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Northwest
Teachers Conference |
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Professional Development and Personal Renewal for Educators Who Want to Think for Themselves |
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Northwest
Teachers Conference |
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NWTC Staff... Our staff has years of experience and a lot to offer. We talk together through the year to explore things that might be shared in their morning sessions. We encourage waiting to meet participants before deciding on the details of what will be presented.
2008 staff...
Tom Hunter:
“Richard and I started this event
together, and it’s been fun to see it evolve into it’s current form.
For 28 years I’ve been exploring in schools, churches,
colleges, and camps how songs and learning affect each
other. I’ve made recordings, published articles, and felt
amazed and proud as many of my songs have become
standards in homes and schools. I travel nationally to
present seminars, keynotes, and concerts; but still like
nothing better than to sit on floors listening to children
and teachers make sense of their worlds.”
Richard Scholtz:
“I’ve worked in music and
education for over 35 years: with pre-schools and elder hostels, a
youth orchestra and youth choir, produced recordings,
organize adult camps and taught University and Community
College classes. I believe education implies being open to
change. NWTC has grown directly out of the
work and projects that Tom and I have shared for years and I’m happy
to say I continue to learn things each
year it happens.”
Judy Bierman:
“After 25 years of
teaching/learning in and around Seattle’s public schools, I have
moved to Whidbey Island and am in the
midst of launching ArtsPace—a small multi-use center for
collaborative creative efforts in whatever
genre for all ages. No idea what will emerge in the long run, but my
intention is to design/nurture an environment where there’s enough
time and space to find out.”
Deborah Langstaff:
“My passion is composing and
arranging songs based on texts, often spiritual, from different
parts of the world. I just did a really fun program in
Switzerland with guitar, cello, saxophone, flute, and
modern dance. My joy is our two wonderful girls, 6 and 9,
from India. For many years I have done organizational
development consulting (team building, race and gender work,
trainings, etc.), in the US and in Europe. My
challenge right now is the transition of moving a family from
one country, culture and world, to another.”
Christian Swenson:
“I used to be Judy’s
neighbor here in Seattle, but she’s become an Islander… I’m a
performing artist and teacher with a
background in dance, mime, theater, voice and improvisation. I just
finished a solo show tour of 25 schools
throughout Saskatchewan and am presently teaching a class called
“Improvisation in Art and Life” at Seattle
University. I’m married with 2 kids 19 and 16.” Aeden Hunter and Dale Oddson return to do child care. Flip Breskin will be a resource for guitar, song and teaching.
2007 staff...
Tom Hunter, NWTC co-founder and
co-director, has been a minstrel for
27 years exploring in schools, churches, colleges
and camps how songs and learning affect each other. He's made recordings and
published articles. Many of his songs are "standards" in classrooms and
homes. With a national schedule of keynotes, workshops, and concerts, his
favorite moments are sitting on floors listening to children and teachers
make sense of their worlds. , NWTC co-founder
and co-director, has been involved
in teaching and designing learning programs since 1966 when he worked at
Clear Lake Camp, the oldest school camp in the nation in Dowling, MI. A
musician, he has worked with pre-schools and elder hostels, organized
choirs, produced recordings, organized adult camps and taught University and
Community College classes. Richard was a founding
staff member of Antioch West in California.
Margaret Read MacDonald is a
storyteller and children's librarian whose interests lie especially in the
folktale and its uses in both traditional and educational communities.
Macdonald travels the world teaching her easy-to-learn folktales to
teachers, librarians, and parents. She is author of 45 books about
folklore and storytelling topics.
www.margaretreadmacdonald.com
Nancy Stothart is a registered
nurse with a passion for empowering people to be in charge of their own
health. She has been a hands-on nurse and educator working with people
throughout the life continuum from birth through death. Her recent
work includes a 4-year community grant from the Robert Wood Johnson
Foundation to transform chronic illness care and coordinate access to
specialty medical care to members of our community who are low income and
are ineligible for health insurance.
Jerome Chandler enjoyed 45
years of teaching at levels ranging from elementary in New York City to
secondary in West Africa to post secondary at Skagit Valley College.
With a Masters in Physics from Notre Dame University and 25 years as a
religious Brother, he is interested in the relationship of science and
religion. He is active in theater, enjoys sports, kayaking,
woodworking, reading, and volunteering in the first grade classroom at
Lincoln Elementary. Aeden Hunter and Dale Oddson return to do child care. Flip Breskin will be a resource for guitar, song and teaching.
2006 staff...
