about their lives. The students were sharing significant pieces of themselves with each other. It was wonderful to see these students sharing their lives with each other and understanding each other.

During the final wrap-up the students shared what they thought about the day. Some of the students said that they like seeing friends that they hadn’t seen in a while. Others said that they had fun playing the games and getting to know people better. Most of them mentioned that they liked making new friends.

This was the last time this group will meet in 7th Grade.

Bob Kovar, Project Director

Intercultural Leadership Initiative

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Intercultural Leadership Initiative
2006 – 2007
LdF/MHLT/AVW/NLES 7th Grade Session Group #3
Camp Jorn
9am - 2pm April 26, 2007

LdF Students: 4 Teacher: Katie Black
MHLT Students: 5
NLES Students: 4
LUHS ILI Student Mentors: 2
ILI Volunteers: John and Gretchen Spickerman
ILI Staff: Alice McFarlane, Craig Kerr, Ernie St. Germaine, Marcy Jivery, and Matt White

Today as the students arrived they had to vote on four different boards. There was a choice on each board between two things. (ex. Snickers vs. Sweet Tarts) The students had to choose which they liked better.

We began today as we most of our sessions. The session schedule remained very close to the Monday schedule. The morning activities followed the schedule very smoothly with the students seeming to enjoy the activities and participating.

After the morning snack, Craig challenged the students to a standing broad jump explaining that this years probably first round NFL draft pick, Calvin Johnson, jumped an incredible 11 feet, 7 inches. In addition to that, he also completed a vertical leap of 42 inches. Imagine, if a typical 6 foot tall person extended their arm over their head, they could reach approximately 8 feet in the air. By jumping 42 inches, they would reach 11 and one half feet in the air. That is a foot and a half over a basketball hoop. Talk about slam dunk! The students then listened to a story about Jim Thorpe and his amazing accomplishments in football and in the Olympics. They also participated in an activity that allowed them to accomplish a challenge beyond their belief.

The students were split into a boys group and a girls group, because we had an even number of each. The girls started out with the carpet maze activity. They worked really well together to find the correct path. Each girl remained standing in a square, so that it was easier for everyone. While waiting for a new maze to be created, we started talking with the girls about what they are involved in. One student is in competitive dance, and so we asked her if she would show us. She agreed, and performed once of her dances. That began our ‘talent show’. We took the time to watch and listen to the talents that each of these girls have. It seemed that they felt free to share because it was a group of just girls. One girl could do the splits, another girl taught us a dance that we all did together, others could touch their tongue to their nose, and then another pair of girls taught us how to double-dutch with jump ropes. A very talented group of girls! To wrap up our time as a small group, the girls each created a sentence, or poem from words spread out on the floor. They shared their phrases with the group, and then they were given the challenge to create a poem that only used the words included in their personal sentence. They were very creative. And in the midst of creating, they were all signing each others journals and sharing their phone numbers.

The Boys group started their time together looking through their journals from last time and telling the others about the things they remembered. After this they were given a challenge of finding their way through a maze. They worked very well together and were very encouraging. They accepted and solicited each other’s ideas. They did it 3 times with each one getting more difficult. After we all talked about the good things that happened in that activity, the shared one thing they were thankful for. Then it was time for lunch.

After the game of “Shuffle your buns” the boys were given a challenge. Each member was given a rope with a loop on each end. They then got into pairs and had to start with their rope going through their partners’ rope. The challenge was to get them separated from each other without taking anything off of their wrist. There is a secret trick but one usually has to look for it for some time before it is apparent. The boys ended up solving it well! Then they had to all tie themselves together and do it as one big group. The group then sat down and talked about how ILI is about solving problems in our community, but that it has to start first with ourselves. There were many examples of people that the students know who they felt could grow in how they treat others. How do we treat people we think we may be afraid or unsure of, or those who we think we couldn’t be friends with? Matt told a few stories of how people have been able to change how they treat others. Then it was time to rejoin the Ladies.

Both of the groups joined back together to wrap up the day. Craig asked the students to think of a word or phrase that summed up the day for them. The students each had a chance to share. Some of the girls shared the phrases they had written earlier. After that, Craig talked about the projects that we hope to work on with these students next year when they are in 8th grade.

This was the final 7th grade session of the year for this group.

