Guest blog: Julie Noel explores outdoor adventures for special needs students
08/26/2016
Zionsville High School special education teacher Julie Noel received a Teacher Creativity Fellowship from the Lilly Endowment. Her experience included learning more about enhancing access to outdoor activities for her special needs students. In her guest blog, Noel outlines what she learned and what she hopes to do with her students this school year.
Edited by Kara Seward
John Muir was the inspiration for my Lilly Endowment Teacher Creativity Fellowship. He wrote about and understood the need to, “keep close to Nature’s heart...and break away, once in a while and climb a mountain or spend a week in the woods. Wash your spirit clean.”
My fellowship experience explored the wild and rugged natural landscape of Scotland through the physical and mental challenge of walking the West Highland Way – becoming renewed by breaking away, to “wash my spirit clean.” I also hoped to educate myself about adaptive outdoor education and work training program opportunities that are available in Scotland during my four weeks in that country.
During my time in Scotland, I was able to share my story and to hear the stories of my fellow travelers. Stories such as: a woman, blind since the age of 27, hiking this very rugged trail with her family; a couple from Australia who provide snorkeling and scuba diving opportunities for those with disabilities; and, a young man with an adult brother on the autism spectrum who works with other men on the spectrum teaching social and job skills.
I learned to appreciate the moments to stop and absorb the wonders around me and move forward through difficult circumstances, while developing friendships and comradery with my fellow hikers from our shared experiences.
My travels in the UK included visits to True Wheel in Glasgow, a center that offers adaptive bikes for those with disabilities; a training center at Easter Angustun Farm, where the young men with disabilities are so proud of their work and are willing and interested in sharing their accomplishments; and, a Calvert Trust site in England that specializes in offering adaptive outdoor adventure experiences for individuals with disabilities. I was encouraged by the work to include those with disabilities in outdoor and recreational activities that are important for our physical and mental health to live rich, fulfilling and balanced lives.
“Climb the mountains and get their good tidings,” John Muir wrote. “Nature’s peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees. The winds will blow their own freshness into you, the storms their energy, while cares will drop away from you like the leaves of autumn.”
I am returning to my classroom energized with the renewed conviction that the experiences I can provide for my students are authentic and important. I have made plans to take our students on a canoe outing on the White River, a climbing experience at Camptown Inc. and a team building event in the spring. Opportunities in nature or on a job, provide safe challenges and allow all to grow in confidence while becoming connected to each other, the environment and their community.
For more information about the Lilly Endowment’s Teacher Creativity Fellowship and how to apply visit, teachercreativity.org. The deadline to submit grant proposals for the 2017 grant cycle is Sept. 1.