I C L Institute (Institute For Creative Leadership)

The Great Lake Erie Educator Exchange is a 2 day 2 night conference held in the Cuyahoga Valley National Park to encourage education in and foster students’ connection to the outdoors. 

$5000  subsidizes 25 teachers attendance at the conference

John McGovern is a licensed 1-8 educator in Ohio and has seen how public education, especially in urban areas, has become increasingly dependent on computer learning, often as the expense of time in the outdoors.  In 2016, he attended the Appalachian Green Teachers Conference which inspired him to bring a similar experience to his hometown of Cleveland, to help return education to the outdoors, both for the sanity of teachers and the joy of students. 

"A Swansea University (UK) study  has revealed how as little as an hour a week of outdoor learning has tremendous benefits for children and also boosts teachers' job satisfaction."

"A recent study in Frontiers in Psychology  notes when  children spend time in nature, it rejuvenates their attention, relieves stress, and boosts self-discipline."

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ICL has been fostering outdoor leadership since they built the first high ropes course in northeast Ohio way back in 1983. 
Now, the Great Lake Erie Educators Exchange  has partnered with ICL to  lead the charge to help urban teachers re-engage with the original STE(A)M: outdoor learning from Nature.

Less time sitting at a desk indoors; more time learning in the great outdoors with activities aligned to state standards.
Whether in the school yard or at a nearby park or stream, learning from ourselves through direct experience & reflection and through discussion with peers, teachers, & regional experts, place-based learning is a great fit for our region's wealth of protected natural systems.  Immersion in the outdoors can be the spark that ignites a pathway to a career in the blue/green economy and result in empathy for and stewardship of, our natural places. 

To assist urban teachers with returning learning to the outdoors, GLEEE/ICL is working with four Urban and First Ring districts in Northeast Ohio, including the Cleveland Metropolitan School District to subsidize the attendance of 5-10 teachers from each district (25-30 in total).  This inaugural Great Lake Erie Educators Exchange  takes place over 2 days and 2 nights in the heart of the Cuyahoga Valley National Park at the Cuyahoga Valley Environmental Education Center in early November 2019.

Teachers will spend nearly 48 hours immersed in the wilds of our National Park, learning from each other and local outdoor education experts.  Teachers can choose from 10 workshops, taught by researchers, practitioners, and though leaders from organizations like the Holden Arboretum, the Cleveland Metroparks, the Leopold Education Project, Rustbelt Riders, Camp Whitewood, the Allegheny Partnership, and many more!  
All workshops will be inquiry-based, aligned to Ohio Department of Education academic themes and standards, and taught through experiences in the great outdoors, whether sitting in a forest, tracking animals off-trail,  or casting nets while standing in a stream.  We know that these experiences and connections to experts & peer teachers will inspire teachers to take classroom learning outdoors. To that end, the Great Lake Erie Educators Exchange will provide these teachers with standards correlated activities and ideas to make use of their own schoolyards as places for outdoor learning, after they return from GLEEEcon. 

All donations to this campaign are tax-deductible as your donations go direct to the Institute for Creative Leadership, our partner and fiscal agent.  We welcome all donations whether $5, $25, $50, or $100 or more!
The cost for one each teacher to attend the Great Lake Erie Educators Exchange is $250 of which $200 will be subsidized by supporters of this campaign. The teachers are responsible for the remaining $50. Included in the $250 cost are all workshops, keynotes, morning hikes/yoga/meditation, all meals (many locally sourced), and overnight accommodations inside the National Park.

The names of all donors to this campaign whether at the $5 level or the $500 level will be displayed on a large poster in a prominent location at the conference so the teachers in attendance can see and feel the support from the community. We will likely use font size to differentiate between donation levels. We strongly believe that teachers benefit from seeing this support for their work, so PLEASE, GIVE today!!

Thank you!