Visiting Instructor Program (VIP)

Cross-pollination brings vigor and new possibilities. With our new Visitor Instructor Program (VIP), teachers and directors from other outdoor schools and centers bring us constructive input and fresh approaches by serving as guest guides on our guide team for a one-to-two week period. They participate in all aspects of instruction, including preparation, presentation, and follow-up debriefing.

The VIP is a partner program: one or more times a year, each Teaching Drum guide spends one-to-two weeks with a participating organization to observe, learn, and share by serving as a guest assistant on their instructor team.

Dates: June 1, 2019 – February 28, 2020
Duration: One-to-two weeks
Prerequisites: Holding an active instructor or director position.
Tuition: There is no tuition, as this is an exchange program.

Instructor Training Program (ITP)

This is a focused immersion training program for qualified individuals to receive accelerated Outdoor Instructor training. You learn by doing — by being a fully participating member of the Teaching Drum Wilderness Guide team. You participate in all Wilderness Guide, Wilderness Moon Immersion, Guardian Training, and Blossoming the Family Program planning sessions, workshops, and debriefings, first as an observer, then as an active Assistant Guide. Upon successful completion of the ITP, you receive certification as an Outdoor Instructor, First Level.

Dates: June 1, 2019 – February 28, 2020
Duration: Sixty days
Prerequisites: Wilderness Guide Program graduate certification or equivalent, and successful completion of application process.
Tuition: $3400, room and board included.
Certification awarded: Outdoor Instructor, First Level

Advanced Instructor Training

This is a thirty-day intensive for outdoor instructors and program directors who want to hone and develop new presentation, guiding, organizational, outreach, and human relations skills. The training is based on educational approaches learned from Native Elders and developed at the Teaching Drum Outdoor School. The classroom is Nature — you see what you are learning being practiced in actual wilderness immersion courses, workshops, and instructor meetings.

The Training is most appropriate for instructors and program leaders working in natural settings with children or adults, and for those presenting naturalist programs or leading outdoor expeditions. Whatever the format, the same relational and outreach skills are needed, as you are introducing people to the wonders of Nature and working with the perplexities of human nature.

The instructional setting is the Teaching Drum Outdoor School campus, where you are housed, and where you have access to the School library, Nature trails, and other learning resources. You witness the practical application of what you are learning in real-life contexts, in the ongoing courses, outreach activities, and administrative procedures of the School.