The Clearwater School

Around the School Photos

2012-01-12T18:55:00.000-08:00

I don't know if you've heard, but Clearwater is (still) revamping our web site. I was given a short list of photos the designers want, and I've taken a few hundred this week. Here are a few - maybe worthy, maybe not, but interesting anyway.

Computer Room shots are very hard to get right, for this very reason.

Tales of Warcraft - Chapter 3

2012-01-10T14:00:00.000-08:00

Those of you who have been following Meghan's original story set in the Warcraft world are long overdue for the third installment. If you haven't read or don't remember the story so far, be sure to check out Chapter 1 and Chapter 2. If you'd like to re-read the first chapter, click on the link above, then enjoy Chapter 3, below. The story is told from the point of view of Salith, a female half-elf, half-troll rogue.

Tales of Warcraft

Chapter 3
Stormy escape

Salith awoke to the sound of thunder rumbling in the distance. She got to her feet and looked out of her cage at the sky where clouds so gray they were almost black gathered on the horizon.

“A storm is brewing,” she said, grasping the two nearest bars and gazing out at the darkening sky.
“Indeed.” A cool voice came from behind her.
Startled, Salith whipped around and bared her teeth.
“Who are you?” she demanded as thunder rolled once more.
“I am known as Delaralas(1),” the stranger replied.

He wore a long emerald cloak and leather garments, half-concealed by the cloak. As he pulled down his hood Salith realized he was an elf, with long purple-ish ears and markings painted across his face.
“What are you doing here?” Salith’s accent faded and she hid her tusks.
“I am here to rescue you. Don’t bother hiding them, I know what you are,” he said.
She scowled and showed her teeth, eyes flashing.
“Why would you come to rescue me? You’re an elf of high-birth and I’m nothing but a lowly half-breed. I don ‘t get it.”
Delaralas shook his head and exhaled softly.“Heh. Neither do I, my friend, neither do I.”
Salith spat contemptuously while lightning flashed behind her.
“Anything but, elf!”

Delaralas actually laughed, echoed by thunder, closer now than before.
“Come now, you don’t want to be stuck in here when that storm hits, now do you? Grab my hand and we’ll get out of here,” he said, sticking out his hand and stuffing the other into his robe.
"I’ll have to trust him…" Salith thought.
She grabbed his hand and just as their palms touched, the storm broke.

“Mount up!” Delaralas called above the roaring of the wind.
Salith put her foot into the loop and swung her other foot over the majestic palomino’s back and hooked it in the second loop. Delaralas waved a hand back at her, signaling for her to follow.
“We’ll follow the road as far as Heluk, then shelter there until the storm blows over. Don’t worry about stealth. No one else is crazy enough to be out in this weather.”

He nudged his horse and sped off towards the open gates of the castle. Salith nudged her horse, who reared and followed Delaralas’. As they galloped out of Dunatar and along the winding dirt road the storm raged overhead. Rain turned the road to mud and soaked all of Emerald Forest. Lightning struck a tree near Salith, causing her horse to rear and race to the side. Salith had to tug hard on the reins to get back on course, but she managed to get her mount, whom she had come to call Bandit because of the white stripe across his eyes like a bandana, to run behind Del’s mount.

They travelled half a day before coming upon the small town of Heluk. They tethered their horses to the post outside the inn and walked inside. It was a large room with several small tapestries hung on the walls and tables of all sizes and occupancy. A fireplace flickered warmly in the far corner near a window spattered with rain, and a staircase led up to the rooms. The only people in the inn besides them was the innkeeper, a small and stout man with a long braided beard, along with a mustache and an unkempt splash of hair on his head, and a hooded figure with purplish ears sticking out of the hood of a long lavender cloak. Thick leather gloves covered the longish fingers that grasped a large tankard and a scroll of parchment. “Welcome to the Emerald Dragon, make yerself at home!” called the innkeeper. The hooded figure took no notice of them at all.

While Delaralas was ordering drinks, Salith sat down at a table near the fireplace and stared into the flames.
“Head in the clouds--or rather, flames?” said a voice.
Salith turned quickly to find that the stranger in the lavender cloak had left the bar and was standing next to the table, hand on the nearest chair.
“And you are?”Salith asked, rather snappishly.

The stranger pulled forward the chair and sat down swiftly, causing her hood to fall down, revealing a face resembling a female Delaralas, though a lighter purple color and with different markings.
“Varawien(2) Silentwind, Elven rogue. At your service!” The stranger did a sort of mock bow, then sat up straight and looked Salith in the eyes. “You?”
Salith wasn’t sure she should reply, but was saved the trouble by the arrival of Delaralas with drinks.
“I spotted you and went ahead and got an extra one,” he said, handing a tankard to Varawien and another to Salith.
“Varawien Silentwind, Elven Rogue, At your service!” The elf repeated the mock bow to Delaralas, who returned it. He reappeared with a ear-to-ear grin on his face (if that was possible).
“Delaralas Bronzewing. Pleasure.”
Salith reluctantly gave in. “Salith Daggerfang.”

Their greetings where cut short as the door of the inn crashed open. Silhouetted by the flashes of lightning, was a huge and thuggish looking human, bearing mail armor and wielding a huge longsword that nearly touched the ceiling.
“Where is Half-breed?” he said. His voice was deep and he seemed to be having trouble speaking in Common.

Salith blinked, then pulled up her hood and vanished. Delaralas stood up swiftly, but Varawien was faster. She was on her feet, daggers out and twirling madly in her hands. She spun around and threw one at the man. It whizzed past him as he sidestepped, and stuck in the opposite wall. He swung his longsword in a wide arch, aiming for Varawien’s neck. She ducked and ran at him, dagger upraised, ready to strike, but the man stuck out his hand and grasped her by the throat. Dropping his weapon, Delaralas leapt to his feet and put his hands out in front of him and began muttering a chant. Balls of arcane energy formed around his hands. He chanted a few last words, then threw the balls at the thug. They hit him square in the chest and he fell forward, smashing a table and releasing the struggling Varawien. She fell to the floor, gasping for breath.

Salith reappeared next to her and was about to help her up when she stopped. Someone was clapping. Looking up Salith discovered it was a tall woman, clad in shining plate armor and helm. A great battle ax hung from her back. She was clapping and watching them through her visor. “Bra-vo,” she said, flicking up her visor. “Now, which one of you is the Half-breed?”
Salith kept her hood up, turned back to Varawien and stuck out her hand. Varawien took it and pulled herself up.
“We don’t know what you mean. There is no Half-breed here,” she said, sheathing her remaining dagger and brushing away the dust on her chest.
The human laughed.
“Who is she?” Salith whispered to Vara.

