by John Bell I was never a formal student at Goddard College, but from 1973 to 1975, I learned more there, in some ways, than I did in four years at a liberal arts college. I came there to work with Bread and Puppet Theater, which Goddard in its wisdom had made a theater-in-residence at… Continue reading “A living experiment”: John Bell’s Together For Goddard Story
Goddard Blog
Learning to Decolonize
The current discussion about the future of democracy in the United States is, beneath its surface, also a conversation about the preservation of a settler-colonial project. It is about assuring settler futurity. Colonization is fundamentally achieved through the material theft of land and labor and the elimination and exploitation of people and culture. Educational institutions… Continue reading Learning to Decolonize
Vermont Center for Integrative Herbalism puts down roots at Goddard’s new “Village”
Read the Aug. 26th article in Seven Days Vermont Center for Integrative Herbalism (VCIH) recently signed a contract with Goddard College to move its school and clinic from Montpelier to the historic Greatwood campus in Plainfield this June. VCIH will join EarthWalk Vermont, also located on the campus, for a mission-based partnership in Goddard College’s… Continue reading Vermont Center for Integrative Herbalism puts down roots at Goddard’s new “Village”
An Epiphany of Hope: Sherri L. Smith’s Writing Process for “The Blossom and the Firefly”
Sherri L. Smith had been working on writing her Young Adult novel The Blossom and the Firefly. Late one evening, Sherri made a declaration to her husband. Three days before the editors deadline, she announced that she had just completed her first draft. But the conversation that followed made her rethink everything. In an interview… Continue reading An Epiphany of Hope: Sherri L. Smith’s Writing Process for “The Blossom and the Firefly”
The Teacher as Student: Graduate Degrees For a New Educational Era
by Bernard Bull, President of Goddard College Something new is happening in classrooms around the country. Project-based learning schools, Montessori schools, Waldorf schools, schools where every student has a personalized learning plan, and schools that are committed to creating more space for learner voice, choice, ownership, and agency are all popping up. There are more… Continue reading The Teacher as Student: Graduate Degrees For a New Educational Era
Wandering Student Finds Roots: June Artiles-Perry’s Together for Goddard Story
My name is June Artiles-Perry and I’m an undergrad at Goddard College studying Sustainability. I was born and raised in Florida. I grew up in Malabar, on what was called “the Space Coast”. If the weather was right you could hear the rumble of the space shuttle launch at Cape Canaveral from my front yard. … Continue reading Wandering Student Finds Roots: June Artiles-Perry’s Together for Goddard Story
“I ran away with the circus” Trudi Cohen’s Together for Goddard Story
In 1972 I graduated from Goddard College, where I studied Early Childhood Education with the remarkable June Edson. I taught in nursery and daycare settings for a few years, and then I ran away with the circus, that is to say, I joined the Bread and Puppet Theater, which has been the foundation for my… Continue reading “I ran away with the circus” Trudi Cohen’s Together for Goddard Story
Challenge Accepted: Goddard College Launches Future-Focused $4 Million Campaign
Goddard College announced on Tuesday its largest fundraising effort to date, the Together for Goddard campaign to raise $4 million by the end of June 2020. At a time when many are questioning the future and viability of New England colleges, Goddard believes that its greatest innovations and academic experiments are yet to come. “This… Continue reading Challenge Accepted: Goddard College Launches Future-Focused $4 Million Campaign
Kipnuk Kindergarten: Education Adventures in the Alaskan Tundra
by Maureen Benoit Kipnuk is a special place to live. This small village of about 700 people on the southwest coast of Alaska is located on tundra with access to major waterways like the Kuskokwim River, the Kuguklik River, and 4 miles from the Bering Sea. Kipnuk is in an extremely remote area accessible only… Continue reading Kipnuk Kindergarten: Education Adventures in the Alaskan Tundra
An Open Letter to a Prospective Student