Bob Kovar, Project Director

Intercultural Leadership Initiative

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Intercultural Leadership Initiative
2006 – 2007
7th Grade Session #3
Group #2-Camp Jorn
9am - 2pm April 24, 2007

AVW Students: 5 Teacher: Joan Mestelle
LdF Students: 5 Teacher: Lori Brokipp
MHLT Students: 4
NLES Students: 5
ILI Volunteers: John and Gretchen Spickerman
ILI Staff: Alice McFarlane, Bob Kovar, Craig Kerr, Ernie St. Germaine, Marcy Jivery, and Matt White

The day began like the Monday session with the students voting on four different boards. There was a choice on each board between two things. (ex. New York vs LA). The students had to chose which they liked better.

We began today as we most of our sessions. Everyone was in a circle and all the adults introduced themselves. We always let the students know that they are special to us and that we are proud of them and what they are doing.

The day’s schedule started like the Monday session following the game activities designed to get the group interacting and solving problems and reaching goals. But the facilitators noticed something different today in the make-up and character of the individuals in the groups. The sessions were evolving differently than previous sessions. Something worth following up was happening. The groups were very much interacting and eagerly accepting the challenges, in fact, challenging themselves to even harder tasks. To cross the room using only five feet and five hands as an example, is what one group asked to do. It was not important whether they did or did not, what was significant is they asked, and then tried.

Then as all the groups gathered in the main meeting hall for a snack, Uncle Ernie mentioned that one of the top draft picks in this years football draft recently tested and did a standing broad jump 11feet, 7 inches. He measured it on the floor and then several students as well as staff gave it a try. They were amazed. But still, they tried.

During the snack, we discussed whether it might be good to challenge the group as a whole, to cross the room with limited legs and hands. Their were 19 students so Matt challenged them to cross the room, hooked together, using only 17 feet and 17 hands. The group all gathered together discussing each other’s ideas and then making a plan. They made it in two tries. Awesome!

We then gathered the entire group together to process what happened and instead of just talking about it, Uncle Ernie put two sheets of paper on the floor in the middle of the circle with numbers 1 to 5 on each sheet. On one sheet was the heading, “things that worked” and on the other, “things that did not work.” He told them to list five things on each sheet then said, “go.” The students immediately, without hesitation began writing some things, then began asking each other for ideas and suggestions and an amazing interactive discussion began amongst them with no adult interaction.

When they completed the two lists, Uncle Ernie asked all the adults in the room to stand along the wall with the students in the center of the room. He then challenged the students to explain and show the adults each item on their lists. Again, they all gathered in a tight circle and began to discuss what they would do. Within the circle, they demonstrated the five things that worked and the five that did not and the adults had to guess what they were demonstrating.

Uncle Ernie then gave them 3 minutes to make a plan, then show as a group, all the points they had written. After 3 minutes, the students formed a line and in turn, one student would read one item, the next student in line would explain what it meant. They took turns, on one end was “the things that worked”, and on the other end was “things that did not work.”

When finished, the adults all applauded them for an excellent job. But then, Uncle Ernie asked them if they wanted to accept another challenge, or let the adults take over again and continue on the day’s schedule. Again they gathered in a tight circle and in a matter of moments, all raised their hand in unison and with consensus, they wanted another challenge. So Uncle Ernie challenged them to take one of the key points and to teach all of the adults one of the things they learned this morning in which one of the key points would be made clearly. The challenge was that they had to involve the adults in the learning. Again they formed a circle and made a plan. Then they located the headbands, had the adults team up into twos, then tie one leg together for a 3-legged walk. The students positioned themselves around the room and the adult’s challenge was to cross the room without touching any student. Finally, after completing that with many laughs, the entire group of adults had to link and tie all of our legs together. Then, every other adult had to be blind-folded. We then had to communicate and discuss a plan as to how we would cross the room. The students of course, made it difficult by talked and visiting and laughing while we were trying to communicate. Eventually, the adults made it across the room, again with much laughter.

Craig then called everyone into a circle and using a talking item, each student and adult who wished to share, discussed important things about the entire morning. Almost every single student shared something. Then, each one in the circle completed the following statement, “today I am grateful for…” and the student ownership of the morning ILI session was very apparent with many students being grateful to be in a program that can help change our community in this positive way. What a morning!

Lunch of pizza was then served by the ILI Volunteers.

After Lunch we all gathered into a circle and did an activity duck-duck name game. It combines the traditional duck-duck-goose game with the person who is “it” going around saying everyone’s name instead of duck-duck-goose.

After that we did an activity that was requested by the students called shuffle your buns. This is an activity where all of the students sit in chairs in a circle and move to an empty seat. The person in the middle is trying to sit in the empty seat. The students really enjoy this activity and there were many smiles and a lot of laughter as the group played.

