Does Coyote's Guide work for Educators?

This book was written with creative classroom teachers in mind. Does it work for you?

It’s like a cookbook with recipes you can easily adapt to fit your schools’ learning goals. We offer you a bunch of tools and strip them down to underlying principles that you can apply to your situation. The Mentor’s Manual teaches the “naturalist intelligence” and “nature literacy” through “meaningful connection” with hazards, catchables, mammal, plants, trees, birds, ecological indicators, and heritage species. This Activities Guide can work wonders for teachers who can meet the challenge of getting their kids outside the classroom walls.

Tags: classroom, coyote's, educators, guide

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Permalink Reply by River on February 16, 2009 at 8:42am: I run an afterschool program fro kids ages 5-12. I just started two weeks ago, and besides using songs and thankfulness for before snacktime, I am overwhelmed by where to start. I have used coyote mentoring with summer camps, but this group is more of a challenge. They relate to little outside themselves, and I am constantly breaking up fist fights, and can only hold their group attention for about 1 minute at the moment. Any suggestions? How do I begin changing the culture of this program from chaos to mentoring? Why do they know more about flamingoes than the great blue heron that flew by yesterday?; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Nate Summers, finder of Paths, friend of bears, cloud-healer, 8-Shields Dancer, kin to wolverines on February 18, 2009 at 10:19am: Hi River,

Great questions. I've been in similar situations before. I have a few questions. How many students do you have in your program? Do you have any helpers? Have you tried breaking into smaller groups?

Here's one pretty powerful tool that may help you be able to better work with the chaos you are perceiving: Blindfolds. Try some of the blindfold activities from Coyote's Guide. Make sure you frame them properly emphasizing safety between participants.

Also, how much time do you have with the kids? You may want to start the time with a very active running game to burn off the pent up energy of being inside all day at school. Then you can move to quieter activities.

Let us know how it works.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Ellen Haas on February 16, 2009 at 6:24pm: Hi River
Great question. Graphic picture. I like "Why do they know more about flaminoes than the great blue heron..?"
I'm going to turn over your question to Nate who has a good handle on rowdy young kids.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Ellen Haas on February 19, 2009 at 3:18pm: Reply by James Morrison on February 4, 2009 at 8:35pm
I would like to share with you the fact that the Guide is being refered to as "my bible" by a teacher who has the privilege to help kids who are just begining to have problems with the class room,O lucky kids,they get twelve weeks with Matthew ,and i get to be with them for a few hours during those weeks,6 to 8 kids .(I also playfully reminded matt to burn the book once he got the ideas) .The school board for this area rents a hall from the salvation army who has a large camp on the shores of Lake Simcoe giving us access to acres of forest and meadow land.We get to build shelters and make Bow drill kits.What is working so well is that Matt Primes the kids pumps so to speak,with stories from the tracker,and has now set up a nature table.The children are completing their other wise irksome academic requirments because they want so badly to "get outside" .Lite five minute fires ,go tracking, .I put out a blanket with knives and wood working tools when we make bow drills,a watch what tools attract.I had to scatch my head the first week I was with the latest group,When I was asked to be carefull Not to mention death!! As one student just couldnt handle the subject,suffice it to say after 5/6 weeks she's ok with stories and is able also to experience a Knife as a Tool rather than a weapon .Matt tells me that the class also as a group after listening to a story about a group of children living alone on an island ,were asked to draw a map of the island! Mathews adaptation of the mapping exercise,wonderful wonderful.

The guide is doing its work!

James Morrison.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Ellen Haas on February 19, 2009 at 3:23pm: Reply by Ellen Haas on February 4, 2009 at 9:15pm
Delete James James, Morrison Morrison, ... so good to hear from you from the Northwoods. I will never ever forget your magical teling of the Pacific Jumping Mouse story, the telling that held the blaring office phones silent for 45 minutes as you turned me from a frenzied administrator into an adoring child! The telling that pulled me like the mouse to wider and higher horizens.

So glad to hear Matt calls Coyote's Guide "my bible." It turned into a serious opus before we were done, and while it may daunt some folks, it will work as a bible for people like your Matthew who, as you say, "have the privilege to help kids..with problems..by taking them OUTSIDE the classroom."