“Afeiclya(3), a general in Lord Cerader’s army.”
Salith stifled a gasp. “She’s Cerader’s general!?” Vara nodded grimly.
“She’s the worst. Most of the soldiers that she was assigned to train don’t make it out alive.”
Vara repressed a shudder as Afeiclya surveyed them closely.
“I’d have to agree with Miss Varawien. There is no Half-breed here,” Delaralas chimed in.

Afeiclya laughed again, though there was no mirth.
“Then, who is that?”
She gestured at Salith, who took a deep breath.
“I am Sierra Fiercewind, daughter of Erilikoth(4) Fiercewind and heir to the throne of Alin’kah castle. I have been sent to find Qigof(5) and Hydira(6) of The Emerald Grove and bring them back to speak with my father about matters.”
Salith said this very fast and finished with a flick of her hand in a very dismissive manner.
“Now, if you don’t mind, we’ll be leaving.”

(To be continued in another blog post)

Pronunciation Guide
(1)Delaralas - deh -lar'-a-lus
(2)Varawien - ver'-wee-en
(3)Afeiclya - a-feesh'-la
(4)Erilikoth - eh-ril'-i-koth
(5)Qigof - qwi'-gof
(6)Hydira - high-deer'-a

Unscientific, but....

2012-01-07T06:00:00.000-08:00

I asked as many Clearwater students as I could this question:

Were you happy, or unhappy, or did you have mixed feelings about the end of Winter Break and coming back to school?

The same day I asked it to the 4th/5th graders in my own after-school class at a Seattle public elementary school.

(The results are below the fold.)

Number of public school students asked: 22
Ages: 9-11 yrs
Responses
Happy: 0
Mixed feelings: 4
Unhappy: 18

Number of Clearwater school students asked: 26
Ages: 7-19
Responses
Happy: 24
Mixed feelings: 2
Unhappy: 0

Well, then.

Meghan talks about the LARP

2012-01-05T15:50:00.000-08:00

Here is a short video featuring an interview with Meghan Conken about creating a live action role playing game at the Clearwater School. The video does not do justice to all of the behind the scenes planning that Meghan and staff member Mat R. did to help create and manage each players character profile nor does it capture a big moment in the LARP but it does offer a small glimpse into the beginning stages of how it began.

Aidan's New Blog

2011-11-29T21:41:00.000-08:00

Aidan, who is 12 and has attended Clearwater for 6 years, recently started a blog called The Rest of the Iceberg. He describes the focus of the blog this way: "Whatever happened to the rest of the iceberg? Underneath the tip of it you'll find bite-sized short stories, rambling rants, inner thoughts and strange musings."

He'd thought about starting a blog for a little while. One night when he couldn't sleep, he decided to go online and see if he could set one up on his own. Voila!--The Rest of the Iceberg. He sometimes has insomnia and discovered that writing down what's in his head helps quiet his mind.

Aidan's first post is a short story called, "Cogs and the Lack Thereof", which takes place in a dystopian future and is a delightful commentary on creativity and its ability to change the world. Another post, "Creative Evolution", features a character he created while playing World of Warcraft. He describes that story as "the first thing i ever wrote, unedited complete with no punctuation and general painful-to-read-y-ness."

With Aidan's characteristic gutsy-ness, he publishes it raw in the blog. Later in the same post he reveals what happened to that first story after he spent six more months working on it. In my interview with him, he quoted Oscar Wilde, "Books are never finished, they are merely abandoned." Although, he doesn't enjoy re-reading his past work, he recognizes that he is always learning more about writing by doing it.

When Aidan began writing, he read several writing blogs to get other writers' advice on the craft of writing. He said he waits for inspiration to strike and like many writers feels like he knows his characters personally.

He admires Neil Gaiman, Lemony Snickett, Jasper Fford (Shades of Grey, One of Our Thursdays Is Missing) and Robert Kirkman (writer of the comic series The Walking Dead and Invincible).

Aidan incorporates links to music in some of his stories. So far he has written two posts featuring Victor Jerami, the titular unorthodox demon hunter, who slays demons by playing rock music. Each post has links to specific songs used to dispatch the monsters. One of Aidan's inspirations is the Joss Whedon TV series, Buffy, the Vampire Slayer. The title character of that series is not-so-subtly alluded to in the second Victor Jerami post, "Unarmed and Unplugged."

He does not have a posting schedule for himself and warns there may be long dry spells, but also times when he posts several entries at once.

At this point in his life, he is interested in becoming a career writer of fantasy and science fiction novels.

Aidan's mom, Alicia, announced his blog on her Liberating Kids facebook page and noted, "He was never formally taught to read or write." Aidan told me he started learning to read when he was three or four. He used some reading software initially, and reads a lot. He taught himself typing by using the online chat function while playing World of Warcraft.

I look forward to reading more of Aidan's writing.

The dish fairies failed me.

2011-11-18T10:13:00.000-08:00

In the film Voices from the New American Schoolhouse, about the Fairhaven School near Baltimore, a student remembers being written up on her first day of attending, for having failed to wash her lunch dishes. "Did you think the dish fairy was going to do it?" she recalls being asked, with a laugh.

Last Monday I arrived for my half-day of volunteering, and Gabriel asked me, "Did you see Robert wrote you up?" What? Written up? For what? I was at a loss. "Dunno," Gabriel shrugged. "I think you didn't wash your dish or something." I thought he was kidding. I conjured up a mental image of the water going over the plate and silverware. Did I trust my memory? In the Judicial Committee's box, I found the paperwork. Sure enough, in black and white: "Bryan didn't wash his pan." Ohhhh, the pan! Um, yeah. Now I remembered, the pan I'd cooked up my tempeh in. I almost never use the stove top. Of course I'd forgotten.

I was, oddly, sort of excited to be written up; it had taken me about three years. Robert acknowledged that he'd been partly motivated by the desire to be the first person to write me up; but, he added, it had been a gross, smelly, oily pan and he'd had to wash it. I was embarrassed at having left a mess for someone else to deal with, and it felt different being written up formally than it would have if someone had said, "Hey, you know you left your dirty pan on the stove last week." Of course, most complaints and corrections happen, at Clearwater as everywhere, in that sort of informal way, but a J.C. case doesn't have to be especially dire; as I've been reminded before, strictly speaking you can write up someone for pretty much anything; J.C. will decide if they consider the complaint valid. This is important: unlike being sent to the principal's office at public school, an experience which is almost always in and of itself traumatic, being written up≠being "in trouble".

The J.C. was good-natured and gentle about it, but took their responsibility totally seriously, and there was not a hint that the matter was any different from a case involving anyone else at the school. I left with a promise to clean up after myself. Despite my chagrin, I felt in way that I'd passed a milestone. You know you are part of the community when people can tell you you messed up the same way they tell everyone else.

