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Artwork by Wolf Journey alumna Joanna Colbert.

Traditional Technologies & Survival Skills Instructor Training

Summer Residential Apprenticeship

In 2011, all of our Summertime Residential Apprenticeships run June 15th - August 20th, with optional stay until September 10th. In comparision with our other summer apprenticeship choices, the Traditional Technologies & Survival Skills Instructor Training focuses on survival and artisanry skills, and features a Traditional Technologies Instructor Certification option and also a broader Survival Skills Instructor Certification option upon graduation.

Scroll Down or Click for Specifics:
• Application Deadlines, Tuition & Enrollment Capacity;
• Mission & Who Would Attend This Program;
• Program Instructors & Benefits including Certification;
• Program Goals & Skills Covered;
• Schedule Breakdown;
• How to Prepare & Apply for this Program; Responsibilities at Camp; Notes from Chris
• Program History & More Depth

Tuition, Application Deadlines, Credit, Cost Breakdown, Refund Policy

Click here for tuition, credit information, cost rationale and refund information. Program Capacity will be limited to 10 students between all our apprenticeships in Summer 2011. Reserve your spot by applying right away.

 

Artwork by Wolf Journey alumna Joanna Colbert.

Program Mission & Participants

The mission of the Traditional Technologies & Survival Skills Instructor Training is to become an excellent teacher of survival and artisanry skills. Artisanry involves hand-made crafting of useful items such as construction tools like flintknapped knives, hunting tools like bows and at-latls, food gathering tools like baskets, and survival needs such as spun rope or waterproof thatched grass shelters. Survival skills build on those crafts while also emphasizing emergency preparedness and response. Flintkknappers, basket makers are perhaps the best known traditional technologists today, and if you would like to become versed in many of these crafts and survival skills, but even moreso a great teacher of these crafts and skills, then our Traditional Tecnhologies & Survival Skills Instructor Training is for you. To further particular traditional technologies and survival skills, please see our Academic Year Ethno-Ecology Apprenticeships for follow-up programs.

This Summer Teaching Apprenticeship is designed for: 1) experienced survivalists and traditional technologists learn to teach their crafts to students of all ages, 2) experienced teachers of other subject matters become versed in traditional technologies and survival skills in a familiar fast-paced educational setting, and 3) aspiring survivalists and traditional technologists to teach youth these subjects while becoming versed in them simultaneously. No matter your previous experience, you will be expected to fully participate in every possible training opportunity to push your skills to a higher level of excellence, although your own health will be the priority while developing into better and healthier instructors. We hope that your development of a personal medicine wheel of health, guided by permaculture principles, the values of earth skills, and your own spiritual study, we hope that each participant becomes a person to whom anyone could turn for learning traditional technologies and survival skills in general.


Artwork by Wolf Journey alumna Joanna Colbert, depicting Wolf College program director Chris Chisholm in a debris hut.

Program Instructors, Benefits & Certification Options

Program Instructors: Chris Chisholm will be your mentor through this experience, with assistance from Kim and guidance from Seasonal Faculty who will be teaching during the summer.

Benefits of the Program: More than half our staff came on board through our Summer Residential Apprenticeships, while others enrolled to receive training in order to found their own schools or gain experience for employment elsewhere. Past apprentices agree that the place they learned the most about how to teach in their life, as well as where they learned the greatest bulk of their earth skills, was while assisting the incredible instructors at Wolf Camp as they guided youth through the summer. Your transformation into an excellent instructor is the greatest of benefits, but as a graduate, you can also attend any of our 2011-2012 Academic Year Ethno-Ecology Apprenticeships for just $1,750 per semester, and future appreticeship choices beyond that at similar discounts.

Beyond tuition, travel and health insurance, you need not spend a dime all summer, as all additional expenses are covered with work trade. You don't even need any books, as you will have free access to the Wolf College library. Benefits also include employment assistance or support to develop your own program elsewhere upon graduation, and of course, graduates become eligible to work at Wolf Camp as instructors, though hiring is dependent on enrollment and the ongoing development of your skills. Bottom line is that graduates invariably express how grateful they are in the year following their apprenticeship when they realize that they somehow "just know how to teach" earth skills and other subjects as well. By the end of your summer, you will feel that you have fully embodied and can live up to your title of Certified Traditional Technologies Instructor and/or Certified Survival Skills Instructor depending on your study emphasis.

