AGE: Skiing and the Elementary School

Every school day at AGE we have fitness. It is usually the very first thing we do when we wake and it can consist of many different activities including running, ultimate frisbee, and yoga. Earlier in the week we found out that we were going to get some snow Wednesday night, so we decided to alter our schedule yesterday to have skiing be our fitness. Classes normally proceed through the morning and into the middle of the afternoon (like most schools), but yesterday we had classes from 8-9:15, then departed to Mount Ashland to ski from 10-2pm. Afterwards we went back to the house to finish the school day. Our last class was from 7-8:15, but the students didn't seem to mind since we got to take the field trip.

Today we went to the Bellview elementary school in Ashland and spent an hour with Ms. Laura Rogers' second grade class. We introduced ourselves and told them about our trip to Japan.

The kids are going to write letters to us while we are abroad so that we can write back to them about our experiences. It has been a number of years since I really interacted with students of this age, and I forgot how curious and excited second graders can be. After we introduced ourselves, we answered questions from the students. Actually, we really listened to them make statements while we asked them questions to try to dull the awkwardness. Here's one exchange:

Student: "I have a question for GKO."
GKO: "Yes?"
Student: "I was born in New England."
GKO: "Okayyyy....Do you know what state you were born in?"
Student: "New York."

After questions, our AGE students all broke up into groups and played with the kids. Here's Tom, a senior, playing math games:

The second graders were really excited to have us there, but I think our students may have enjoyed the experience a little more.

AGE: Orientation Weekend

This semester's students arrived on Friday! The semester has begun! The first thing AGE does when a new semester begins is we have an orientation trip. This semester's orientation trip was to a cabin in the mountains. The trail was about 6 miles into the woods, 5.5 of it being uphill. So, with our skis/boards on our backs and our boots on, we trudged into the woods.

In truth, we probably only hiked about a mile or two while taking turns getting pulled by the snowmobile. Still, a mile or two uphill in ski boots and deep snow can be a pretty tough trek, and much of the group was tired by the time we got to the cabin. It took us 3.5 hours. Once we got there, the students made a jump and took turns going off it.
The cabin is just four plywood walls with a wood stove in the middle of the room. It has a picnic table and bunkbed-like platforms for visitors to sleep on. There was an outhouse with no door about 200 feet from the cabin.
After the sun set, we huddled around the stove, had dinner, went over the student handbook, and then went to bed. During the night the cabin got a little below freezing. The next morning we woke up to a snow storm. This didn't change the fact that we were leaving, so we had oatmeal, packed up, and headed out. After a short climb/snow mobile tow, we were rewarded with 5.5 miles of gentle downhill skiing as the snow quietly fell on the landscape. I can still hear its light rustling sound. For the most part we were each skiing separately, alone with the mountains. As I skied and took breaks to enjoy my surroundings, I could hear James Taylor's Secret O' Life playing in my head. Those 5.5 miles were among the most peaceful moments of my life.

The secret of life is enjoying the passage of time
Any fool can do it
There ain't nothing to it

Nobody knows how we got to

The top of the hill

But since we're on our way down

We might as well enjoy the ride

Isn't it a lovely ride

Sliding down

Gliding down

Try not to try too hard

It's just a lovely ride

AGE: The first few days

I've been in Ashland, Oregon for a few days now and it is unbelievably beautiful! The AGE house is on 81 acres at the top of a hill with a 360 degree panaramic view of the surrounding mountains and valleys. Here's a picture I took from my window yesterday morning:
And another one in a different direction in the evening:
The town of Ashland has a population of 20,000 people and is just a few miles from the campus (it's in the clouds in the first picture). Ashland is a really vibrant, outdoor-oriented town that reminds me of a small Burlington. Like Burlington, magazines regularly proclaim it one of the best outdoor adventure towns in the nation. The difference, though, is that the mountains get more snow while the town rarely gets below freezing. It's been 50 degrees all week and feeling more like April than January! Ashland is also home to Southern Oregon University and a world famous Shakespeare festival (which we take the students to in the spring).
The courses I'll be teaching this spring are modern American literature, website design, physics, and enviromental science. I'm really excited to teach these courses because it's nice to have some diversity in my curriculum. I basically make the courses from scratch so I get to pick my own texts. This spring we'll be reading many of my favorite books including Walden, Civil Disobedience, Cathedral, and The Solace of Open Spaces.
Since the head of schools is also named "Greg," we've quickly had to make up a nickname for me. I told them all the nicknames I've had, the most frequent one just being "Koman," but they admitted that they've already been referring to me as "GKo" ever since seeing this picture on my website:
Lise and Callie, two red geometry students from last year, decided to mock the way I dressed by wearing khaki pants, coral necklaces, and golf shirts with fish on them. Since they always called me "GKO," I made the caption for the picture on my website "The three GKO's." It looks like the nickname will live on because it's definitely sticking with the staff.
The students arrive tomorrow, so I'm frantically trying to get the rest of my materials together before classes start on Monday. This weekend we are hiking into the moutains to ski the slopes of Mount Ashland. We'll spend Saturday night in a cabin and then hike back out on Sunday. We have a snowmobile to carry all the gear, so it should be an easy hike.
Finally, AGE has two mottos. One is "the world is our classroom" and the other is "what did you learn at school today?" I particularly like the latter motto because it suggests why AGE's education might be superior to traditional education. In most classrooms you learn by being told. Here you learn from experience. Most educations tell you the facts about the Sistine Chapel. Maybe they show you a picture or two. AGE takes you to the Sistine Chapel.

AGE: Totally New Plan!

I've completely changed my plans since leaving my teaching job at Dover-Sherborn, but that was kind of the idea. I didn't leave Dover-Sherborn because I wanted to get a master's degree; I left because I wanted to try new things. This fall I tried graduate school, but it just wasn't doing it for me. So now I'm taking a job with the Academy for Global Exploration (www.agexplore.org). I will be teaching English, physics, and environmental science while traveling to different parts of the world. American students who are enrolled in normal public and private high schools come to AGE for a semester or a year and continue their studies while traveling the world. The program always spends about two months outside of the country. I fly out to Oregon on Monday to start the Spring semester. This semester will have us in Oregon for 2 weeks, skiing in Japan for 6 weeks, a 2 week vacation, then rock-climbing in the American southwest (California, Nevada, Arizona) for 5 weeks before we finish back up in Oregon for the last 2 or 3 weeks. My last day is May 25th. If everything goes well, I will stay on for next year. Stay tuned for updates, but as of right now, this fall is surfing in Central America or rock climbing in Peru! Check out my bio at http://www.agexplore.org/content.php?id=10, and keep an eye on www.gregkoman.com and this blog as I'll be updating it regularly during the semester. I also hope to help the program with their website and recruiting, so spread the word!! Whole hog!