Clearwater's First Fall Festival

2011-11-02T00:12:00.000-07:00

On Saturday The Clearwater School hosted our first Fall Festival. Most Clearwater families spent a beautiful, sunny fall afternoon eating delicious potluck food, playing indoor and outdoor games, carving jack 'o' lanterns from more than 70 pumpkins grown in Clearwater's garden (thanks, Tim!), and generally enjoying each others company.

The Clearwater Singers performed to a full house in the Active Room, and Christine and Chris played a lot of great Irish music (joined at one point by Bob on djembe).

On Friday, staff and students worked to set everything up for the following day, and we had lots of help on Saturday cleaning up after the event. Thank you to everyone who came, and to those who worked to organize, set up and clean up.

It was a fun and wonderful day!

To see lots more photos go to Clearwater's facebook page (like us if you haven't already) or to Clearwater's flickr account (if you're not on facebook).

Pumpkin carvers

Simon and Pearl--in costume? You decide

Chris and Christine

Mat, Steve and Simon

Meghan, steampunk girl

Meghan, Maddy and Gregory

Delayney, Niya and J.R.

Lily, Meghan and Jacy

Joey

Gabriel and Joey

Bob, Chris and Christine

Maddy, Alise and Jacy

Corey and Robert

Susan, Susan and Ginger

Zoe (the little zombies are the scariest)

Jesse and David

Zoe and Chris

Lily and her pumpkin

Niya and Maddy

Stephen

Tommy

Niya and her pumpkin

Justin and Jackie

Bryan and his pumpkin

Jason (Yoshi) and Hidy

Jesse and his pumpkin

Clearwater Singers

Lily, Alise, Keenan and Jacy

Mao

2011-10-24T09:31:00.000-07:00

Last Monday I played a very, very long game of Mao with Maddy, Lucas, Jacy, and Alise. Mao is a card game, more or less like Uno, complicated by a few unspoken rules which players must learn solely by observation and deduction; by watching others keep the rules, or by figuring out why someone penalized them. At the end of a round (when a player successfully discards her or his last card), the winner gets to make a new (secret) rule, and the game goes on.

For some reason, our game seemed to take a record-breaking amount of time. Players would get down to their last card, and then be unable to play it, winding up with ten or more cards coming into their hand. Frustration was running high. Several times people stood up and slammed the table or muttered "I %#@* HATE this game!"--and then kept on playing. (They had to complain under their breath because it's against the rules to speak during Mao.) Lucas finally did quit in exasperation, but the rest of us doggedly kept at it (mainly at Maddy's insistence) until someone--anyone!--finally won. The relief in the room was palpable. I don't even remember who played the final card.

I figured that I'd have a hard time convincing anyone to play Mao with me again, and the next time I was driving up (that Friday), I mentioned it to the students in the car. "Yeah, I doubt it," said one. "They're sick of that game. They've been playing it all week!"

Which teaches me, once again, that I don't always understand what it means when someone expresses frustration.

DIYU, Edupunks, and the Changing Face of Higher Education

2011-10-15T17:42:00.000-07:00

Two summers ago I read Anya Kamenetz's eye-opening book DIY U: Edupunks, Edupreneurs, and the Coming Transformation of Higher Education and intended to write a summary to publish here, but never got beyond the research point. The book is incredibly content-heavy, and I'd already summarized Shop Class as Soulcraft: An Inquiry into the Value of Work.

Fortunately, much of the content of this book is now available online, and if you are interested in what our kids are going to face if they want to continue their educations beyond Clearwater (or beyond anywhere, for that matter) you owe it to yourself to visit the DIYU web site. There was also a great article published in the Sept. - Oct. 2011 edition of Utne Reader, but the link to the article wasn't working when I tried to view it.

Our kids are especially prepared to navigate this quickly and dramatically changing industry, and if they are going to be savvy education consumers they will need up-to-date information.

Summer School Theme Song

2011-10-13T09:44:00.000-07:00

This video is being posted by popular demand. The footage is from last year and includes; parts of a documentary by Leo, rough footage from the making of an unfinished short film, a game of Mafia, and some other random shots (there was limited footage available at the time of editing). The song is "Victory Dance" by My Morning Jacket and was played loudly on the bus during the many summer school field trips. The video is kind of silly, the song absolutely rules!

Cosmos: The Graphic Novel

2011-10-05T23:02:00.000-07:00

Samadhi has been a student at Clearwater for 9 years--he enrolled when he was four and is now almost 14 years old. He has been drawing since he was six and began making comics two or three years ago.

This year he started writing and illustrating a science fiction graphic novel series titled Cosmos. He has completed 16 pages in the first of seven planned books in the series. Book one is subtitled "Sol System", and will be around 200 pages long. He is using Adobe Photoshop to color the comic.

Samadhi has another comic series in mind, also science fiction. He maintains he cannot make a comic series without outer space in it. He explained that the humor in his comic is inspired by Douglas Adams' The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, which combined sci-fi and comedy so well.

Many graphic novels fill Samadhi's shelves at home. Some of his favorites are Bone, Usagi Yojimbo, Amulet, Missile Mouse and Lackadaisy. He admires the last one because it is well drawn and combines comedy and drama.

Without further ado, here is Cosmos. Many pages are followed by Samadhi's comments. Click on each image to enlarge for reading.

Comic Prologue page 001

Comic Prologue page 002

Page 003 Shipslicer!

(click to embiggen)

Page 004 The Vanishing...

(click to embiggen)

And, now The Title Page!

(Click to embiggen and discover the name of this Opus)

And The first page of the actual comic!

(Click to check out those awesome night time effects close up)

Page 007 (Sodalicious!)

Page 008 (Suddenly, better shading! Wow!)

Page 009 (Lamps with eyes are the best kind of lamps. I’d totally buy that lamp.)

Page 010 (Oh wait no that’s no lamp. Shocking twist. What is even this guy’s deal with these lamps.)

Page 011 (PLOT!! That’s a sound effect that needs to be used in comics more often.)

Page 012 (Shocking twist #2. Man Lekku what is even up with your mane in that last panel. Brush strokes eternal.)

Page 013 (Motion blur always. I have to draw those couches so many times i will just drop a spaceship on one, which just actually happened. Oh wait now it’s harder to draw. Dang)

Page 014 (See, when you cut something with a sword that looks like a peeled banana it clearly can’t be fixed. This is what happens in my world.)

How many couches CAN I destroy???????? Next on Cosmos!

Samadhi's comic was first published on his mother Roseanne's blog, Breaking Sod, in three installments: one, two and three.

End of post.

Video "First Day Morning, 2011-12"

2011-09-27T14:39:00.001-07:00

On the morning of September 13th (the first day of school) I walked throughout the school shooting video. Later that day I found Leo, Cass, and Lucas improvising music and quickly started recording. The result can be heard as the video's soundtrack. The piano in the beginning is by Delayney. The school year is off to an inspiring start and I feel truly lucky to be a part of this community. Thank you. - Matt G

Classic Rock Quiz

2011-09-13T14:00:00.000-07:00

It's the first day of school and everyone is so excited to be here and see each other again.