Then, we moved outside for some activities. Matt set up an activity called “Right where I belong.” This activity is where the group is put into a shape (the facilitator can choose to blindfold the group members or not) and then the students are moved to a different location and had to get themselves back into the original shape. Then the group was divided into pairs and blindfolded. Then the pairs had to pick a sound that they would make to call to one another. The pairs are then split up and have to find each other based on the sound they chose. The students really liked these activities and had some wonderful insights into how they communicate in different situations.

Finally the students took on the task of coming up with their final challenge of the day. After some conversation two girls at the same time called out “Human Knot!” The group then decided that all 19 of them would do the human knot as their final challenge. They tried the activity and saw that it is very hard to do with so many people. Then they decided that they would do the human knot in three groups and then go through an obstacle course.

After the obstacle course was set they were off. The interaction that the students were having was an incredible experience. They were all working very well together and all that was heard was encouragement. When all the groups finally arrived at the finished, all of them decided that they all wanted to try to do the human knot. To help the students the facilitators gave them ropes to connect with so that they would not be all in each other’s personal space. They were open for our help.

We had to stop them before they were finished do to time constraints, and we finished the day by talking about how we communicate in a big vs. small group. It was an amazing day with a lot of positive connections made between students!

This was the final 7th grade session of the year for this group.

Bob Kovar, Project Director

Intercultural Leadership Initiative

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Intercultural Leadership Initiative
2006 – 2007
7th Grade Session #3
Group #1-Camp Jorn
9am - 2pm April 23, 2007

AVW Students: 6 Teacher: Casey Nye
LdF Students: 4 Teacher: Lesley Grams
MHLT Students: 4
NLES Students: 4
LUHS ILI Student Mentor: 1
ILI Volunteers: John and Gretchen Spickerman
ILI Staff: Alice McFarlane, Bob Kovar, Craig Kerr, Ernie St. Germaine, Marcy Jivery, and Matt White

Today as the students arrived they had to vote on four different boards. There was a choice on each board between two things. (ex. Snickers vs. Sweet Tarts) The students had to chose which they liked better.

We began today as we most of our sessions. Everyone was in a circle and all the adults introduced themselves. We always let the students know that they are special to us and that we are proud of them and what they are doing.

We tried a different way to get the students to interact this morning. We used the voting boards to split the group into two groups. One group went off and did one thing and the other did a different thing. The activities that we did were: 3 Legged Walk, Stump Jump, Group Jump Rope and Monster.

3-Legged walk is similar to the 3-legged race. However, the group starts in pairs doing the traditional 3-legged walk. Then they progress to the point that they all are connected and have to walk a certain distance all together. This activity involves a lot of team work and is very fun and very interactive.

Stump Jump is an activity where the group stands in a circle and has to change spots with the person next to them at the same time everyone else is changing spots. This activity is difficult to solve and accomplish. The group did a great job of both!

Group Jump rope is an activity where the whole group has to jump rope depending on how the facilitator sets up the activity. The group did very well at this activity this morning.

Finally, monster is an activity that the students have a certain number of hands and feet that they can use to move their whole group from one place to another depending on how the facilitator sets it up. The groups did a very good job with this activity, but it took them a while to come up with a solution.

After this set up of warm up activities we had the group split itself into two groups. The two groups began to process some of the key points of the activities and relate how they had to be able to interact and cooperate as a team in order to accomplish some of the goals of the activities.

After lunch, the groups again worked on interactive activities returning to the journals each of them developed in the second session they attended earlier this year. They selected key words then together, wrote a statement made up of the key words which they then shared with the entire group in the final circle of the day.

A key summary and point made today during the closure is that we are all different, we view the world in different ways. As a result, we often times interpret what we see and hear in as many different ways as there are people in the group. Just as well, the instructors will also present activities in different ways and each of the two groups, although reaching similar goals, will sometimes take different trails, different paths, different rivers and streams along the way.

This was the final 7th grade session of the year for this group. Next time they meet with us they will be 8th graders!

Bob Kovar, Project Director

Intercultural Leadership Initiative

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Intercultural Leadership Initiative
2006 – 2007
LdF/NLES 6th Grade Session #3
April 17, 2007
Camp Jorn 9am – 2pm

LdF Students: 22 Teachers: John Lohoff, Anne Wewasson, Shirley Bacaurro.
NLES Students: 25 Teachers: Brent Jelinski, Cindy Burnett, Chris Dicka.
ILI Staff: Alice McFarlane, Craig Kerr, Marcy Jivery, Ernie St. Germaine, Bob Kovar and Matt White.
ILI Volunteers: John and Gretchen Spickerman, Jean Rein.

The students brought a lot of energy with them once again today. Our group was smaller today but we still had nearly 50 students so it was another very busy day. The structure of today’s meeting was very similar to yesterday so we’ll refer you to that email for those details.

