From the Autumn 2012 Caller

Talbot Andrews
University of Portland
Outdoor leadership award 

The bigger picture: find out where our grads have gone to college in the past four years 

From the Autumn 2012 Caller

Dale Rawls, MS art

Bachelor's in art, Portland State University. Master's in education, Lewis & Clark College. At CGS since 1989.

The summer of 1973 I was studio assistant to Ray Grimm, who was head of ceramics at PSU. One of the pieces I was excited to help make was a pot made with 50 pounds of clay. Ray explained to me that we would center and throw this big, low, wide pot together.

That summer I realized I wanted to be like Ray: a teacher who continued to make art, and whose work was a reflection of his life. He has continued to be with me when I enter my studio, get on my bike, or work with students making art. His life, his love of problem solving, and his emphasis on process and creativity is a legacy that I hope my students carry into their lives.   

From the Autumn 2012 Caller

Nichole Tassoni, US English

Bachelor's in English, Wesleyan University. Master's in English education, Columbia University Teachers College. At CGS since 2007.

Once upon a time I was a math whiz. Throughout elementary school, I sat sequestered in the corner of the classroom, working on killer math problems with my math pal Kevin. By 8th grade our advanced math group had grown to eight, so we took a bus to Wilson High School every day for geometry. And on every standardized test I took from 1st grade through 12th, I scored higher on math than on reading comprehension.

From the Autumn 2012 Caller

Jennifer Marcus '73, BS & 1st grade woodshop

Bachelor's in art, Mills College. At CGS since 2004.

Twenty-two years ago, when my oldest daughter was attending preschool in Los Angeles, I responded to a flyer to open up the woodworking shed. I had a degree in fine arts, built my own looms, and had taken child psychology at Mills College. I’d even entertained the idea of becoming a teacher. So, some simple woodworking with a bunch of four-year-olds sounded like fun. It was.

From the Autumn 2012 Caller

Carol Ponganis, 6th grade math

Bachelor's in biology, University of California, Santa Cruz. Master's in education, Portland State University. At CGS since 1988.

The Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau was in full swing when I was a middle schooler, and it inspired me to want to become a marine biologist. As a senior in high school I did an internship with the Sacramento Science Center, which offered a marine biology outdoor school program on the Mendocino coast for 6th graders. I set up a marine biology research project at the coast, which I monitored while the staff taught the outdoor school. I shadowed the director one day as he introduced the students to various aspects of coastal ecology. He was an amazing model of how to present information in an engaging, interactive style. The Science Center needed another teacher to fill in, and they asked me if I could do this on the side while my research project was running. I got hooked on teaching and ditched my research project. I loved marine biology. But I discovered that when you are able to share your passion with someone else, it makes it twice as good. I knew then that I wanted to become a science teacher. And I know that my teaching style today was directly influenced by the methods I observed from the director of the outdoor program.

 From the Autumn 2012 Caller

Nance Leonhardt, US art

Bachelor's in fine arts, radio, TV, and film, Evergreen State College. Master's in teaching, Seattle University. At CGS since 2007.

I became a teacher because of my classmate Steve Parkey. I must have spent more than 75% of my young life with Steve, and the only thing I could say about him was that he wore a lot of brown.

 

Everything changed during my sophomore year when I enrolled in a graphic design class. My teacher was a working artist (known by her last name, Hall), the epitome of cool, who wore chic French clothing and oversized tribal jewelry. One day in class I heard her shriek, “Oh, Mr. Parkey, how MARVELOUS!” She pulled us around to see his illustration—a Boeing commuter heading for work in a series of panels where the vehicle shifted from a pogo stick to a 747. Hall pointed out the clever mutation of lines, the way the drawing seemed to accelerate across the page and come to life. In that moment, she was able to tease out the rare and beautiful in Steve Parkey. He morphed from brown to golden and glittered in our eyes.

 

Under Hall’s tutelage I learned how to silkscreen, solder, and edit video. She fed us a steady diet of new techniques and mind-contorting design prompts. Each person’s solution was cause for celebration in Hall’s studio, and I saw her greatest creative work in those moments.

 

When I reflect on my years in the profession, everything links back to my days with Hall. I teach the same topics, I occasionally wear chic French clothes, etc.—but her imprint is most evident in my relationships with students. I’ve been proud to send students to USC Film School or see them launch creative careers. However, it’s those whose artistic brilliance may be less evident, those who land in careers far afield of what they’ve done in my classes that call me to teach each day. They keep in touch, reminding me that I’ve glimpsed the golden in them, and that is divine. 

 From the Autumn 2012 Caller

Brian Gant, MS health and PE

Bachelor's in geography, Simon Fraser University. At CGS since 1984.

I am very fortunate, as every morning that I venture out the door I don’t see myself going to work, but instead pursuing my passion.

From the Autumn 2012 Caller

Herb Jahncke, 3rd grade

Bachelor's in biology, Rollins College. Master's in teaching, Lewis & Clark College. At CGS since 2007.

 A course at the Hurricane Island Outward Bound School in Maine, during the summer of my junior year of college, inspired me to work with kids in experiential education. One of the challenge course elements at my first job was a zip-line across a ravine. My role was to encourage and support the kids, sit them down on the edge of the platform with feet dangling in the open space above the ravine, and strap them safely to the zip-line. When they were ready to slide across the ravine, they would scoot closer to the edge of the platform, grip the line with both hands, drop off the edge and careen down the wire to the other side. One day, a camp director said to me, “Do you feel that sudden lurch in your stomach when they drop off the edge?” I replied that I certainly did. He said, “When you don’t have that feeling anymore, it’s time to find a different job.”

 From the Autumn 2012 Caller

Tom Tucker '66, US and MS woodshop

 Bachelor’s in design, Marlboro College. At CGS since 1979.

 What really informed my practice as a teacher was “Faculty Flip Day,” an event invented by then-head of school Schauff (Manvel Schauffler). Each teacher spent that day teaching in an entirely different grade level and discipline. I found myself in Bob Kindley’s Upper School math classes. The idea was not so much to take Bob’s place as it was to see what it was like to be in another teacher’s shoes. I tried to add what little knowledge I had about higher math in the form of an explanation of Pythagoras’s Rule of the 18th (fret positions for stringed instruments) and the trigometric functions that might describe the angles of a podium I had recently built. Mostly what I did was experience Bob’s life as a US math teacher through his students and his room. And the same could be said for whoever replaced me in the shop. What I learned from the experience was simple, and for me, profound.