Click here for a complete description of our Survival, Traditional Technology & Stone Age Skills Certification options.


Lead instructor Jason Patterson with completed burn bowl.

Lead Instructor Lorien MacAuley next to her scout fire and shelter during her apprenticeship survival trek in 2004 .

Nikki firing her hand-crafted self-bow.

Camper-turned-instructor Glen MacKay chillin in his debris bed. Check out his survival trek blog from 2006.

Program Goals & Skills

Your goals will expand over the course of the summer, from learning the basics of earth skills education, to focusing on the development of your traditional technologies and survival skills, to being given teaching opportunities during the summer according to your desire and readiness.

1st Priority: Learn the best methods of teaching earth skills to all ages. The way to become the best of teachers is to observe, participate in, and take notes on all the activities our instructors present over the summer, including staying up a half hour after the kids go to sleep in order to record your experiences. If you just want to focus on learning traditional technologies and survival skills, and not on teaching, then apply to attend our Academic Year Ethno-Ecology Apprenticeship. Thanks! But if learning to teach as well as expanding your knowledge of traditional technologies and survival is your goal, then please join us!

2nd Priority: Take care of yourself, while nurturing campers and supporting other staff. It is important that you come into the program as healthy and prepared as possible, for although during the training portion of the program your educational needs are the focus, during the summer camp season, the needs of the children at camp will be the focus, so you will have to learn to remain healthy amongst constant camp activity. This is the trick to a successful teaching career.

3rd Priority: Develop a working knowledge of traditional technologies and survival skills. Apprenticeship graduates always relate how at the end of the summer, they were amazed at how this "just happened" but on the other hand, with hands-on skills like these, it's all about practicing each and every craft at lengh. The opportunity to assist lead instructors and take on instructional leadership yourself during the summer is a great way to fully embody your own traditional technologies and survival skills, because sometimes you can learn best only that which you teach.

Specialty Skills Learned
• Wildlife Tracking & Animal Surveying (identification, trailing, aging, interpretation)
• Birding & Bird Language (academic and song-to-alarm interpretations)
• Naturalist Sketching & Journaling (using sit spots, drawing instruction, quick journaling strategies)
• Skills of the Ancient Scout (sensory awareness, stealthy movement, camouflage, games)
• Wild Edible Foraging & Preparation (Herbs, Nuts, Roots, Flowers, Fruits, Insects)
• Primitive Cooking & Food Storage (pit cook, clay oven, ash cakes, smoking, jerkying, pemmican)
• Medicinal Herb Collection & Preservation (drawing from knowledge of area herbalists)
• Preventative Health & Herbal Spas (from daily health routines, to our special spa treatments)
• Emergency Shelter & Primitive Shelter (debris hut, lean-to, wickiup, thatch hut, earth lodge, split cedar cabins, including fire drafting strategies)
• Wet Fire Maintenance & Fire by Friction (bow drill, hand drill, fire plow, flint & steel)
• Flintknapping & Primitive Tool Making (from harvested stones, bones, wood)
• Bow & Arrow Making (survival bows, self bows, lumber bows, fletching, lashing, etc.)
• Primitive Fishing (wiering, netting, spearing, bow fishing, hand fishing, hook and line, gorges, bullfrogging)
• Natural Water Purification (seeps, filters, rock boiling, and locating natural springs)
• Bowls & Cordage Making (double and triple reverse wrap using nettle, fireweed, cedar, kelp seaweed)
• Primitive Hunting (bow and arrow, rabbit stick, at-latl, ethics, strategies, butchering)
• Hide Tanning (wet and dry scraping, brain and other high-tannin methods, hair on and off)