We had a number of highlights today in our groups. It might be of interest to all of you that even though we plan our ILI session schedules and activities, our facilitators are constantly assessing the group dynamics and adjusting activities to match the needs of the students at the moment. This means that not all of our groups end up experiencing the same things as each other as the day goes on. For example, today Matt felt confident that his group could accomplish some higher level initiatives-particularly the group “Trust Lift”. This activity requires a higher level of concentration and maturity because the object of the activity is to lift one of the group members from the floor to a position over the heads of the lifters. Because this activity has some risk, it is stressed to the students that we can only do this with complete cooperation and concentration. It is a great activity and the students all wanted to be lifted. Especially interesting were the couple of students who really wanted the responsibility of being the ones to lift the students at the head/neck end-a critically important spotter who also directs the whole group with the lifting commands-a position of true leadership. The highlight of this activity was at the end, after many students had been lifted by their peers, when the group lifted Matt over their heads!

In another group, Craig led an important discussion about names, traditions and culture. During this, students shared many of their own personal “stories” about who they were and where they came from-a powerful and respectful talk. These kinds of conversations allow all students an opportunity to feel a sense of connection and importance in the group-a process we are deliberately trying to encourage. Students aren’t always afforded these opportunities during the regular school day, and hardly ever in a “mixed” group, and once the faucet is turned on in these discussions we can see why it is so important-the students could talk about this stuff all day! We even had some students in a group wanting to talk about meta-cognition once they understood the meaning of the word-wow!

This was the last time that we will meet with this group this year.

Bob Kovar, Project Director

Intercultural Leadership Initiative

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Intercultural Leadership Initiative

2006 – 2007
LdF/MHLT/AVW 6th Grade Session #3
April 16, 2007
Camp Jorn 9am – 2pm

LdF Students: 20 Teachers: John Lohoff, Mr. Christensen
AVW Students: 17 Teacher: Bonnie Foster
MHLT Students: 15 Teacher: Jiame Weigel
ILI Staff: Alice McFarlane, Craig Kerr, Marcy Jivery, and Matt White.
ILI Volunteers: John and Gretchen Spickerman, Jean Rein.

Today was a wonderfully beautiful spring day. The students brought a lot of energy with them. We had LdF and MHLT to start the day. There was a mix up and AVW went to the school forest. They ended up arriving later and joined right into the activities.

We started out today as we normally do with all of the students in a circle. Craig welcomed the students and let them know that we were glad that they had come. He explained how ILI changes when they enter into 7th and 8th grade. He encouraged the students to talk with their teachers if they would like to be a part of the students who continue to come to ILI in 7th and 8th grade. (In 7th and 8th grade 5 students from each school come each of the 4 days we have sessions. So a total of about 20 students come each day.)

We went over the ILI foundational words: Safety, Respect, Pride, Communicate, Cooperate, and Fun. Then, the older people introduced themselves. A vote was taken and we headed outside for an opening activity.

We began with “Jolly Green Giant.” This is an activity where there are “Jolly Green Giants” that are “it.” All of the other students stand in a line facing an area marked out and when the “giants” call out “HO, HO, HO” they run and try to get to the other side of the marked area without getting tagged. If they get tagged then they become a sprout and have to stay planted in the ground. However, they can wave their sprouts and tag other students who are running by. Once a “giant” or a “sprout” tags you, then you become a “sprout.”

After running around and much laughter we split into three groups for reintroducing ourselves. Names are the gateway to friendship. If I do not know your name I am less likely to have a conversation with you and get to know more about you. We rotated the students to all of the facilitators so that they could get to know everyone’s name in the big group. Each of the leaders used different activities to have the students learn each other’s names: Toe tag, Ball toss, Have You Ever, Famous Names (The AVW students arrived just before the second rotation.) Please see previous write-ups for the first three activities.

Famous Names is an activity where each student gets a name of a famous person taped to their back. The goal is to find out who you are. However, the other students cannot tell you directly who you are. They can make statements about what you do to help you guess. The students had a good time with this activity. They were able to get their names pretty quickly.

When the facilitators received their 3rd group this was the group that they were going to have the rest of the day.

There were several activities used to build the groups connection today: Sensory Jeopardy, Group Poem, Balloon Bat, Monster,

Sensory Jeopardy is just as it sounds. The answers are sights, smells, tastes, touches, sounds and the questions are the objects. (What is the smell of coffee?) The students had a good time with this very interactive variation on an ILI favorite. During this activity we actually have a “Buzzer” that is a light switch. One of the groups was having a hard time sharing the responsibility of the “clicker.” The facilitator stopped the activity and had a very good conversation with the students about how our attitudes affect how others feel about themselves and that we have the ability and power to choose our attitudes. After this conversation the group worked even better together.

