Project Reflections
| Date | Place | Reflections |
| 10.01.05 | Harvest Festival | This was a challenging bit of time for me cold, rain, and a nasty mystery sting on my foot altered my otherwise festive experience. But as always, a challenge is an opportunity for growth, so I took it in as much positive stride as I could, and put my herbal knowledge to the test. I made a poultice of yarrow for my sting going mostly on intuition, and found some relief. I studied later and realized plantain would have worked well also. My drive for herbal studies draws upon mostly my personal struggles with disease so sometimes I wonder if I attract it because I crave so much to learn. hmmm... The kids crafts were great, though my helpful presence felt unnecessary amidst the crowd, but a child delighted in finishing a lantern I helped to start. I hope she loves it. I felt joyous to be experiencing a ritual celebration associated with fall. I have really fallen in love with fall this year. |
| 10.09.05 | Seattle Public Library | Researching herbs for children has been like finding a needle in a haystack. Then I realized that the book A Kids Herb Book, was actually the first herbal book written for kids. Astonishing...I dug up some good ideas from other books though, and had a wonderful time reading the kids herb book. I made up tunes to the songs (I can't read music), and marveled over the recipes and easy-to-follow instructions. |
| 10.12.05 | Lincoln School | Today felt wonderful because progress was made.! This project has been slow to start due to difficulties in communication with the school and the group. Nikki and I met with Michi, our classroom observation specimen, and also toured the garden to see what we are in for. It was lovely. |
| 10.18.05 | Lincoln School | Today was the first day of observation/participation with Michi,s class. We started with the all school assembly that happens every Tuesday. It was so fun. There was music, singing, clapping, and various children speaking about events in their class. It was very community building and really gave a sense of what a unique and precious school Lincoln is. The classroom was also unique. Not columns and rows of identical desks, but open floor space and scattered tables around bookshelves and colorful learning materials. There was even a loft with pillows and railing made of tree branches. It was math hour and Nikki and I walked around and helped the children paste units of measurement to the things they measured. We also went and observed a bit of recess. Overall, I felt very welcomed in the school community and the classroom. |
| 10.19.05 | Lincoln Garden | Today a few of the group met with Susie and Karen, parents who volunteer to manage the garden. We toured and talked and set up some times next week for us to do classes with the children. I am very excited. We got an official tour of the school, and met some more faculty while filling out volunteer paperwork. It was a very pleasant experience and I feel our work there will be successful and rewarding. |
| Oct. 2005 | Evergreen | In class our group has connected and made plans for getting in contact with the right people at Lincoln. This project was challenging in this aspect, because it was not already set up for us. |
| 10.25.05 | Seattle | My research included activities, songs, stories, and garden information for calendula and garlic. I devised a potential lesson plan for tomorrow at Lincoln. Nikki and I will plant garlic and harvest and bake calendula cookies with Michi,s class. I feel inspired, challenged and excited to work with kids, Herbs, and Gardening. I have done and loved all alone, but never together. I find that I naturally want to teach children about plants when I play outside with them. |
| 10.26.05 | Lincoln | Lincoln today was great hands on fun. At first it took some rearranging because communication was not clear between the gardeners, Michi and us, but we figured it out and had a successful time with the kids. We worked in the garden with one group planting cloves of garlic, which they, and we, loved. They decided to do an experiment to see whether un peeled or peeled cloves would grow better. Then we brought out another group and taught them the ethics of harvesting herbs as we gathered calendula flowers. I felt this part was very important, for harvesters of any age. It is very important to harvest in a respectful, sustainable, and safe manner. This, to kids, means asking adults, asking the plant, and making sure there are enough plants in a non toxic location. The last group mixed and baked the calendula citrus cookies which we all enjoyed at the end of the day. It went wonderful and was fun, and I will enjoy working with this group again. Nikki and I laughed at ourselves at the end because we had devised a much bigger lesson plan for the whole class, for the whole time, and realized that we were much better off with smaller groups, for less time. We learned that we need to communicate with everyone separately and make sure we are all clear on the plans, and to not get ahead of ourselves in preparation when we are still slowly making our way into this community. After school, Michi let us do the paper marbling craft the kids had done, and we had way, way too much fun with it. |
