Teaching with Story

I'm dedicated to making sure our students of all ages can connect with opportunities and resources both in and outside Takoma Park.

"Learning to Care" Culture Camps

We have a very diverse population. I produced two spring break programs under the auspices of the Takoma Park Recreation Department. "Learning to Care" week-long camps introduced groups of forty students, from five to then years old, to the cultures of Mali and the Republic of Korea. After exposing them to music, art, dance, literature, sports, history, cultural astronomy and more, we introduced them in person to diplomats on Embassy Row.

Each camp took more than three months of planning, acquiring materials from abroad, attracting talent, and making appointments with embassy staff. The "Passport to Mali" camp featured Cheick Hamala Diabate, a grammy-nominated griot. The "Passport to Korea" camp featured a visit to the embassy for lunch and to Meridian House for an international children's literature exhibit.

StarryTelling

While some of the children in the camps went on to explore unique paths on their own, I chose to study astronomy. I was inspired by the cosmology of the Dogon people from Mali and Korean skylore, specifically the Cowherd and the Weaver Maiden, or Gyeonu and Jingnyeo.

This led to working with students from Takoma Park Middle School. The first time I worked with them to create their own skylore, which we audiotaped, sound-designed and produced as a half-hour show at the Einstein Planetarium at the National Air and Space Museum. You can listen to some of the individual stories at 365 Days of Astronomy.