Stay in touch!; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Ellen Haas on February 19, 2009 at 3:23pm: Reply by James Morrison 1 day ago
Ellen, Thanks for prompting this discussion.Sometimes we struggle with questions when the answer is right at our whisker tips .I remember being at the Tracker school and hearing TBJ say"I am looking for The one"and feeling my heart rate go up ,could I be The one????One what? Only to find myself years later looking for the one(s) who are waking up like me.So it is with the Coyotes guide and those in the teaching /education world,I have been in contact with over a hundred Teachers in the last year ,and shared some simple awareness games,then the workshops are over and each person seems to fade back into the mist.And I have been saying to myself was anybody really interested?Only to realize that there were a number of 'Ones' in those groups, they stand out ,and perhaps I am the one for the moment who has to follow through and ask them'Have you seen coyotes guide'(it wasnt out at the time).

Just a rambling bunch of thoughts,

In peace,

James; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Andrew McMartin on June 14, 2009 at 4:49pm: Hey James and All,

Wanted to touch base to ask a few questions, and to connect with James, who I think is in my neck of the woods. Lake Simcoe? Ontario? I'm running a non-profit org. in Toronto based in many of these skills and teaching philosophies...

On that note, I'd love some help, as I don't have the benefit of 25 years of teaching this stuff, nor do I have a huge community on which to draw right now.

Running some urban after school programs, and they are largely successful, with skills and games and such all through parks and greenspaces.

Sit spots can be a challenge though... I try to use stories and keep them fresh, but at times we are stuck in a less than "wild" environment. Are there other ways that anyone has tried that work to inspire sit spot time?

At WAS, do you get parents involved, have parent meetings about the teaching style/philosophy and do behind the scenes work with parents to help facilitate ongoing experiences and support at home? Any strategies that have worked?

Thanks so much, excited to hear what ideas folks have...

James, would love to touch base... please get my contact info from the website: www.pineproject.org. If it's a Lake Simcoe elsewhere, well then... nice to meet you!

Thank you thank you!; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Ruthieann Patrick on February 21, 2009 at 11:06am: Hi, I'm new today. I'm reading Coyote's Guide along with my 13 yr old daughter and plan to read Kamana 1. We have a group, 'Friends of Cow Creek Preserve';FoCCP would like to implement a program that will cut through chaff and connect our young citizens with their natural environment by utilizing what we will refer to as the four E’s: Example, Experience, Education and Exploration. I'm glad I came across this sight. Coyote's Guide has been very helpful, as it is right in line with our focus. FoCCP, if we can get our project going, will work with all members of our small community, as well as our public school and homeschoolers.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Amy L. Knox on August 25, 2009 at 4:27pm: What is your group proposing to do? I'd like to start an outdoor preschool in my area, I just don't personally have the land. I need to explore where to look for a space. I haven't yet started reading Coyote's Guide but I too plan to read Kamana. Good luck with your endeavor. Let me know how it goes.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by dcollins on April 19, 2009 at 7:14pm: I got immersed into Coyote Mentoring when I began taking high school students on religious retreats. Doug and Dale used it at the camp they worked at. As a teacher and counselor, I knew that something was "up" but I couldn't put my finger on it. Now that I have finished the book, I can see what's going on.

I find myself taking a different track with the material in the book that the discussions I see on this website. I've begun building my lessons around the concepts in the book - so I'm not doing nature training but using the ideas of awareness and the learning cycle in my science and math classes.

I've also been doing research as I prepare for my Master's in counseling and the work I do with reluctant learners. I am trying to incorporate the concepts into a "Coyote Counseling" type of program. Academic problem, personal issues seem to respond well to story telling, awareness, working at the edge and other core activities.

I would like to share ideas with anyone who has done or experienced counseling in this regard. Follow my ideas at my website if you want.

Thanks.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Ellen Haas on April 30, 2009 at 8:23am: Hi David

Just checked out your website. Love the sleeping coyote picture. Love how you've taken Nature Mentoring into psychotherpy. Love how you've closely examined Kohl's theory up against Coyote's Guide's 8 elements of the Natural Cycle. As an author, it's amazing to me to see our work used like a real "resource" against which others theories are tested. My initial response to Kohl's four elements was that his "experience" is West, "reflection" is North and "Theorize" is East, with his finale coming in South. However, your congruencies work too, and of course I love your coclusions, that his takes only half a natural cycle and needs to be finished! Hope others will check out your blog/site. THANKS! Ellen; ▶ Reply to This