Thirteen-year-old Thad created a classic rock quiz on Sporcle and has invited several people to play it today at school. Thad graciously agreed to share his quiz with Clearwater's blog followers. Join us in the excitement of the first day by testing your knowledge of classic rock lyrics by typing the correct title in the Can you name the Verbose Classic Rock Songs? quiz.

Sample Question

Queen - Are you prepared? Are you prepared for what is about to transpire? Has your body shifted to the borders of your sitting area?

Leave a comment with your percentile and how many you answered correctly. Begin!

Thanks, Thad!

End of post.

Great Blog Post on Offbeat Mama

2011-05-29T23:22:00.000-07:00

Clearwater parent and writer Amanda Klein has written a wonderful post as a guest blogger at Offbeat Mama. Her story of her family's experience with Clearwater is warm and personal, and she does a great job of touching on some of the key aspects of the school and the model.

Read the post now!

Whistlepig 2001 Photos

2011-05-16T21:18:00.000-07:00

The Armory

2011-05-04T22:14:00.000-07:00

When walking around Clearwater's grounds, I'm always impressed by the student-made toys and weaponry. Home made or heavily modified Nerf guns morphed last year into potato artillery, and potatoes were deployed with gusto, to much applause. If you don't think the word "industrial" could be used to describe a hula-hoop, you haven't seen the Clearwater hula-hoops.

So this last month or so, swords and shields have been cast around the play yard or used in battle. They look to be made of 90% duct tape, but these photos show that is not the case. Leading the charge, so to speak, is staff member Mat. When the zombies attack, you want Mat on your side.

Getting Ready for Whistlepig

2011-04-25T18:30:00.000-07:00

Many Clearwater students and all four staff members are spending the week in a state of high expectation and preparation for Whistlepig, Clearwater's fourth annual festival of music, food and sun, this Sunday, May 1, 1-6pm. (We hope the sun cooperates and shows its welcome face on Sunday.) Details of all the great things you can see and do at Whistlepig are at the end of this post.

First, here's a sneak peek at two of the performances that will be featured at Whistlepig.

Jacy, Maddy and Keenan are the 1, 2, 3's, who will be performing their latest choreographed spinning routine, Spintastics. I sat in and videoed some of their latest choreography.

As I watched, I was struck by the deep friendship between these three that enables them to work together with ease, honesty and mutual support when creating their spinning choreography. They have been friends for many years and the trust and respect between them is evident.

This mutual trust and their affection for each other is a product of years spent figuring each other out, working hard to understand complicated, difficult feelings, learning to appreciate each others quirks and strengths, and their commitment to honesty.

When they work together on a project such as their upcoming Whistlepig performance, they know each other so well that they can jump right in, communicate clearly without worrying about stepping on each other's toes or feelings, and collaboratively create something they love with efficiency and skill.

Most schools are not equipped to provide uninterrupted time, space and an atmosphere of mutual trust and respect for children to explore and develop honest, rich relationships with each other. Fortunately, at Clearwater, students can devote the fullness of their energy, creativity and time over days, months and years (not just at recess or breaks between classes) to developing relationship skills that will serve them well throughout their lives.

Another amazing performance at Whistlepig will be the Wiggling Monkeys, Clearwater's choreographed hula hooping group. They have been spinning hoops together for several years now, and enjoy the opportunity to create something that is exciting for them and their audiences. This year will be no exception.

Finally, here are full Whistlepig details. We'd love to see you, your family and friends. If you can't come, consider making a tax deductible donation via Clearwater's home page.

Featured performances by:

Kimo Muraki
Clearwater Singers
Zoe’s Fuse – Irish music and dance
We Shadows Theatrical Troupe – scene from Shakespeare’s “The Tempest”
Wiggling Monkeys – choreographed hula hooping
The 1, 2, 3’s – Spintastics (choreographed spinning)

Come hungry! The menu will feature sandwiches made with pulled pork smoked on site and prepared by Clearwater’s Master Chef students; fresh green salad; vegetarian entrées and sides; snacks and beverages.

Then, indulge in homemade scrumptious pastries and yummy desserts made by the amazing bakers in our community.

More favorite activities:

Tap into your inner wisdom with palm, aura and tarot readings
Be part of Whistlepig’s carnival vibe and pick up a mask, mardi gras beads, head dress and other festive gear
Make a one-of-a-kind button you can wear proudly at any occasion
Decorate yourself with divine body art

$10 suggested donation

End of post.

Tales of Warcraft, Chapter 2

2011-04-06T21:28:00.000-07:00

Last month the first chapter of Meghan's original story set in the Warcraft world appeared on this blog. She has written five chapters so far. If you'd like to re-read the first chapter, click on the link above, then enjoy Chapter 2, below. The story is told from the point of view of Salith, a female half-elf, half-troll rogue.

Tales of Warcraft
Chapter 2
A Terrible Reunion

Salith’s consciousness returned only when she was shoved roughly up against a stone wall and was surprised to find her hood intact and upon her head. “And so we meet again, my slippery little friend!” said a cold voice from above her. Salith opened her eyes. Before her were the shin-high boots of a human she had met only once before and she did not plan on repeating the encounter, though she felt this would be entirely different.

Salith discovered there were at least two more armored humans behind her; one of them took hold of her tattered hood and ripped it off her cloak entirely, revealing red-orange dreadlocks that fell just past her shoulders and a face much less like what the human’s thought she was. Her face was bluish with a tint of lavender and her eyes were glowing orbs, a ghostly ivory.

The human before her reached out a gloved hand and took hold of her dreadlocks. Not wishing to have her hair pulled out, Salith was forced to look up into the face of the human she had dreaded ever meeting again.
“Where be dah true king!?” she demanded, and the man tightened his grip on her dreadlocks.
“I am the king, Half-breed!”
Salith bared her yellowish teeth. “You are no king!”

Before she knew what was happening, the man had let go of her dreadlocks and waved his hand to the man to her left, who took hold of her arm and wrenched. Salith screamed and fell to the floor; she lay face down, her arm sticking out at a weird angle. She bit her lip so hard to keep from whimpering it bled.

The man who claimed to be king knelt down and took hold of her dreadlocks once more, pulling her head up so that she had to look him in the face. “I am the rightful king. Question my rule again and the pain will be much, much worse” he whispered. His voice was cold as ice and his eyes burned with blue flame. Salith bared her teeth, but didn’t have the strength to retaliate, nor did she want more pain; she was almost overwhelmed by it already. “Remember Cerader*,” was the last thing Salith heard.

