BIOGRAPHIES

Brian:

Brian holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Foreign Languages and Education from Marlboro College, and a M.Ed. in Alternative Education from Lock Haven University. In addition to a successful career as a graphic designer, he has taught foreign languages, mathematics and ESL at both the high school and college levels. He is also a certified T’ai Chi and Chi Kung instructor, and studies Eastern Philosophy.

His work as a teacher has included the creation of a uniform curriculum for first year French and Spanish that merges a variety of methodologies to capture students’ individual interests and passions and encourage them to explore language and language learning on their own terms. In his second year curriculum, which is still in development, students begin to examine their place as members of a global community and work to set aside stereotypes as they learn from the individuals in the world that speak the language they’re studying.

In addition to his work in the classroom, Brian has been responsible for developing telementoring in foreign languages in the Gill-Montague Regional School District, and for the creation of an interscholastic athletics program at the Pioneer Valley Performing Arts Charter Public School. Together with Suzanne, he has organized and led several trips to Europe for students, as well.

Brian has helped found a variety of organizations. He and Suzanne together assisted Rev. Sifu Steven Baugh in creating the Lohan School of Shaolin, a non-profit organization dedicated to the preservation and practice of traditional forms of northern Shaolin martial arts and culture. Working in concert with other regional coaches and athletic directors, Brian co-founded the Western Massachusetts League of Cooperating Independent Schools, an interscholastic athletics organization which brings together small schools to promote enjoyment of sport and positive, cooperative shared experience.

Brian is an avid distance cyclist, and is rediscovering an interest in triathlons. He also enjoys puppetry and woodworking.

Imagine

Imagine, for a moment, an average Wednesday morning. A house full of teenagers is busily engaged in the rituals of breakfast at 7:15. The kitchen is alive with the sound of spoons on bowls and the smell of oatmeal, tea and toast. Someone announces, from across the room, that the weather report is predicting rain in the morning. There are several competing conversations about school work, tonight’s community dinner and whose turn it is to the dishes. In what seems like only a matter of moments, though, the house has emptied; nearly everyone is on their way to some other part of the village for meetings, work study or formal classes. Only two students remain, both preparing for tutorial in the living room a short time later.

Imagine, now, the living room of this house later in the morning. A small group of five students sits on the couch, on the floor, at a small table. Each of them is writing in a journal. They have been talking about the concepts of justice and mercy from the book Les Misérables, and they are putting their thoughts on paper in preparation for a project in which they will create a drama offering their interpretations of these concepts in their own lives. Two of the students here have taken on the additional challenge of translating portions of this drama into French. They will meet later in another tutorial to work on that. In the background, there is the sound of someone practicing the guitar.

At lunch time, some students have returned home and, with the help of the house mother, are preparing one of the dishes the house will contribute to the community dinner this evening. The sun has come out, and preparations are underway to move tables outside to profit from the nicer weather. Other students have gone with the house father to talk to the owner of a nearby farm to negotiate for the right to set up a pair of research stations to collect data for a water quality study. Tomorrow, the entire house will get together to talk about this study. These students have been investigating whether the community’s water supply is more, or less, safe to drink than the wells from surrounding properties, and the house as a whole is responsible for presenting the findings of this study during Assembly next month.

At supper, the entire village has convened to share in a community meal, a potluck that houses can contribute to with food, music and a variety of games. Later, some people will organize a jam session where anyone can grab an instrument and join the fun. The fun won’t last too late, however. Everyone has an early day tomorrow, and homework to do before bed.


That's sort of the idea. What do you think?