Group Poem is an activity similar to “magnetic poetry.” There are a number of words that are already typed and cut out that the students use to write a poem. The poem depends on the parameters put on the students by the facilitator. (i .e. Make a poem about the members in your group. Make a poem about this year in ILI, etc.) The students like this process and had a good time making up poems.

Balloon Bat is an activity that uses a balloon and the group has to keep it off the ground as long as they can. However, the facilitator is really watching to see what is really going on. (i.e. How are they treating each other? Are they communicating well?) Often in ILI we are teaching the students through activities. This is an activity set up so that we can talk about what is really going on during these activities. One of the groups while talking about what was going on during the activity got into a discussion on stereotypes and how it is unfair to judge one type of people based on the actions of just one person.

Monster is an activity where the whole group has to move together from one point to another while connected. However, there are some restrictions. Depending on the group size and how they are working together, the facilitator limits the number of hands and feet that they can use to accomplish this task. This can be a very challenging activity to do with 18 6th graders in a group. One group really worked hard on trying to find the answer to the problem. It was great to see them work through issues of communication, cooperation, and trust to try to accomplish the goal. One of the student’s faces lit up when their idea was repeated by a few of their group members because they were being recognized in a positive way.

This was the last time that we will meet with this group this year.

Bob Kovar, Project Director

Intercultural Leadership Initiative

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Intercultural Leadership Initiative
2006-2007
LdF/NLES 5th Grade Session #3 Summary
April 3, 2007
Camp Jorn 9am-2pm

LdF Students: 15 Teacher: Mr. Smith
NLES Students: 13 Teacher: Mrs. Burnett
LUHS ILI Student Mentor: 1
ILI Staff: Matt White, Ernie St. Germaine, Craig Kerr, Bob Kovar, and Alice McFarlane

The structure and activities for today was very similar to Monday’s session. Today’s group was much smaller than yesterday which made for more intimate conversations and socializing. The students mixed really well today, there were a number of students who, by the end of the day, where sitting with their new friend from the other school. It is always interesting for us to see how easy it is for these students to befriend one another given the opportunity.

The word for today was also “Discover”-we wanted students to discover things about themselves and each other. One way to discover new friendships is to explore the old lodge at Camp-a seemingly “Haunted House” which they all really enjoyed exploring while scaring each other and themselves! In another group, the conversation drifted to an identification of scars from injuries and the stories that went with them-talk about another great way for students to discover things about each other-we think they could have actually talked about this one thing all day had we let them!

During one of the last small group sessions in Matt’s group the students had to guess who wrote a “clue” about themselves. The clue was something that was true about you that no one else knew. The students in the group did a very good job of guessing the right person. At the end Matt asked what does it mean that we could match so many of the clues with the person that wrote them? One of the students said “we are really getting to know each other. We are really getting to know how each other works.”

We had some really interesting interactions going on today and the addition of Lakita as our LUHS student mentor was really cool! The younger students stuck to her like magnets and she did a really great job of being an excellent role model as well as a facilitator for a number of activities today. These student-to-student connections are very powerful-both ways-and we hope to always be increasing these opportunities.

Bob Kovar, Project Director

Intercultural Leadership Initiative

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Intercultural Leadership Initiative
2006-2007
MHLT/LdF/AVW 5th Grade Session #3 Summary
April 2, 2007
Camp Jorn 9am-2pm

AVW Students: 18 Teacher: Mrs. Jackson
Lac du Flambeau Students: 31 Teachers: Ms. Doorn, Mrs. St. Germaine, and Mr. Lohoff
MHLT Students: 14 Teacher: Mrs. Peterson
LUHS ILI Student Mentors: 3
ILI Staff: Alice McFarlane, Bob Kovar, Craig Kerr, Ernie St. Germaine, Marcy Jivery, and Matt White

We started the morning by having all of the students get into a circle and welcomed them to today’s session. Then, the whole group went over the ILI foundational words that we go over every time we meet, “Safety, Respect, Pride, Communicate, Cooperate, and Fun.” These words are the basis from which the ILI staff work with the students. We say that for our day to be a good one, we all need to practice “doing” these words.

