PDQuin :: Teach, learn, teach
Learning is a process, not a product.
- I help learners start where they’re comfortable. I encourage them to keep going for the Aha! moment. After that, they’re on their own.
- As a teacher and developer of curriculum, I lay out tools, suggest resources, discuss varieties of materials. Along the way, I point out discontinuities, weaknesses in logic or facts, lapses in energy, loss of focus.
- The learner does the work, sets objectives, follows their personal path, arrives at their personal goal.
Yes, and on the other hand.
- There is always an ancillary fact. Always a minority opinion. Always a different slant.
- In general, our society has begun to broaden our scope of reference to include viewpoints of women, the working and wish-they-were-working classes, youth, social minorities, religious variations, plants, animals, alien life-forms.
I’m not the universal expert.
- I can take data, information, expert knowledge and build a sequence of learning steps to get students to where they understand, can use, own the subject.
- Working with experts, I build an understanding of a subject or a skill. The pieces, the information, the contexts. An understanding to which I can lead other students, step by step.
I do information. I do facts. I do context. I do understanding.
Have a problem? A question? Something you want to teach – or learn?
Give a call, let’s chat.
The opportunity to learn
That's all any teacher can give students.
— And the best we can do.
In some ways, I have always been a teacher. My nine years with elementary and middle school students in Santa Rosa rank among the most delightful of my life. In relation to my own crafts of design and writing, I find that when I share, I learn.
Skill development
2009 :: Discover and Craft Your Writing Voice, with Prof Joan Minninger, Fromm Institute, USF
2007-08 :: English 307-8, Critical Thinking, College of Professional Studies, USF, with Prof Joan Minninger
2006 :: Type online, a course for content writers
2003 :: Academic writing for ESL students, tutoring group of City College students
1997 :: Book design for editors, Editcetera
1986 :: Book design, UC Santa Cruz Extension
1982 :: Print design and production, Ad Club II
1979 :: Ephemera design and production, a hands-on course, Junior League
1976-83 :: Design specifications and production processes, Bookbuilders West professional course in publishing
1976 :: Book design for visual artists, Artists in Print
1975 :: Sign language for parents, reading for kids, continuing programs in closing the gap, a community-based program developed and presented with Jess Grajeda, the World's First Deaf DJ
1974-80:: SF's first professional book design training course
1971 :: Baker training and new recipe development, Community Bakery
Publications
2001 :: Safety training manuals, AcroSports
1999 :: World history + geography, Middle grades curriculum plan to meet new California guidelines, The Stuart School, Santa Rosa
1996 :: Freedom Sings, a puppet play about the American Revolution, The Stuart School
:: Mesopotamia, The Musical, Story of Gilgamesh written and performed by students, The Stuart School
1995 :: Club Minehan: 3 ways to bake – science lessons in bread, Merryhill Country School, Santa Rosa
:: Comix competition, compendium and Tshirt, Merryhill
:: Club Minehan Goes to Ireland, Merryhill
:: Nick o'teen? No, a history of St Nick, Merryhill
:: K.D.Z. Press newsletter, 2 issues, Merryhill
1994 :: The Nelson Operation: It's St Patrick's Day and Everyone Is Irish, Merryhill
:: History of India from the formation of the subcontinent to the present with a debate on caste between Indira Gandhi and Mother Theresa – written and performed by students, Merryhill
:: Kids' Democrat newsletter, 4 issues, Merryhill
1993 :: Halstead's Voyages: Stinky Sock and Smelly Sock, bilingual Japanese-English story fans, Merryhill
:: 6 Images from Undiscovered France, An introduction to culture, Merryhill
:: 4 African-American Heroes, Merryhill
:: Canada as never seen before, Merryhill
1992 :: Letrz to Rth, reading and writing, First Year Club, Merryhill
1991 :: Tales from the World of Kindergarten, reading readiness, stories dictated and illustrated by students, K-Kids, Merryhill
On-line learning
2013 :: Content Marketing, SkilledUp
2013 :: Student Orientation to on-line learning, Apollo Learning Systems
2012 :: Curriculum development and presentation: A workshop for teachers, Pogrebin Institute, Denver
2012 :: Critical Thinking, Apollo Learning Systems
:: Fundamentals of Mathematics, Apollo Learning Systems
2004 :: Writer's style guide wiki for mathematics series editors, Wadsworth
2001 :: Bidding software operation and reference guide, Orange County Transportation Authority
Mind and spirit seek life.
We ask.
The world responds.
The world is a curious place. I enjoy looking into its details, especially in the neighbourhood of observed anomalies or around non-intuitive relationships. I enjoy, faced with technical challenges, exploring alternatives.
Information and learning
2013 Researching distance learning in conjunction with the course, E-learning & Digital cultures, Jeremy Knox et al, University of Edinburgh
2009 :: Pierre Bonnard; Social and political contexts, work in progress
2006 :: A reappraisal of Carlyle's Jocylin of Brakelund, for Prof Sheldon Rothblatt, Fromm Institute, USF
2005 :: Traditional values among Chinese-American children, for Prof Victoria Cha-Tsu Siu, Fromm Institute, USF
1994 :: Do recreational drug abuse or AZT cause AIDS?, a community study
1989 :: Fieldwork for study on Contemporary recrudescence of early medieval Provençal culture
1977 :: Working class prospects in Venice and Engaging the SF blue-collar community in urban growth, contributions to neighborhood design working paper
1965 :: Notes toward our history, Baltimore Museum of Art
Production methods
1994-8 :: Experiments with live scans and scanner-platen assembly of print masters
1981 :: Digital advances in type design and production, nationwide study: Typographic composition automation, Center for Creative Studies, Detroit. 3D modeling of typographic forms, MIT, Cambridge. Production automation, Peterborough NH. Cross-platform digital type, Bigelow & Holmes, Cambridge
1978 :: Automatic letterspacing and the need for hand-kerning in phototypography, Artists in Print studies on phototype
1974 :: Modulation of proportions in the hand-cutting of punches, Artists in Print studies on phototype
Personal development
1970 :: Gap year, publishing and German language studies in Hamburg
1962-64 :: Introduction to Greek language and society, William Albright, Johns Hopkins, Baltimore