Laurie Frank is a former
public school teacher who has worked in the adventure and
experiential education arenas for 30 years. She began her
career as a special education teacher in emotional
disabilities, working with students of all ages. Her path
diverged upon the discovery of adventure education and
experiential methodologies. The need to develop community
within the school setting was apparent, and the adventure
philosophy seemed the perfect vehicle to achieve that goal.
Laurie is the owner/director of GOAL Consulting, working
with people of all ages to create environments where
everyone is invited into the process of working and
learning together. Her major focuses are community
building, collaborative leadership, and experiential
education. Workshops with Laurie invite engagement by
constructing knowledge through experience and exploration.
Ms. Frank was a leader in designing the nationally
recognized Stress/Challenge adventure program for Madison
(Wisconsin) Metropolitan School District, and wrote their
curriculum, “Adventure in the Classroom,” in 1988. Ms.
Frank wrote Journey
Toward the Caring Classroom (2004), an
experiential approach to creating community in schools. She
also collaborated on four other books: Games
(& Other Stuff) for Teachers (1999),
Adventure
Education for the Classroom Community
(2000, Revised
2007), The Mohican
People, Their Lives and Their Lands
(2008),
and Leading
Together: Foundations of Collaborative
Leadership (2008).
Laurie’s
passion is to facilitate human interaction, and to create
environments where everyone is empowered. A few of her
projects include: YEP (Youth Empowerment Process), Inquiry
Institute with the Chicago Teacher’s Center in Chicago, and
Collaborative Leadership: a project of the Wisconsin
Leadership Institute. She currently serves on the boards of
the Association for Experiential
Education and
Hancock Center for Dance/Movement
Therapy.