When all the students agreed to “do” the words above, we tried a new activity. The activity is called “Mingle, Mingle.” To begin the activity the “leader” says go and the students raise their hands in the air and wave them around and call out “Mingle, Mingle.” Then as the students are mingling with each other the leader calls out two body parts (i.e. hand and shoulder). The students would put their hand on the shoulder of the nearest person and introduce themselves. This activity is done for several rounds and different body parts are called out. At one point the leader called out “nose to nose”, and as you can imagine there was quite an uproar. There were a lot of “eeww”, “gross”, “no way” etc. heard in the room, and then quite a bit of laughter when the leader said he was just joking.

After this activity it was time to head outside. When the students arrived to their destination they participated in the activity called “Call of the Wild.” This activity starts with everyone shoulder to shoulder facing the same way. Everyone takes a big breath and begins to run and yell at the same time. When you run out of breath you have to stop. The object is to see who can run the longest. The students really like this activity and we did it a couple of times.

When we finished “Call of the Wild” we played a few games of “Mosquito Tag.” This is a long time staple of ILI and is one of the student’s favorite activities. We will have you refer to past summaries for the explanation of this activity. After “Mosquito Tag” we played a couple of rounds of “Partner Tag.” This is also a favorite ILI activity. Again, we will refer you to previous summaries for the description of this activity.

We broke into three groups after we had played our last round of “Partner Tag.” We had the students break into groups of three and each member had to have a number “1, 2, or 3.” All of the “one’s” went with Matt, the “two’s” went with Alice and Marcy, and the “three’s” went with Craig. Each group rotated through three activities throughout the rest of the day.

Activity One—Treasure Hunt. This activity is pretty self-explanatory. The students used a map to find hidden treasure around Camp Jorn. There were two “X”’s on the map and where the “X” was they would find the treasure. The reason for doing this activity was to allow them to “discover” things around Camp Jorn and a secret treasure chest because our word for today was “Discover.” It was fun to see the students working together trying to read the maps and the look on their faces when they found the treasure chests. Once they found the chest there was a riddle and gold coins (Chocolate ones of course.) inside. The students had to figure out the riddle to be able to get the gold.

Activity Two—What do I know about you. This is an activity the ILI staff brought to life. This activity involves writing something about yourself that no one knows but you are willing to share. (ex. I am the youngest of my family.) Once you have written your “clue” on your piece of paper you stuff it into a balloon. It sounds easy, but try it sometime- it’s actually harder than it sounds. The next step really depended on the group, facilitator preference, and the amount of time you had. All the students had to keep the balloons in the air, and when a balloon hit the ground a player had to sit out. Any player could be picked out to have to sit down at random. It may seem unfair, but the point of this part of the activity is to be able to talk about why some people are treated differently than others. The other step was to tie the balloons onto your ankle and when the leader said, “Go” everyone ran around the room trying to burst everyone else’s balloon. The students really enjoyed this activity. After all the balloons were popped everyone retrieved a note of paper that was not their own. One at a time the “clue” was read and everyone had to guess who they thought wrote the clue. The idea was that we would discover things about each other that we did not know before; therefore, our understanding of each other would improve.

Activity Three—Woven Placemat. The weaving we used on these placemats was based on black ash basket weaving done by some people of the Ho-Chunk Nation. The students used this technique to weave a placemat. They chose all the colors that they wanted and took time to weave the best that they could. There were some students that really excelled at this activity, there were others that needed a lot of assistance, and there were others in the middle. The idea was to discover some new way to make something with our hands, to create something.

The students had a full day and a wonderful time. One student commented, “It’s already time to go?” That is a wonderful statement to hear!

This was the last time this group will meet this year and it was a wonderful day.

Bob Kovar, Project Director

Intercultural Leadership Initiative

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Intercultural Leadership Initiative
2006 – 2007
AVW/LdF 4th Grades Session #3
Camp Jorn 9am-2pm
3-13-07

AVW Students: 11 Teacher: Lori Berryman
AVW Volunteer: Joann Busalacchi
LdF Students: 9 Teacher: Nancy Saykally
ILI Staff: Bob Kovar, Ernie St. Germaine, Craig Kerr, Matt White, Alice McFarlane
ILI Volunteers: Pam Anthony and Mike Oddo