Thump thump thump. What was that sound? She didn’t care. Why was the ground swaying? She didn’t know. Salith opened her eyes to find a metal roof above her head and bars all around and discovered the sound was her heartbeat. Sitting up slowly she looked around. She was in a hanging cage attached to the side of the main castle of the city of Dunatar. Below was a large courtyard filled with bustling villagers. A fountain sat in the middle of the busy courtyard, the water sparkling with coins that had been tossed in.

A group of young villagers stood beneath her cage, glaring up at her and occasionally throwing small rocks up at her.
“Demonspawn!” one of them called, a tall man clad in leather garments.
“Half-breed!” called another, a shorter man in violet robes.
“Lay off guys!” cried a young women wearing a dress with a white top and blue bottom. reaching out to put a hand on the leather-clad man’s shoulder.
He turned and pushed her roughly aside. “C’mon, let’s leave it to rot.”

Salith wasn’t stung at all by any of the insults, for all of them she had heard many a time before. Instead she turned her attention to the rising sun which turned the clouds pink and showered the surrounding forest with golden rays of light. Salith sighed, rubbing her broken arm gingerly. "What does Cerader want with me?" she wondered, shuddering at his name. It seemed as if it had been burned into her memory. Her mind whirled and her arm throbbed. "If I survive this, it’ll be a miracle," Salith thought miserably. She lay on her back and stared up at the roof of her prison and soon blackness consumed her.

*Pronunciation guide: Cerader (Seer-a-dar)

End of post.

Clearwater Student Sound Bites

2011-03-14T18:00:00.000-07:00

--by Susan Milton, Clearwater parent and member of website committee.

An all new Clearwater website is currently in the works. To help out with this project, I volunteered to gather quotes by members of the Clearwater community that could appear on the new website. One thing I did was to ask students for quotes when I saw them at school. I asked if they would be willing to say something they liked about Clearwater, or something that people interested in Clearwater should know about, or just anything at all that they thought would be a good quote for the website. Many students said they would need more time to think about it. But for right now, I thought readers of the blog might enjoy seeing my unedited list of off-the-top-of-their-heads quotes by Clearwater students about their school. So here it is:

I like Clearwater because there's pizza there sometimes. - Imogen, age 5

I like Clearwater because of what Imogen said, and because the teachers never boss you around. - Jaime, age 8

You can make up languages. Nikos and I made up a language. - Vera, age 8

I really like Clearwater. It's the best school I've ever been to. It's really good. - Blessing, age 6

Attending the Clearwater School has enhanced my soul chakra beyond my natural bodysphere by about 12 octahedrons - Simon, age 14

I kinda like the Clearwater School - Thad, age 12

Creek Village! - Chiara, age 8

Creek Village is a really fun game. - Stevie, age 11

Clearwater is a good school because you make your own choices. - Stevie, age 11

I like the outside part of Clearwater. - Tommy, age 11

The creek is awesome! - Tarka, age 9

Clearwater has more computers than any other school. - Tommy, age 11

As far as the computer room goes, it's great that you can play so many multiplayer games. For example, the school has it's own Minecraft server, and Team Fortress. - Tarka, age 9

I like doing art in the art room - Delaney, age 16

I like the computer room. - Imogen, age 5

A great school where you can roam free. - Jesse, age 8

End of post.

Creek Village Rises Again

2011-02-25T14:19:00.000-08:00

Fat alder buds (Alnus rubra)

As early tree and shrub buds were swelling and opening last week, signs of human habitation suddenly appeared on the west side of North Creek.

Indian plum (Oemleria cerasiformis)--one of the earliest blooming native shrubs

I spotted this mysterious structure on the far side of the foot bridge and crossed over to look more closely.

After I crossed the bridge it became obvious there was more to the lonely structure than what I could see from the other side of the creek.

Soon I spotted another structure with a little pile of firewood in front. (Fire is not allowed on campus, but firewood is essential for authenticity.)

One group constructed a long house of sorts and were inside refining the structure and enjoying each other's company.

This hamlet is the latest incarnation of Creek Village, which for the past four years has arisen and flourished for about a month, in early or late spring.

During the first year, four Clearwater students created homes within the natural structure of shrubs, trees and underbrush across the creek. Matt, the only staff member in the village, acted as lodge keeper. Creek Village residents paid him in salmonberries for the opportunity to sleep at the lodge, located at Second Beach. (There are three accessible beaches along Clearwater School's stretch of North Creek. Starting with the most northern beach, they are consecutively named First, Second and Third Beach.) Every day residents trooped to their village. Someone yelled "Breakfast!"; five minutes later, "Lunch!"; after five more minutes, "Dinner!"; then "Night time!"; and finally, "Morning!". They shared food from their lunches and ate salmonberries at meal time.

A year later the four original village founders were joined by two more people. In addition to the daily schedule, they added picnics at Third Beach and hikes to First Beach, where they foraged and explored. The third year of Creek Village was much the same, with the addition of four more residents.

By most accounts, Creek Village this year is a lot more fun than the previous three years combined. For one thing, around 16 people are involved so far, although they're not always all in residence at the same time. No staff members are regular residents of this year's village. The group abandoned the tree and shrub dwellings from previous years (which they call "Abandoned Creek Village"), although some continue to poke around the old digs in the same manner as anyone who is fascinated by abandoned townsites.

More after the jump...
This year residents scavenged sturdy downed tree branches to shape conical and oblong skeletons, and then covered them with blankets and tarps. Inside the structures residents placed sleeping pads, blankets and lunches. At the end of each day, they leave the building skeletons standing and pack out all the tarps, blankets and pads.

This year villagers divide the day into four segments: breakfast, dinner, night and morning. A day is 30 minutes long. Residents who have cell phones keep track of the time and announce when each segment begins. Residents have created currency to pay for stick weapons and food. Currency is mined in the sandbar at Third Beach, although some people also bring trinkets from home to serve as currency. There is also a lot of item trading.

With the influx of new residents this year, conflict was inevitable. One group of people wanted everyone to have imaginary pets that followed people around, but another group was firmly opposed. One resident described the conflict as a civil war that involved the destruction of some homes and different factions yelling "Pets" or "No pets". Everyone agreed to put the matter to a vote. A majority voted against a requirement that everyone have pets, while allowing people who wanted pets to have them.

Soon after this issue was resolved and homes were restored, residents decided to practice stick fighting for fun and everything was peaceful.

Peace continued even as Outcast Village was created by three students nearby as an alternate place to hang out and to have fun good-naturedly bugging Creek village residents.

A new person joined Creek Village and decided to start his own town near First Beach, which he called Riverside Village. He recruited so many Creek Village residents for his town that half the population left. The remaining Creek Village inhabitants felt abandoned and declared war on Riverside Village. Stick fighting ensued; no one was hurt and no one destroyed people's homes.