Dear Goddard Prospective Student, I am not going to tell you my story. I am going to take the things I have seen and heard over the last two years at Goddard and create your story. It’s just the two of us here on this page, so let’s not be humble and shy. Admit it… Continue reading An Open Letter to a Prospective Student
Alternative Education Enters the Mainstream
by Bernard Bull People often tell me that at one point in their lives they wanted to be a teacher. Well, what happened? Usually, I find that their reasons for not pursuing education came from a limited view of what was available and possible in education. Or else they thought they missed their chance. If… Continue reading Alternative Education Enters the Mainstream
Sustainability School in Guatemala is Inspired by Goddard
By Matt Paneitz I spent over a decade in San Juan Comalapa, Guatemala helping to transform 500 tons of trash (including 15,000 used tires) into a school campus. Many would call it “a crazy endeavor”. Through this work I started an NGO called Long Way Home with a mission “to use sustainable design and materials to construct… Continue reading Sustainability School in Guatemala is Inspired by Goddard
100% Acceptance Takes on New Meaning at Goddard
by Bernard Bull, President of Goddard College A Goddard College graduation ceremony is unlike anything that I’ve ever seen in higher education. There are multiple graduations each semester, one for each degree or cluster of degrees that share a 10-day intensive residency on campus. We might have five to ten graduates at a given ceremony.… Continue reading 100% Acceptance Takes on New Meaning at Goddard
Radical Love: Q&A with Gina Forbes, Director of One Tree Center
Gina Forbes is the Director of One Tree Center in South Portland, ME. The Center includes a preschool that holds the phrase Radical Love at the center of its principles. Radical, in the true meaning of the word, meaning “at the root”. This rooted focus on love informs Gina’s work and manifested itself through her… Continue reading Radical Love: Q&A with Gina Forbes, Director of One Tree Center
Writer in the World Podcast EP. 9: “The Voice”
Faculty member Kenny Fries, a leading voice in the disability arts and disability studies world, talks about high standards, research, humor, and finding ways to be in the present time. A poet, memoirist and essayist, and also a librettist, he says that traveling and living internationally is “as necessary as blood.” “Most of my work… Continue reading Writer in the World Podcast EP. 9: “The Voice”
Unschooling toward Educational Liberation
by Bernard Bull, president of Goddard College ((((ring)))) By the time that someone graduates from high school, there is a good chance that they have been through a multi-year Pavlovian experiment that consistently results in people learning to respond on command. ((((ring)))) Doing the simple math, if you attended a school that used bells between… Continue reading Unschooling toward Educational Liberation
Writer in the World Podcast EP. 8: “The Limitations of Language”
Bhanu Kapil speaks about growing up amid immigrant voices in North West London, and how she “accidentally” became known for her performances as a way to cross time and space. “Trying to write a novel as a diasporic writer, I find it quite challenging to write the historiography, the memory, the cardinal flux of a… Continue reading Writer in the World Podcast EP. 8: “The Limitations of Language”
Writer in the World Podcast, EP 7: “The Child”
Susan Kim writes with themes surrounding female empowerment, privilege, institutionalized racism and classism, but always through the lens of human behavior.
Writer in the World Podcast EP 6: “The Dark”
Can one’s imagination run too wild? Fiction writer John McManus talks about channeling the dark – anxiety, emotion, even wildly horrible possible futures – into his stories. He shares the evolution of the novel he is currently working on, Magnetic South, in which “fake” reporting about the colloquially-known “Kill the Gays” bill in Uganda leads… Continue reading Writer in the World Podcast EP 6: “The Dark”
Writer in the World Podcast EP 5: “The Outsider”
Born and raised in an immigrant family in England, Goddard’s MFA in Creative Writing program director Elena Georgiou shares her experience of a community where there was “no pretense about a melting pot.” She talks political dreams, and how being an outsider, and a second class citizen, in her own country has fueled her writing: … Continue reading Writer in the World Podcast EP 5: “The Outsider”