            We structured this session much the same as yesterday with many of the same activities so we’ll refer you to yesterday’s summary for a detailed description. We did some things different today as well. After the “Please Pass Me the Pig” activity Craig had the students sit a circle and talked to them about the importance of communicating their need for help. While having this discussion with the students on student asked a question about how to talk to a person who could not hear if the person trying to talk to them does not know sign language. Craig asked Matt and Alice how they communicated when they traveled in countries that they could not communicate with the language. Matt shared with the students that when he traveled he carried a “pocket translator” with him wherever he went. He promptly pulled a notebook from his back pocket and explained how he used it to draw pictures to explain what he wanted or needed. It was a great illustration of how we can communicate in a lot of different ways. He also mentioned that he had to watch the behavior of the people he wanted to communicate with so that his body language communicated correctly. Issues of body language become real and serious, especially it seems, once students get into the high school.
            After the students helped Alice connect their pins with the string on the ILI Big Map, Craig had the students sit down and face the big map. He invited students who knew the Ojibwe migration story to tell it to the group. In the first group two students volunteered to tell the story. They did a really good job. The other students that were watching added what they knew when the two students were stuck. It was really cool to see these students telling the migration of their ancestors that they had learned from their elders.
            After activities following lunch, Matt sat each group down and told them a story from his travels in Morocco. In a little village on the edge of the Saharan desert Matt was invited into a Berber tribal home for the evening. They took him in with no questions and fed him and gave him the best of what they had to give, which wasn’t much. That is one of the characteristics of that culture. The story led to a discussion of the difference between “Ask” and “Invite”. If we “ask” someone for something (like name, idea, help) we explained that that is requesting for something in one manner. If we “Invite” someone to do something (like play a game with me, share some of my cake, hear my idea) it is requesting in another way. If we can start relationships that have both people doing both parts, we have a lot of chances to have great friendships.
            We ended the day with evals. This week our evals have an option for students to draw what they liked best about the session. The pictures are just fantastic!!

Bob Kovar, Project Director

Intercultural Leadership Initiative

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Intercultural Leadership Initiative
2006 – 2007
LdF/MHLT 4th Grade Meeting #3
Camp Jorn
9am-2pm, March 12, 2007