By this time, each village had a mayor--Lily for Creek Village and Stephen for Riverside Village. The two mayors met and decided the fighting was pointless. They convinced the residents of each of their villages to stop fighting and everyone agreed to be residents of Creek Village. The town retains the two locations as distinct and cooperative neighborhoods. The two mayors agreed to be co-mayors of greater Creek Village.

The residents of Creek Village last week included Lily, Justin (aka Boombox), Arlo, Nikos, Tommie, Jackie, Vera, Mara, Jesse, Chiara, Zoe, J.R., Jackie, Stephen (aka Crazy Uncle Steve), Tarka and Caden.

End of post.

Tales of Warcraft

2011-02-08T15:00:00.000-08:00

Meghan, who is 12 years old, started attending Clearwater seven years ago. In a recent interview, Meghan said, “My favorite, favorite thing about Clearwater is doing whatever you want, whenever you want.” This year, she is learning to play the guitar with the expert assitance of staff member and musician, Matt Garrity. She loves the grounds and the creek, because there are places to mull things over. She is also in love with fantasy and made-up worlds and at Clearwater is able to explore the never-ending facets of that passion, including creating unique experiences and stories based on it. In recent years she has read Warriors, a children's book series that focuses on four clans of wild cats in their forest homes and the Harry Potter book series, among others.

She and her friends have spent a lot of time at school role playing in worlds they create based on fantasy books and World of Warcraft, a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG). (Commonly referred to as WoW, the game has over 12 million subscribers around the globe making it the world's most-subscribed online game. The fantasy world of WoW is vast and owes much of its inspiration to the fantasy worlds of J.R.R. Tolkein.)

Another of Meghan's favorite activities is writing. She keeps a running file of ideas to develop into stories, and has written five chapters of a story based on WoW. The idea came to her when she was between waking and sleeping. She made up an area in the Warcraft world called Emerald Forest.

Her story starts with a character that is half elf, half troll--a rogue.

She is excited to publish her story, as it exists so far, in installments on this blog. The first chapter and installment begins below.

[One of the challenges for a new writer is learning how to use punctuation to make a story more clear to the reader. Meghan and I worked on punctuation edits to the story. She wrote the entire text with no editing from anyone but herself. Meghan requested that the version of her story with her original punctuation be included for those who want to experience it as she did, flowing out unedited. You will find that version below the punctuation-edited version.]

Tales of Warcraft
Chapter 1
Assassination and Capture

It was dusk. Clouds floated lazily across the red-orange sky and the Horde encampment Ren'kal stood menacing, framed by the flaming sunset. A hunched figure, draped in a dusty brown cloak, stood at the entrance to the encampment and watched as a guard paced up and down in front of the gates. Long bluish-green ears poked out of the top of the creature's hood and tusks the color of sand protruded from under it. It took a moment, but the guard paused in his pacing and looked up, noticing the strange figure watching him. The guard tramped up to the strange figure. The guard was a large, slightly hunch-backed creature with emerald skin and glaring hazel eyes. His ears were pointed; he also had tusks, though not even half the size of the ones of the strange trespasser.

"What is your business here?" the guard demanded, pointing his spear at the throat of the stranger.
"I be here tah speak tah Kesh," said the stranger.
The guard grunted. "And what makes you think you can just waltz right into Ren'kal and talk to Kesh, eh?"

Swift as the wind, the stranger had straightened up and put a dagger to the guard's throat.
"Take me tah Kesh, now," the stranger growled.
The guard froze. "You wouldn't!"
The trespasser laughed. "Oh, trust meh, I would."
The guard's breathing quickened. "O-okay....this way."

The stranger withdrew the dagger from the guard's throat and melted back into the shadows. The guard ventured forward into the camp, made his way towards the largest building in the encampment and went inside. He climbed a flight of stairs before coming to a door.

"Open it," hissed the trespasser from the shadows, surprising the guard, who knocked. Hearing a voice call, "Come," the trespasser entered. It was a high-ceilinged room with a large tapestry along one wall showing The Sundering of the World. As the door shut with a thud, a voice greeted the stranger.

"Lok'tar, Salith*."
Salith let her cloak fall from her shoulders as she drew out her daggers. She walked up to the chair where Kesh sat with his back to her.
"Goodbye, Kesh."

Crash! The walls of the building shook as another Alliance catapult launched a boulder into Ren'kal. . As soon as word of Kesh's death had reached the Alliance--how it had, no one knew--it had immediately ordered an attack on the now leaderless encampment. "Gryphons!" someone screeched as Kesh's assassin fled the now-collapsing building. "Stop right there, Assassin!" It was the guard who had escorted her. Salith laughed, grinning beneath her hood. "What are yeh goin' ter do, orc? Sit on meh?"

The guard charged, spear outstretched. Just as she had done before, Salith swiftly pulled out her daggers, but this time she didn't hesitate. The blades cut into the guard's neck and he fell to the ground. Salith whipped around and raced towards the ruined gates as flaming arrows rained down. She held on tightly to her hood as she raced away from the burning ruins of what once was Ren’kal.

Deep in the Emerald Forest, Salith ran. She ran as fast as her long legs would allow. She could hear the thundering of hooves and knew she was being followed--by who, she didn’t know, nor did she care at the moment. All she wanted to do was get as far away from Ren’kal as possible. The hoof beats got louder and Salith’s heart quickened.

“HALT!”
Salith fell back onto the ground as a great black steed pulled up and reared. Its hooves landed at her feet and the human astride the steed looked down at her, almost mockingly.

“Well well well, what do we have here?”
Another human rode up beside the first, astride a beautiful white mare.
“I believe it’s a Troll, sir,” said the rider, who appeared to be female.
“I know that!” spat the first rider, who Salith guessed was the leader.
More troops surrounded her, this time on foot, and the leader jumped off his horse.
“Wh-“ Salith began, but the human silenced her with a sharp kick in the side.
“Quiet, Troll!” the man spat.

Salith looked up at the human; blood dripped from the corner of her mouth as she grinned up at the human.
“What are you grinning about, beast!?”
Salith spat blood into his face.“I be wonderin’ where yeh got such an ugly face.”
One of the footman spoke. “Umm, Ronik, Sir, the King asked we bring the Half-breed back… alive, Sir.”
The man called Ronik straightened up and glared at the footman.
“I am aware of the King's orders, Skinth! Now you are going to shut your trap and lis-“
Ronik whipped around and stared down at Salith.
“It's laughing!” Skinth cried.

Ronik leapt down and bound the cackling Salith’s hands and legs. Finally he stuffed a cloth into her mouth and tied her to his saddle. Mounting his steed he called three sharp commands to his men and began to ride off. Salith’s head hit the ground and she blacked out.

