I originally wrote this blog entry last June. But today, it is raining torrentially, so I am revisiting some ideas that concern me about the concept of how to measure learning, and the bind that most excellent classroom teachers find themselves in, trying to serve their students, with an insatiable burocracy on their backs. Gordon Elementary's … [Read more...]
Artist in Residence at IslandWood
This March I was delighted to spend two weeks as an Artist in Residence at IslandWood, a 'School in the Woods' on Bainbridge Island, just a ferry ride away from the city of Seattle. I worked with competent, considerate 5th graders from Aberdeen, Bremerton, and Mercer Island; and junior-high/high school age students from Seattle and … [Read more...]
Weaving Rattles
Make a joyful sound with a rhythm instrument you create yourself using a variety of Pacific Northwest materials, such as driftwood, inner bark, ivy and other vines, roots, grasses and leaves. … [Read more...]
Clam Shell Rattle Necklace
Using materials from three important Northwest ecosystems: forest, shoreline, and estuary, students learn plant fiber technologies to construct a Clam Shell Rattle Necklace. Using clam shells from the Salish Sea's inter-tidal zone, cedar limbs from the lowland forest, and NW sweetgrass from the estuary, learn plant fiber … [Read more...]