Richard Scholtz, NWTC co-founder
and co-director
Tom Hunter, NWTC co-founder and
co-director Randy Flowers
has worked in the public schools of Washington State for 34 years as both a
teacher and elementary school principal. He retired for four years, and then
returned as principal of a small school in rural Whatcom County. He says
that the four years of retirement were fun, scary, productive and lonely. He
finds his fourth year back working in education a joy and a struggle:
schools can be difficult places in which to accomplish your own goals let
alone the fickle requirements of our society. Piper Heisig
is artistic, dyslexic and autodidactic. School was not a good fit when she
was growing up. She is a working musician who is a vocalist and plays
strings and percussion. A natural born teacher, she has taught groups of
adults in music camps around the country for the last 16 years. Her heritage
includes 13 different ethnicities and she recently received her spirit name
from an elder of her tribe: the Anishinabe Ojibwe of Manitoba, Canada. Karee Wardrop is
a nationally certified American Sign Language interpreter/translator of
twenty years, who also holds an MA in Theatre. These two paths converge in
her work as a staff interpreter at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival and as
the Co-Chair of the Theatre Access Seattle Community Task Force. Her current
hobbies: building new stuff out of old stuff and advocating for “no child
forced to wait." Aeden Hunter and Dale Oddson return to do child care. Flip Breskin will be a resource for guitar, song and teaching. Gwen Hunter will again be registrar.
2005 staff... Tom Hunter, NWTC
co-founder and co-director Richard Scholtz,
NWTC co-founder and co-director Fran Peavy
has worked in Australia, South Africa, New Zealand and with
nonviolence activists in all countries in the Balkans. Since 1981, she's
worked in India with an Indian foundation on a campaign to clean the
Ganges River. She began her work life as a science teacher in San Francisco.
Author of five books, Fran lives in the San Francisco Bay Area. Her hobby
is humming. Gretchen Orsland
has worked as an educator and professional actress in the Seattle area for
the past 25 years; teaching in public elementary schools, Seattle
Children's Theater, and teacher training courses at the University of
Washington. She is now in her eleventh year at Lakeside School where she
works with high school students. Gretchen holds an MFA in theater from
Southern Methodist University. Julie Mauermann,
B.A. (soon to be M.A.) Pacific Oaks, has been working with children and
families for over 15 years. She worked for four years as the Child
Development Center Director at Whatcom Community College before settling
into her current role advocating for and working with families as a Family
Community Coordinator with the Ferndale School District. One of her passions
includes actively participating in local human rights work.
2004 staff... Tom Hunter, NWTC
co-founder and co-director Richard Scholtz,
NWTC co-founder and co-director Marie Eaton
is a faculty member at Fairhaven College, an interdisciplinary college at
Western Washington University. Previously Dean at Fairhaven and
Associate Dean in the Woodring College of
Education, she now spends her time wondering about how to teach and learn in
ways that open questions, make space for exploration, and integrate
reflective practices into learning environments. She and her students
explore what it means to be young in today's American society. Bill Roberson
has been teaching children under 7 for 30 years
and in 2004 took a half-sabbatical
to do adult ed with parents and faculty. He has
been a "children's music performer" for over twenty years working in
schools, committed to keeping old folk songs alive and having folks sing
together as often as possible. Karee Wardrop,
CSC, MA, enjoys a lifelong interest in languages and cultures. A nationally
certified interpreter since 1986, she works in any area where Deaf and
Hearing people want to communicate. She has taught interpreting and related
courses and has been a guest lecturer in Linguistics at Western Washington
University. She works within the Deaf-Blind Community, interprets theatrical
and musical performances, and is especially interested in
turning true-to-life stories into theater
2003 staff... Judy
Bierman's 20+ years as a classroom
teacher/arts "specialist" have filled her with questions about the use and
design of education and fostered a dedication to making the arts part of
children's daily lives. She has served as adjunct faculty at both Pacific
Oaks and UW Bothell teacher training programs and has led classes for both
children and adults in a wide variety of settings. She
had two questions. Richard
Russell is an artist, musician and business strategist. For
fifteen years people have sought his consulting on such issues as increasing
team spirit or clarifying core messages, as well as
orchestrating entire multimedia productions when appropriate. His
practice uses storytelling to enhance our cognitive and conceptual
capabilities. He's rarely metaphor he didn't like. Pat Thompson
teaches in a Children's Mental Health Facility in Victoria, B.C. Pat has
spent 30 years helping kids with a "Severe Behaviour" designation survive
emotional distress and get back to learning. She also helps teachers survive
emotional distress and get back to teaching and is starting a program for
teachers called "Tea and Strategies." Right click the following and "Save Target As..." to download:
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