*Pronunciation note: Sal'-ith

[Meghan's original version without editing]

Chapter 1
Assassination and Capture:

It was dusk. Clouds floated lazily across the red-orange sky and the Horde encampment Ren'kal stood menacing, framed by the flaming sunset. A hunched figure stood at the entrance to the encampment, Draped in a dusty brown cloak, Watching as a guard paced up and down in front of the gates, long bluish-green ears poked out of the top of the creature's hood and tusks the color of sand protruded from under it, it took a moment but the guard paused in his pacing and looked up, noticing the strange figure watching him, the guard tramped up to the strange figure. He was a large, slightly hunch-backed creature with emerald skin and glaring hazel eyes, his ears were pointed, he also had tusks, though not even half the size of the one's of the strange trespasser "What is your business here?" The guard demanded, pointing his spear at the throat of the stranger "I be here tah speak tah Kesh" Said the stranger, the guard grunted "And what makes you think you can just waltz right into Ren'kal and talk to Kesh, Eh?" swift as the wind, the stranger had straightened up and put a dagger to the guards throat "Take me tah Kesh, Now" the stranger growled, The guard froze "You wouldn't!" the trespasser laughed "oh, trust meh, I would" the guard's breathing quickened "o-okay....this way" The stranger withdrew the dagger from the guards throat and melted back into the shadows, the guard ventured forward into the camp, he made his way towards the largest building in the encampment and went inside, he climbed a flight of stairs before coming to a door "Open it" hissed the trespasser from the shadows, surprising the guard, who knocked, hearing a voice call "Come" the trespasser entered. It was a high-ceilinged room with a large tapestry along one wall, showing The Sundering of the World. As the door shut with a thud, a voice greeted the stranger "Lok'tar, Salith" Salith let her cloak fall from her shoulders as she drew out her daggers, She walked up to the chair where Kesh sat with his back to her "Goodbye, Kesh"

Crash! The walls of the building shook as another Alliance catapult launched a boulder into Ren'kal. The Alliance, As soon as word of Kesh's death had reached them- How it had, no one knew -had immediately ordered an attack on the now leaderless encampment "Gryphons!" Someone screeched as Kesh's assassin fled the now-collapsing building "Stop right there, Assassin!" It was the guard who had escorted her, Salith laughed, grinning beneath her hood "What are yeh goin' ter do, orc? Sit on meh?" The guard charged, Spear outstretched, and just as she had done before, Salith swiftly pulled out her daggers, but this time she didn't hesitate, the blades cut into the guards neck and he fell to the ground, Salith whipped around and raced towards the ruined gates as flaming arrows rained down, She held on tightly to her hood as she raced away from the burning ruins of what once was Ren’kal

Deep in the Emerald Forest, Salith ran, She ran as fast as her long legs would allow, She could hear the thundering of hooves and knew she was being followed- by who, she didn’t know, nor did she care at the moment, all she wanted to do was get as far away from Ren’kal as possible, the hoof beats got louder and Salith’s heart quickened “HALT!” Salith fell back onto the ground as a great black steed pulled up and reared, its hooves landed at her feet and the human astride the steed looked down at her, almost mockingly “Well well well, What do we have here?” another human rode up beside the first, astride a beautiful white mare “I believe it’s a Troll, sir” Said the rider, who appeared to be female “I know that!” Spat the first rider, who Salith guessed was the leader, more troops surrounded her, this time on foot and the leader jumped off his horse “Wh-“ Salith began, but the human silenced her with a sharp kick in the side “Quiet, Troll!” the man spat, Salith looked up at the human, blood dripped from the corner of her mouth as she grinned up at the human “What are you grinning about, beast!?” Salith spat blood into his face “I be wonderin’ Where yeh got such an ugly face” one of the footman spoke “umm, Ronik, Sir, The King asked we bring the Half-breed back… alive, Sir” The man called Ronik straightened up and glared at the footman “I am aware of the kings orders, Skinth! Now you are going to shut your trap and lis-“ Ronik whipped around and stared down at Salith “its laughing!” Skinth cried. Ronik leapt down and bound the cackling Salith’s hands and legs, Finally he stuffed a cloth into her mouth and tied her to his saddle. Mounting his steed he called three sharp commands to his men and began to ride off, Salith’s head hit the ground and she blacked out.

End of post.

Clearwater Singers Winter Concert

2011-01-29T16:34:00.000-08:00

The Clearwater Singers presented their winter concert on Tuesday, January 25, 2011. Everyone worked very hard to produce a delightful concert. In addition to the singers, two other students made entertaining cameo appearances in one of the songs. Staff members Matt Garrity and Stephanie Sarantos accompanied songs on guitar and accordian, respectively, as well as providing invaluable stylistic and musical assistance to all of us. Stephanie also joined me in singing most of the songs with students.

The songs that ended up in the program were chosen by different individuals within the group. The lyrics to "Castle in the Sky" were written by singer Delayney and the music was composed by Matt Garrity. The hand rhyming piece, which was put together completely by the performers, included traditional hand rhymes as well as hand rhythms and movements they applied to original and well-known song lyrics.

Concert Program

"Hand Rhyming"
"Zombies on Your Lawn" (from Plants vs. Zombies)
"Have You Seen the Ghost of John"
"Castle in the Sky"
"Accidentally in Love"
"Gower Wassail"
"This Land Is Your Land"

Here is a video of the concert. It's about 26 minutes long. A very big thank you to Bob Freeman for recording and editing the video of the concert. And another huge thank you to everyone who came out to watch us sing. The concert was standing room only.

End of post.

The right to waste time: video games and kids

2011-01-27T11:19:00.000-08:00

(This is cross-posted, with some modifications for a different audience, from my philosophy blog Speculum Criticum Traditionis.)

The last Clearwater Blog post featured a new short (13 minutes) film recently produced by Sudbury Valley School. You can view it here.

About two and a half minutes into the film, SVS graduate Ben mentions that many parents ask, when they are first exposed to the Sudbury model of education, "But--what if my kid just plays video games all day?!" (Ben notes that this is more or less what he did during the first of his four years at the school.) This issue also comes up in the other piece I want to mention. The Brooklyn Free School was recently featured in an episode of N.P.R.'s This American Life. The segment (Act 3 in the show) addresses the school's commitment to empowering students with all the decisions involved in running their school, which includes the degree of use to which computers will be put.

There's a great deal more to both SVS's film and This American Life's radio segment than computer games and movies. But for the rest of this post I want to focus on this issue, because in my experience, Ben is right. This question comes up again and again, and as the Brooklyn Free School learned, it may need to be asked over and over again by the students themselves.

I volunteer at Clearwater, but I make my moderate living working for an after-school program at a public elementary school. My program allows me to give my students a good deal of autonomy, but the notion of letting them just "do what they want" brings reactions from my co-workers that range from blank stares to deep you're-joking-right? discomfort. Surely, it is assumed, it's my job to give them "projects"-- mini-lessons in science, art projects in clay or wooden craft sticks, songs we all learn together. Won't they just waste their time if I don't? And when it comes to computers (I am able to make the computers in the school library available for not quite an hour and a half every week) well, maybe they could be using the computer to, you know, research something or finish their homework, but you wouldn't let them just play games? or watch videos?

