I am one of those fortunate people who, somehow, wound up working in the place of his dreams. I have always believed that there are ways, other than and in addition to conventional school structures, to educate students. I am thrilled to be asked by the Open School community to take a leadership role in a school that has meant so much to so many over the course of its esteemed history and has found ways “outside the box” to prepare students for life.
This is a dream job for me because I am among people who value arts and creativity, who value community, activism, and democracy, and who understand that people learn primarily by making meaning from their experiences. It is a dream to work with all ages, K-12, and to be able to witness daily the ways in which students of different ages can assist each other. I love going to work in a place where people embrace change and are always exploring new ways to engage new students.
I graduated from the Minnetonka High School “School within a School” in the mid seventies and subsequently graduated from St. Olaf College’s “Para-College” after designing my own concentration in psychology, religion, and literature. I got my master’s and teaching license from St. Thomas. And I received my administrator’s license from the University of Minnesota some four years ago and worked at Johnson High School as an assistant principal before arriving at Open School.
I began teaching in Mahtomedi where, over the course of seven years, I helped redesign the middle school curriculum and to design a new cutting-edge space in which to implement it. There, we established teams of teachers who shared a smaller group for an interdisciplinary block during the day. The new space facilitated this concept and provided a common space in which to work on projects, have large-group meetings, and pursue hands-on projects. I like to regard this work as an “opening” of what had been a very conventional school.
I had a teacher once, named Charlie. He was in so much demand as a music teacher that you had to get on his waiting list a year in advance. He was a quirky pianist and composer who rarely, if ever, left his home. And he taught all sorts of musicians. He was, for me, an eye-opener because he understood music so deeply and was interested in only a few other things. What I remember best about my sessions with him is that he taught me to understand the color of different sounds and got me started on ear-training that changed the way I heard and played things. I learned to identify notes and, ultimately, clusters of notes, by the particular color or combination of colors they had when sounded. Sounds funny, but it’s true.
In addition to teaching for thirteen years in middle schools prior to becoming a school administrator, I studied music for several years and worked as a carpenter for several years. My interests are quite eclectic and I enjoy many aspects of this amazing life. You can still find me playing piano regularly in a small jazz group, working on a house project, playing pick-up hockey, or writing a song.
I have two lovely children who are products of St. Paul schools.
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