            Today was a great taste of spring for this group’s last session of the year. The students arrived today with the energy of spring fever. We immediately engaged their energy in an activity called elbow tag. The students would be happy to do this activity all day if we let them, however, after a bit of time, Matt did the “ILI Clap” and everyone gathered into a circle.
            Craig welcomed the students and told them that he was glad that they were there. He then had the adults (including the high school mentors) introduce themselves. After everyone was done introducing himself or herself, Craig had the students split into 3 different groups. Each group was given a card with a word on it and instructions to spell the word out using their bodies as letters. The group could decide to spell the word standing up or on the floor. The groups got to work with the help of the staff and mentors. The students really enjoyed figuring out how they were going to spell out their words. It was good to see everyone working together and being a part of spelling out the words we base our sessions on every time we meet. When each group was ready we formed a circle and the first group spelled out their word S – A – F – E – T – Y. The other groups guessed their word and everyone applauded. Then Craig talked with the group about what it meant to have safety during the day. The students had great ideas on how to keep each other safe during out time together. The other groups spelled out PRIDE and RESPECT. The students enjoyed this new activity. The activity is to integrate their left and right brain as they begin to think about how they are expected to behave during our ILI sessions…and how they might choose to behave elsewhere.
            When the review of the ILI words was complete, Alice introduced an activity called Anteater Tag. In this activity there are two people who are either and “Anteater” or a “Can of Raid”. Their job is to tag as many “Ants” as possible. If you are an ant and you get tagged you have to lie on your back and stick your arms and legs in the air. Then, four other ants come and grab your arms and legs and gently carry you over to the “ant rejuvenation station.” When you are deposited on the ant rejuvenation station you are then made well and able to rejoin the action. The “its” were chosen and the activity began. The student liked this activity. They were being very safe with the way that they cared for each other as they moved the “dead ants” to the “rejuvenation station.” They were communicating and cooperating very well also. They were really modeling the words we previously went over and having a great time doing it.
            After about three rounds of this activity, Craig clapped and everyone came together into a circle. He explained to them that he had just seen them “doing” all of the words they spelled and talked about. The students were excited when they realized that what he said was true. Craig went on to tell the students that the theme of the day was “Ask.” He told the students that today we would have to ask for people to help us, to ask people to be a part of your group, and to ask people to sit with you at lunch.
            After Craig was done talking about the theme of the day he introduced a new activity, “Someone please help me, pass me the pig.” This activity also includes two “its.” When you are tagged by an “it” you have to sit down with your legs crossed and say, “Someone please help me, pass me the pig!”   When you touch the pig you are free to join back into the activity. The first round Craig told them that they could not use their voices. He picked his “its” and the activity was begun. The students would get tagged and sit down and wave their arms and a few of them caught themselves calling for the pig. When the first round was over, he told the students that they could use their voices this time. He picked the “its” and round two began. There was a big difference in the amount of students that were up and running around compared to the first round. After the second round, Craig had the students gather into a circle and he and the students talked about how important it is to use their voice to ask for help. The students said that it was easier to get the pig when they could use their voices. Then, they were dismissed for snack time.
            After snack Craig brought the students back to the circle. He then asked if anyone could name all of the students in the circle. A couple of students named most of the people in the circle. Everyone gave them a round of applause! When the students were done naming everyone Craig had the students break into two groups: Boys and Girls.
            Matt, Ron, and Augie had all of the boys and Alice, Lindsey, and Kassie had the girls. Both the boys and the girls played the “toe tag” and “ball toss” name games. There was quite a difference between the groups. The girls were tuned into each other and enjoying playing the games and learning each other’s names. The boys were full of energy. The kind of energy that makes you think that they have ants in their pants and that they are trying to get them out. Once they began the games they focused right in and had fun.
            When the groups were finished with their activities, they came together to play “Alaskan Baseball.” In this activity one participant throws an object (today it was a ball filled with little Styrofoam beads) and then tries to name everyone intheir group. If they name everyone in the group before the other team calls out “Stop!” or “Out!” they score one run. They can continue naming their group until the other group yells “Stop” or “Out”. So if the “namer” goes around the circle two times before the other team calls “Stop” or “Out” then they score two runs. The other team when they get to the object has to make a line and pass it “over” “under” all the way to the end of the line. When it reaches the end of the line the whole team yells out “Stop!” or “Out!” The two teams take turns throwing the object and naming (batting) and getting the object and passing it (fielding). The boys played the girls and both teams were really into the game. Every time they would yell, “Stop” or “Out” at least half of the team would be in mid air when they said the word!
            When the last “Out!” was yelled, Craig had Matt and Alice circle up their groups and introduce the “blanket” name game. In this activity opposing players sit opposite of each other with a blanket in between them so that they cannot see each other. On the count of three the blanket is lowered and the two students have to try to name the other person first. If you name the other person first you get to have them on your team. If neither student knows the name of the other student, they introduce themselves to each other. The object of the activity is to have the most players on your team. The expressions on their faces when the blanket dropped and the way they bounced up and down when they were trying to name the other person was really fun to watch. At the end of the activity all of the students from both teams crowded up to the blanket and the blanket dropped. All of the students had big smiles on their faces and the laughter was deafening.
            Craig had them return to the circle for “Attitude of Gratitude.” This is something that we do before we eat lunch. We go around the circle finishing this sentence, “Today I am thankful for…” We all have things we are thankful for and it is always good to stop and think about what that or those things might be. Then, we all enjoyed a wonderful lunch prepared by our volunteers, John and Gretchen Spickerman.
            After lunch we played an all time favorite “Captain Says.” When Craig announced what they were going to play there was a collective Hooray! Craig was the captain for the first round and Lindsey and Kassie were the captains the second round. The elementary students really like having the high school students there and involved with all of the activities.
            When we had all abandoned ship it was time to split into two groups for the afternoon. Matt took a group over to the basement of the program center and Alice stayed in the dining hall with the other group.
            Matt’s groups focused on playing with each other because as the day progressed the students continued to have a lot of energy that needed to be expressed in a positive way. Many people do not realize the value of play. As we get older many of us forget what it is like to play and become more serious minded. We can learn a lot by watching these students interact with each other and build bonds through play.
            Alice’s groups focused on immigration and migration. She began by having asking the students the definition of migration and immigration. After a few of the students gave very good answers to the question she explained the activity. She was going to pass around pieces of paper and the students were asked to take as many pieces as countries that their ancestors had inhabited. If they did know much about their ancestors then they could take pieces of paper for places they have migrated (or visited). Once everyone had filled out their pieces of paper, Alice instructed them to make piles of the same places. All of the Germany, Ireland, France, United States, and etc. papers were stacked together. The name of the country in the stacks was copied to a big post-it poster and stuck on a wall. The students went around and signed the “place signs” that either their ancestors were from or that they had visited. After they signed the poster they were asked to write something that they knew about that place. The students also were putting their pins in the ILI Big Map to represent the places where their ancestors originated.
            When both groups had been with both Matt and Alice we all returned to the dining hall to wrap up the day. Craig told the students that they were going to get to be the teachers and grade their performance. The students were handed evaluations to fill out. When everyone was finished, Craig showed them on the Big Map all the places everyone was from- we had a string that connected everyone. He talked about how it was cool to see all the different places we were all from, but that even though we may be different, we are all connected. Then he dismissed them to get their shoes and coats and our time together was over.
            Several of the girls were exchanging phone number as they were leaving. It is always wonderful to see these students connect and begin to grow friendships that will build and hopefully blossom at the high school.

Session Summaries: Elementary Groups, Spring '07