| 11.02.05 | Lincoln | This morning I had the garden to myself, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I meandered around and found a fennel plant ripe with seeds, so I harvested some, thanked the plant, and drew it. On a bicycle trip to California a few years back I saw these beautiful plants with such amazing colors and shape and named them 'faery whispers' because of their delicate leaves, and later found them to be otherwise known as 'fennel'! There were a few chicken escapees from the coop that I was afraid of, but later on some kids came in and told me they wouldn’t peck me, and I held one! It was very exciting. I then cut some PVC piping from the archway and used it around the lettuce bed, covering it with translucent plastic to keep the baby’s warm. It felt good to work and get my hands dirty. Then I tilled the last remaining garlic bed and planted a few rows. In the classroom, Nikki and I put ourselves to service helping out the class. I still felt bad about the miscommunication the week before, and wanted to simply be of service. We helped the kids put their marble paper artwork, from the week before, onto the cover of their journals. This proved to be no easy task, and we wrestled and problem solved until we figured out a system that worked. Again, communication seemed difficult, and I will continue to reflect on why this is, and how this can be improved. We finally came up with a good system and made a few awesome looking journals. A side note, working at Lincoln and seeing the community in this amazing alternative school has been enriching to me personally. However, I feel as if my services would be better utilized elsewhere. Kids at Lincoln are so enriched with parent and community volunteers, and are thus pretty well-off, well rounded kids. It has been good for me to have experience in a school I would love to be in, but in the future I think I’d rather touch the lives of kids who may really need it. |
| 11.08.05 | Seattle | Creating the lesson plan was fun for me, and it really drew upon my experience planning lessons for my gymnastics classes. I have found that when teaching children, preparation is EVERYTHING. Being uncertain, or having to do or figure out something last minute can really make a lesson difficult. Children don’t like to wait around and will quickly loose interest. However, a good educator must also know that lessons hardly ever go as planned, and be able to think on their feet. So I planned well. |
| 11.09.05 | Lincoln | Our plan was a success! We got the go-ahead from Michi and the day went smoothly. Of course, it wasn’t exactly as I imagined, but we took it in stride and had no problem at all. There was, of course, less time with the attentive focus of children to wax as eloquently as I wanted to about herbs, and there were some needs of the garden (pulling up calendula) that we had time for and added in. The children know a surprising amount about herbs already, which I think has to do with them being in an alternative school, and they loved being in the garden. They really seemed to acnowledge and understand the necessity of asking the plant for harvest and listening for an answer. I really appreciated this, because I believe in it's importance and usually recieve uncomfortable responses from adults. When we cooked, it was a bit challenging to make sure all the kids were able to have a job to do, and I found myself scurrying for the recipe and supplies more than I wished to be. Again, planning is of utmost importance when teaching children.The candy came out great and we all enjoyed it. |
| 11.16.05 | Lincoln | Today was an amazing day of observation. In class, Michi first read aloud while the kids worked on knitting projects. At one point in the story, a child ate a candy with 'sorrow' as an ingredient that made her feel sad. Michi asked the class if they would taste the sorrow in the candy and what they would feel. Many hands were raised and answers ranged from goldfish and pets dying, to parents yelling and divorcing and parents and grandparents dying. It was so touching to see how readily available children's deepest sorrows were, and how willing they were to express them. If only we were able to keep this trait as adults... Then the class brainstormed what a sustainable world looks like. The children delved into intelligent and critical thought about pollution, waste management, the pro's and con's of recycling, and more! These kids were tackling big questions society is asking itself today, and I felt fortunate and hopeful after seeing it. I then took a group and discussed sustainable water in particular, which led into the children drawing pictures from the discussion to be put into a mural. What a perfect day encompassing art, environment, and the child! I became aware, as I was working with the group, of my undeveloped skills in keeping the attentive focus and relative control of older children. I have no problem being entertaining enough to 3 year olds, but these older kids require a firmness that I need to cultivate. |
| 11.17.05 | Seattle | I gathered with 2 others in a Seattle backyard to warm my body up to the movement of fire artistry to lead up to the burning ceremony. I feel very much that I do not want to 'perform,' but rather just coexist and add to the celebration. I am very much a believer in performance art that includes the so-called audience, and can be a group transformational experience. Fire is such an enchanting power, though, that it* ignites* those around to stop, look, and be drawn to it, no matter in what form. I am humbled by this power and love its |
enchantment, but fire artistry inevitably lends itself to 'performance' and pretty much rules out audience participation. So, I struggle with this and intend to create a cooperative atmosphere in the ceremony. So all that attend- DANCE!!! I also struggle with not being categorized with many other artists newer to the fire trade that are into it for trendy, flashy, or sex-appealing interests. My artistry intends none of this and is on the contrary, very spiritual and intentful, and I believe it shows through my dance. So, all that said, I had a beautiful time working my way slowly into the dance again, and igniting my kerosene soaked dreams.