Experiential Skills Introduced
• Natural Selection Forestry (chopping and chainsawing, wood splitting and moving)
• Sustainable Building
• Organic & Biodynamic Gardening
• Farm Animal Care & Cultivation
• Human Tracking
• Backpacking & Camping
• Land Mapping & Water Navigation (orienteering with and without modern aids)
• Sailing, Kayaking, Canoeing, Raft Making
• Trapping
• Clay Harvesting, Molding & Firing
• Parfleching (carrying cases, drum making, sheaths and quivers with fur and tanned hide)
• Bioregional Ecosystems (old growth temperate rainforest, glaciated alpine meadow, intertidal and estuary, river and lake, wetland and bog, desert and sagebrush steppe, mixed pine and subalpine forest)
• Music and the Arts (flute making, drumming, songwriting, poetry, clay sculpting, natural paints, singing and pianos/guitars on hand)
• Rock Climbing & Alpine Mountaineering

Earth Skills Educational Skills
• Best skills to introduce to each age group (3-6, 7-9, 10-12, 13-15, 16-18, 19-21, young adults, parents, elders)
• Most effective methods to use with each age group (didactic/wolf, questioning/coyote, imitation/ant)
• Delivery of age appropriate stories (personal, european, african, persian, chinese, other eastern, indigenous)
• Risk Management (assessing sites, planning activities, mitigating hazards)
• Emergency Rescue, Advanced First Aid, CPR (wilderness and water settings)
• Influences of Nature on Spirituality (buddhist, christian, hindi, indigenous, jewish, muslim) including opportunities of retreats and quests, sweat lodges and fasts
• Health & Organizational Strategies (western lineal and medicine wheel use for self, lessons, projects)
• Incorporating Earth Skills & Starting New Schools (examples of non-profits, partnerships, sole ventures, and communities)

 


 

Chris Chisholm with cutthroat trout on Woods Lake.

Camper-turned-apprentice-turned-instructor Charlie Borrowman under a sun shelter he made while supervising campers on a survival trek.

Artisan and camp instructor Griz bow-fishing bullfrogs back when he was a camper-turned-apprentice.

Artisan & Instructor Andrew with bass from Woods Lake, and below, pics of his home inside the stump where he lived during his apprenticeship at our old primitive camp:

 

 

