Description
Through the Eyes of Our Herd is a 20-part curriculum that is designed for young women with disabilities and for those who are considered at-risk. Through the Eyes of Our Herd is both innovative and thought provoking, while providing an experiential focus on further cultivating and defining developmental and life skills. This curriculum promotes independence and empowerment of our young women.
This curriculum is utilized to create community and build a support system with structure for our young women that naturally enhances critical thinking and problem-solving skills. The lesson plans included within this curriculum have been piloted through use in Pal-O- Mine’s Through the Eyes of Our Herd, a women’s group that meets one time a week for 2 hours. This group consists of women ages 16 – 55. The lesson plans are designed to encourage group discussions and foster group activities, further providing opportunities to develop and increase effective communication skills, successful team building strategies, and to promote applicable leadership skills. The women are encouraged to identify their innate strengths and develop strategies for growth in areas of weakness.
Understanding that other centers serve a multitude of populations, this curriculum was designed to be flexible and can easily be adapted to serve all populations. Safety is always the number one factor and must always be incorporated as a priority when mapping out and adapting your activities.
Facilitators should always be aware and sensitive to the different needs of each woman within their group. The lesson plans in Through the Eyes of Our Herd curriculum take into account that individuals come from different backgrounds, with different life experiences, and have different learning styles. When preparing this curriculum, it has been forefront in our vision that life presents situations and opportunities differently for everyone and for every group. With that in mind, lessons were uniquely designed to build on each other, yet be independent. These lesson plans are interchangeable and can be presented in the order in which best meets your group’s needs. The horse activities are interchangeable and although written within each lesson, can easily be adapted and used with any of the lessons provided. Each lesson plan provides goals, a lesson activity, an equine activity, and a processing activity. Some lessons have been written to include a photography activity that highlighted the creativity of our staff and enhanced the experience for each individual, sparking in some a dormant or unexplored interest in photography.
