with both feet

Being a kid in Kauai

2011-03-30T00:28:00.013-05:00

Hanalei Bay Surf Club

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ooR_dMzURzw

Hanalei Castle Pillbox Hike, Lanikai

Towel Nirvana

Reading Machine

The Snowball Fanclub

Geocaching Adventure

Trail to Queensbath

Bread Oven Class

2010-05-07T14:05:00.006-05:00

First we built the hearth... A hearth is the surface upon which a fire is built. This hearth is raised on a circular platform of cemented limestones, filled with sand and topped with leveled fire bricks.

Next we built adobe bricks as the building blocks of the oven walls. We used forms to make bricks from mosh, a mixture of water, abandoned fire ant mound earth, straw, sand, and portland cement.
We used the mosh to cement the adobe bricks into a dome over a pile of sand formed into a dome.

Take a little rain...

Take a little dirt...

Make a little mud...

...get it on your shirt!

Mosh makers, mosh makers, make me some mosh....!

We left a domed opening through which we could dig out all of the dry sand and to become the oven door.

First loaf...rosemary focaccia!

Primary and Secondary Archaeologies

2010-04-19T14:28:00.011-05:00

A six-year collaboration between
St. Stephen’s Episcopal School http://www.ourmindbodyspirit.org/
and the City of Austin's Water Quality Protection Lands.

Archaeology at SSES is focused on teaching the methods of archaeological field survey, mapping, excavation, and interpretation.

The program begins with a trip to the Texas Archeological Research Laboratory for lessons on artifact and records curation.

Lessons in field situations emphasize integrated/interdisciplinary learningthrough scientific methods, site recording, teaching the importance of context, a preservation ethic as well as chronology (prehistory & history), and mapping.

Field surveys at the Rutherford Ranch have revealed multiple historic and prehistoric activity areas.

Large biface oblate tools are inferred to have been used for processing plants and as valuable chert resources for trading.

The goal of the Archaeology Program is to provide our students with an experiential opportunity for interdisciplinary, cross-curricular and applied lessons.

Using the theme science as service the program facilitates the gifts of archaeological data and interpretations.

2010-03-30T09:54:00.000-05:00

The dirt was red and they are happy in the KPS garden! Beyond the +60 pounds of produce harvested weekly, KPS students harvest sustainable knowledge and joy. Ciela loves it!

2010-03-30T09:38:00.000-05:00

March 10, 2010
Dear Families and Friends of Kauai Pacific School,

It is with purposeful excitement that I write this letter. In the whirlwind of time that has elapsed since I began the interview process with KPS my mind has been on fire with the visions of what your school community is doing and what we will do. My visions have been guided by the clear and yet freethinking course set by the search committee and my encounters with KPS faculty, students, and families. I see that the timing is perfect to significantly impact the educational opportunities in Kauai…and with that to create a model for educational reform that is entirely green, sustainable and where global understanding, action and peaceful resolution are applied locally.

I find the KPS faculty to be strong, well-trained and resourceful. I am a teacher by identity and recognize in this group a sure-footed sense of the importance of teaching compassion and deep connections through daily practice and by modeling curiosity. I am humbled to have the opportunity to work with this amazing group of teaching professionals. My interview with the 5th and 6th grade students was my favorite experience during the interview process as I was energized by the students’ love for their school and their creative confidence. It was during this conversation with the students that my excitement for KPS caught fire, as we discussed the varied opportunities of learning from fishing, and in that short conversation the infinite venue possibilities for progressive education.

I have been a headmaster and a middle school head and yet my identity remains as a teacher. I have taught world geography, ancient (pre)history, environmental science, and introduction to archaeology. My background includes training as an anthropological archaeologist and I have worked for the Smithsonian Institute, the Snoqualmie Nation, and SWCA Environmental Group. I believe in the power of anthropology as a methodology of non-judgmental observation and social critique. Through archaeology I teach the possibilities of seeing the world in new ways by studying the mundane artifacts all around us. I am a naturalist and find a constant yearning to learn more about the inter-connectivity of ecosystems and how humans can map onto a resource area in sustainable and productive ways. For me personally the most exciting part of the opportunity to lead KPS is that I feel that I can do so and still be myself. I will pour out my identity as an ethno-archaeologist and naturalist and in so doing map onto what I see KPS already doing.

I enjoy my work and bring this sense of joy into the school through the energy of relationships. I enjoy seeing the positive effects of casting encouragement and compliments within a school community. My best strengths and my main source of energy come from my friendships with my wife Tesa our daughter Ciela (8), and our son Thane (6). I am excited beyond belief about this opportunity for my family and I am eager to get on the ground and get to work! I want to abundantly thank Doran, Lyle, and Chris who have taken such good care of me and have been inspirational as they led me down the KPS trail.

Aloha and Mahalo! ~Richard

Dragon Slaying 2010

2010-03-18T20:17:00.000-05:00

Thane and Ciela at Poipu Beach

March 11, 2010

Dear KPS Faculty and Staff,

I have been uplifted by my time with you and encouraged to find you so in love with the school. I sensed a commonality in vision among you that I know will give us strength and direction down the trail.

Lisa, you have done a fantastic job of assembling such a strong crew and have set the stage so nicely with programs and process. Carla, I enjoyed my visit with you and Laura, and appreciated the way you two spring calmly into compassionate action when a student went skidding belly first across the playground. Michelle, I loved your math in the morning lesson, especially the fact that you were drilling and practicing through games. Chris, I really enjoyed your quick three compliments with one critique after each student reading. Christine, I love that the student voice is alive in your class and that you had the group sleeping on the ground on the very day of my visit. Robin, thank you for serving on the search committee and asking me the great question of how I would be able to get my teaching and anthropology fix at KPS. Mauli Ola Cook, your lesson simultaneously had students singing, drumming, being the mountains and shoreline of Kauai, and a wave upon its shores and I sat transfixed and filming it. Denise, thank you for serving on the search committee. I love the cherry blossom paintings. Lisa, tunnel tag looked fun. Paul, Sam, and Joel I look forward to meeting you.

A literature item came to me during the past week that I think is worth sharing as it seems to me to be related to the dragons that KPS is slaying. By Wendel Berry, its called “Manifesto: The Mad Farmer Liberation Front.” It goes, in pieces, “…want more of everything ready made...be afraid to know your neighbors and to die…and you will have a window in your head. Not even your future will be a mystery anymore…So, friends, every day do something that won’t compute…ask questions that have no answers. Invest in the millennium. Plant sequoias. Say that you main crop is the forest that you did not plant…” I see that KPS is doing this and that makes me simultaneously proud and humbled.

It will be an honor to work with you and learn from you. I look forward to meeting with you each individually in the late summer. I wish you the best in a joyful spring 2010. Please feel free to contact me at stark929@gmail.com