2011 Schedule:

June 15: If you are driving or taking public transportation to the Wolf Campus, please arrive between 4:00-5:00. If you are flying or taking the bus or train, please book your arrival into the Seattle or Tacoma Transit Stations or SeaTac Int'l Airport by 1:00 p.m. because we will be picking up at those locations at around 2:00 p.m. We will unpack and prepare dinner together from 5:00-6:00, eat from 6:00-7:00, do an introductory orientation from 7:00-8:00, and share stories and music around the campfire from 8:00-9:00.
June 16: Breakfast from 8:00-9:00. Campus renovation meeting and work party from 9:00-12:00. Working Lunch from 12:00-2:00 to set up your blog and prepare Wolf Journey Volume IV - Trail of the Survival Scout notes (goals, earth skills assessment, etc.) to share with your Traditional Technology & Survival Instructor Training mentors, then meet with them from 2:00-5:00. Prepare dinner from 5:00-6:00 and eat from 6:00-7:00. Work on Wolf Journey field exercises from 7:00-9:00.
June 17: Breakfast from 8:00-9:00. Help set up our interactive learning booth at the Washington State Homeschool Convention from 9:00-11:00. Learn to make cordage with various materials from 11:00-12:00. Lunch from 12:00-1:00. Learn to make cattail mats from 1:00-2:00. Work on Wolf Journey field exercises from 2:00-5:00. Prepare dinner from 5:00-6:00 and eat from 6:00-7:00. Work on Wolf Journey field exercises from 7:00-9:00.
June 18: Breakfast from 8:00-9:00. Learn to make birch bark baskets from 9:30-10:30, and willow baskets from 11:00-12:00 at the homeschool convention. Lunch from 12:00-2:00. Work on Wolf Journey field exercises from 2:00-5:00. Prepare dinner from 5:00-6:00 and eat from 6:00-7:00. Campfire music and stories from 7:00-9:00.
June 19-24: Sunday Breakfast from 9:00-10:00. Pack from 10:00-12:00. Lunch from 12:00-1:00. Travel to the Yakima Canyon from 1:00-3:00. Set up camp from 3:00-4:00. Prepare dinner from 4:00-5:00 and eat from 5:00-6:00. Begin your training week at 6:00 with the Earth Skills Educational Training: Preparing Lessons and Teaching to All Ages, Backcountry Guiding and Risk Management, Group Facilitation, Wilderness First Aid, Open Water Lifeguarding & CPR, and Issues Facing Outdoor Education. Adults not involved in our Summertime Residential Apprenticeships may attend this course at $525-$675, depending on when they register. Course ends Friday at 5:00. Dinner from 5:00-6:00. Travel back to Puyallup and unpack from 8:00-9:00.
June 25: Saturday Breakfast from 8:00-9:00. Repack for next week's day camps from 9:00-10:00 and attend week-in-review meeting from 10:00-12:00. Working Lunch from 12:00-2:00 to blog your week and prepare Wolf Journey notes to share with your Traditional Technology & Survival Instructor Training mentors, and meet with them from 2:00-5:00.
June 26: Sunday Dinner from 5:00-6:00. Help lead instructors prepare for this week's day camp from 6:00-9:00 p.m.
June 27 - July 1: Learn to teach younger children by assisting a lead instructor during our Wilderness Survival Day Camp serving King & Snohomish Counties on duty from 8:00-5:00 daily Mon-Fri.
July 2: Saturday Breakfast from 8:00-9:00. Repack for next week from 9:00-10:00 and attend week-in-review meeting from 10:00-12:00. Working Lunch from 12:00-2:00 to blog your week and prepare Wolf Journey notes to share with your Traditional Technology & Survival Instructor Training mentors, and meet with them from 2:00-5:00.
July 3-8: Sunday Breakfast from 9:00-10:00. Pack from 10:00-12:00. Lunch from 12:00-1:00. Travel to the Bellingham area from 1:00-3:00. Set up camp from 3:00-4:00. Prepare dinner and help orient arriving campers from 4:00-5:00 then eat with camp families from 5:00-6:00. Attend the Wilderness Survival Training & Trek. Course ends Friday at 7:00. Pack from 7:00-8:00. Travel to Puyallup from 8:00-10:00.
July 9: Saturday Breakfast from 8:00-9:00. Repack for next week from 9:00-10:00 and attend week-in-review meeting from 10:00-12:00. Working Lunch from 12:00-2:00 to blog your week and prepare Wolf Journey notes to share with your Traditional Technology & Survival Instructor Training mentors, and meet with them from 2:00-5:00.
July 10-15: Sunday Brunch from 11:00-12:00. Pack from 12:00-2:00. Travel to the Olympia area from 2:00-3:00. Set up camp from 3:00-4:00. Prepare dinner and help orient arriving campers from 4:00-5:00 then eat with camp families from 5:00-6:00. Learn to teach older youth while attending our Wildlife Tracking Overnight Camps co-sponsored by Wolf Haven, Int'l while completing with a Wolf Journey Part III field exercises with an emphasis on how to track animals for hunting. Course ends Friday at 7:00. Pack from 7:00-8:00. Travel to Puyallup from 8:00-9:00. Unpack from 9:00-10:00.