I'm going to mainly talk about games here, though a lot of my considerations apply to videos (and I mean either mass-media or homemade) as well.
The concerns that arise seem to me to be motivated either by concerns about content (potentially violent or disturbing images, actions or plots), or about the medium itself (computer games being a “waste of time,” “addictive,” and so on).

My thoughts on this are in process and revisable, but they are also the fruit of long reflection and practice. I should first say that I have a threshold for what I consider “appropriate” content at my work. This standard is far stricter than what would be countenanced at Clearwater (anything less than AO, the resident student tells me), or than I would eagerly welcome in my own home, for instance. The reason for this is simple: job security. One or two angry parents are all I have needed to encounter before I decided to err on the side of over-compensating caution. In general I am prepared to trust the school district’s internet filtering program, but I keep a close eye on the browsing and playing that students do. So far I've never felt the need to tell a child they couldn't watch what they were watching, but I've had plenty of discussions about online content with kids. What I've found is that kids (1) can take in a tremendous amount of variation in even a short while online, (2) are capable of thinking critically and creatively about it and will do so aloud with you if they trust you and feel the need, and (3) are very good at enforcing their own “screening.” Whether its a game that's too violent, or a Wikipedia article with too-much-information about sex, material that triggers kids' own internal repulsion does not stay on their monitors.

Computer games were in their infancy during my formative years and so I spent little time engaged in them as a child. (Arcade games held some appeal but were too noisy, cost more quarters than I wanted to spend, and I was rarely very good at them.) Consequently, I could not at first empathize with the unabashed enthusiasm for these games which I meet in kids. It took me a conscious and intentional effort to familiarize myself with them. I played alongside students and I played with my stepson. I have acquired a significant respect for the art and imagination of both the design and the play of computer games, which I almost entirely lacked when I first started working with students over a decade ago. Far from being a single monotonous activity (as the dismissal “just playing video games” might imply), such games are complex discrete units designed to build competencies in attainable steps. The advanced dexterity and the strategizing required will often hamstring anyone who tries to navigate one of the higher levels of a game before mastering the basics. This was borne home to me over and over, and it alone ought to have persuaded me that the notion that no learning was happening in these games was naïve.

It took me longer to come 'round than it might have; not because the games weren’t really learning tools, but because I actively resisted seeing them that way. It took me a long while to get over what I eventually conceded was a prejudice against the form of the game: I just didn’t like video games! I was reacting against the form; I found them strange and hard to understand, “cartoony,” and trite. My reasons weren’t all compatible (“too difficult” and “too simple,” for instance); but so long as I was content not to examine my motives, they tended to reinforce each other anyway.

My reticence was finally overcome when I asked myself: what's the salient difference between a computer game and any other game? Say, a computer version of Monopoly. I am not a fan of Monopoly--like most grown-ups I know, I find it tedious and frustrating--but I am at a loss to say why a board game that (despite my personal distaste) would never be banned from my classroom, should be any different from a version played on a screen. And once I have conceded this, I fail to see why games that more fully exploit the medium they employ are any less appropriate; indeed, they are arguably much more so, since they actually do familiarize players with the technology which is indisputably going to be no trivial part of our culture for the rest of our lives.

When I watch kids in my room play these games, I am struck by how social they are. They are not staring at a screen doing nothing; they are vocal, mobile, often jumping up to see what someone else is doing. They are excited, engaged, and interactive, not just with the game but with each other; far more so than they would be if, say, they were reading a book. Whatever is going on with the game, the kids are also navigating the always-more-complex-than-you-think terrain of peer society, not the least considerations of which are fairness and turn-taking, but also learning how to teach and learn from each other.

I regard the students in my class as capable of making responsible decisions for how they conduct themselves and I have found time and time again over ten years that they fulfill those expectations, and follow their passion if I get out of the way. But of course, students have more than one passion; the artist and the runner are often the same kid. A child has limits just as I do, and boredom sets in sometimes. In my experience, a child will indeed get bored with running, or drawing, or a computer game, in his or her own good time (and, chances are, not on my schedule), when they have stopped learning what they are interested in.

This is why, beyond all of the considerations I mention above, salient and even vital as they are, there is one concern which grounds my whole approach, and which would obtain even if I agreed (as I don’t) that computer games, or any other activities the kids pursued, wasted their time. It is often noted at my work that my classroom style is somewhat “free.” This is a word I like and that I take very seriously. One of the most central values I have is respect for the autonomy of your children. Because my primary motivation is always to cultivate a respectful and honest relationship with each child, I want to give them exactly the same respect that I want for myself. It is true that sometimes I myself waste my time--by my friends’ standards, my family’s standards, even my own. I might fritter it away on television, or oversleep, or read a comic book, instead of working in the garden or writing my next essay. I might be decompressing after a hard day, getting valuable and much-needed down time; but let us assume I really am, even by my own standards, “wasting time.” Even assuming that this could be evident to the outside, I would still not want my wife or my best friend to tell me that I had to stop what I was doing, to impose a rule on my behavior that told me I had to do something more “worthwhile.” My wife might remind me that I have promised to wash the dishes; my friend might suggest that we have a jam session or even that I might find it rewarding to read this book he’s been recommending. But these suggestions are made in a very different spirit than laying down a rule or a demand. Would anyone say that the way to address this would be to invoke authority?

This is what it comes down to for me: respecting the right of a child to decide what to do with his or her time. And I have found that if I cultivate respect for the children I work with, I can have far more fruitful engagements with them about things that matter, including the things they will, sooner or later, wind up being "exposed" to--"adult content" included.

New Sudbury Valley School Video Available

2011-01-15T15:23:00.000-08:00

Update: After finding that the video frame was too big for blog parameters, the video size has been edited to fit. Apologies for the chopped-off earlier video.

Sudbury Valley School, the original Sudbury school and our model and inspiration, recently produced a video that gives insight--in a lovely, visual nutshell--into how and why Sudbury education works. They have been operating for more than 40 years.

The video is just over 13 minutes long and worth every second of viewing. Please set aside a few minutes to watch it.

End of post.

Hanging Out in the Kitchen

2011-01-07T11:11:00.000-08:00

It's not all cooking in the kitchen. When the Cooking Class isn't whipping stuff up, the kitchen is a very popular hangout.

Pizza sales have been moved to the Conference Room.

A rare large group meal for Pizza Day.

One of the large tables often has Magic or another multiplayer game going.

A bidding game is a favorite right now.

One of our youngest students enjoys a candy necklace a friend shared with her.