Higher learningTeachers Learn Classroom Lessons at Outdoor Retreat

By Phyllis Coulter

BLOOMINGTON – Forty feet above ground, Amanda Hapgood was almost ready to move.

“This is a little out of the comfort zone for an 11-year English teacher,” Hapgood said once she was off the platform and back on terra firma at Timber Pointe Outdoor Center.

The Olympia High School English and journalism teacher was one of five language art teachers-turned-students as part of a two-week Adventure Challenge that used high ropes, other climbing equipment and physical challenges to master skills they will use in their classrooms.

Atop the platform, Hapgood hesitated. “It’s that first step,” she said.

Four teammates called encouragement from the ground. “Jump on three!” they encouraged. “One … two … three!”

She jumped to cheers and applause, traveling speedily down a zip line along a path of treetops.

“I did it!” she said, arms raised, before using a ladder to find the ground.

Physical education teacher Jim King, the challenge’s facilitator, said part of the fun is offering “experiential learning” to teachers who can use it in innovative ways in their curriculum.

King, of Eureka, a retired middle school teacher, also teaches at Illinois State University. “I could tell they (the teachers) are already doing some of these things,” he said.

Darby Venerable of Bloomington is not new to using activities to teach language arts to Chiddix Junior High School students.

She has a whole array of new ideas after taking the program, which included lessons at Eureka Middle School’s high ropes course, at Summit’s Edge in Morton, and at ISU.

“I have a wealth of stuff” to help students work collaboratively, she said.

Peggy Selvey of Goodfield will share ideas with her language arts students thanks to exercises like the “dangling duo,” where trust of a partner is essential.

“The most interesting part of the class is the activities that build interpersonal relationships,” she said.

Emily Frederick, a gymnast and swimmer as a student, is now a PE teacher at Taft Elementary School in Joliet, was accustomed to the physical challenge but said she gained ideas for her students and fellow teachers.

Bob Grimes, a fifth-grade teacher at Colene Hoose Elementary School in Normal, will use the “icebreakers.”

“They can have fun and learn at the same time,” said Grimes, who coaches Normal Community High School softball.

Peoria primary school principal Cathy Wiggers watched everything from the ground. Next time, she will participate with her staff of 57 teachers, custodians, cooks and all.

“Success in school is all about building relationships,” she said.

King, who also does corporate team-building training, wears a T- shirt emblazoned with his message: “Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire.”

“He exemplifies that,” Hapgood said.

(c) 2008 Pantagraph. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.