July 16: Saturday Breakfast from 8:00-9:00. Repack for next week from 9:00-10:00 and attend week-in-review meeting from 10:00-12:00. Working Lunch from 12:00-2:00 to blog your week and prepare Wolf Journey notes to share with your Traditional Technology & Survival Instructor Training mentors, and meet with them from 2:00-5:00.
July 17: Sunday Dinner from 5:00-6:00. Help lead instructors prepare for this week's day camp from 6:00-9:00 p.m.
July 18-22: Learn to teach younger children by assisting a lead instructor during our Wilderness Survival Day Camp co-sponsored by Wolf Haven, Int'l on duty from 8:00-5:00 daily Mon-Fri.
July 23: Saturday Breakfast from 8:00-9:00. Repack for next week from 9:00-10:00 and attend week-in-review meeting from 10:00-12:00. Working Lunch from 12:00-2:00 to blog your week and prepare Wolf Journey notes to share with your Traditional Technology & Survival Instructor Training mentors, and meet with them from 2:00-5:00.
July 24: Sunday Dinner from 5:00-6:00. Travel with lead instructors to the Portland/Vancouver area from 6:00-9:00 and help them prepare for this week's day camp.
July 25-29: Learn to teach younger children by assisting a lead instructor during our Wilderness Survival Day Camp serving Portland OR & Vancouver WA on duty from 8:00-5:00 daily Mon-Fri.
July 30: Saturday Breakfast from 8:00-9:00. Repack for next week from 9:00-10:00 and attend week-in-review meeting from 10:00-12:00. Working Lunch from 12:00-2:00 to blog your week and prepare Wolf Journey notes to share with your Traditional Technology & Survival Instructor Training mentors, and meet with them from 2:00-5:00.
July 31 - August 5: Sunday Brunch from 10:00-12:00. Pack from 11:00-1:00. Travel to the Pacific Coast from 1:00-3:00. Set up camp from 3:00-4:00. Prepare dinner and help orient arriving campers from 4:00-5:00 then eat with camp families from 5:00-6:00. Co-mingle between assisting a lead instructor during Secrets of the Ancient Scout for survival and hunting exercises, and attending the Wild Ethnobotany & Herbalist Training. to gain knowledge of wild edible and medicinal plants. Course ends Friday at 7:00. Pack from 7:00-7:30. Travel to Puyallup from 7:30-10:00.
August 6: Saturday Breakfast from 8:00-9:00. Unpack from 9:00-10:00 and attend week-in-review meeting from 10:00-12:00. Working Lunch from 12:00-2:00 to blog your week and prepare Wolf Journey notes to share with your Traditional Technology & Survival Instructor Training mentors, and meet with them from 2:00-5:00.
August 7: Sunday Dinner from 5:00-6:00. Help lead instructors prepare for this week's day camp from 6:00-9:00 p.m.
August 8-12: Learn to teach younger children by assisting a lead instructor during our Wilderness Survival Day Camps in Puyallup on duty from 8:00-5:00 daily Mon-Fri.
August 13: Saturday Breakfast from 8:00-9:00. Repack for next week from 9:00-10:00 and attend week-in-review meeting from 10:00-12:00. Working Lunch from 12:00-2:00 to blog your week and prepare Wolf Journey notes to share with your Traditional Technology & Survival Instructor Training mentors, and meet with them from 2:00-5:00.
August 14-19: Sunday Brunch from 11:00-12:00. Pack from 12:00-2:00. Travel to Dash Point from 2:00-3:00. Set up camp from 3:00-4:00. Prepare dinner and help orient arriving campers from 4:00-5:00 then eat with camp families from 5:00-6:00. Co-mingle between our Overnight Youth Camps and the Earth Skills Artisanry - Traditional Technologies Training. Course ends at the Wolf Campus in Puyallup on Friday at 7:00. Attend week-in-review meeting from 7:00-9:00.
August 20: Saturday Breakfast from 8:00-9:00. Blog your week and finalize Wolf Journey notes to share with your Traditional Technology & Survival Instructor Training mentors from 9:00-12:00. Working Lunch from 12:00-2:00 to prepare for evening activities. Meet with your Traditional Technology & Survival Instructor Training mentors from 2:00-5:00. Make Dinner from 5:00-6:00, and eat from 6:00-7:00. Campfire Party & Informal Summer Apprenticeship Awards from 7:00-9:00.

Optional Complimentary Week of August 21-27: Same schedule as for the week of June 26 - July 2 learning to teach younger children by assisting a lead instructor during our Wilderness Survival Day Camp in the Skagit Valley.
Optional Complimentary Week of August 28 - Sept 3: Attend the Honorable Hunting & Fishing Camp.
Optional Complimentary Week of September 4-9: Attend the North Cascades Spirit Trek for summer apprentices and other long-term students.

September 10: Summer Apprenticeship Evaluations & Graduation


 


Below: Completed thatch hut; and a willow wig-wam being built.

 

Employment: We only need instructors with experience running camps and teaching in the field of Earth Skills Education, including skills of the Neighborhood Naturalist, Traditional Herbalist, Wildlife Tracker, Survival Scout, Ancient Artisan, Honorable Hunter, Permaculture Pioneer and Environmental Educator. Apply to become an instructor through one of our Earth Skills Teaching Apprenticeships.

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