Taiga Teacher is a curriculum design consulting and lobbying firm (in the making) in Juneau, AK. Our expertise is in the areas of place-based and multi-age education. We help schools, libraries, daycares, preschools, outreach programs, camps, homeschool groups and organizations design meaningful and rich curriculum. Through workshops, consultations and professional development courses we provide support to those interested in creating effective activities, lessons, curriculum and learning environments for children. When possible, our focus is on enhancing and deepening already established curriculum, rather then starting from scratch.
In 1899, in his book The School and Society, John Dewey summed up the major problem facing the institution of education that still exists today, when he wrote "... the great waste in school comes from the child’s inability to utilize the experiences he gets outside the school in any complete and free way within the school itself; while at the other hand, he is unable to apply in daily life what he is learning at school." Our aim is to remedy this disconnect.
Harmony Roll holds a master's degree in Curriculum and Instruction. A certified K-8 teacher, with "Highly Qualified" status and an additional endorsement in art, she has taught every grade in the elementary spectrum, at the middle school level and found her home in the Title 1 schools. Place-based and multi-age education are her areas of expertise and the source of her passion as a teacher and a parent. She also holds a bachelor's degree in art history. Harmony runs the group
Taiga Trekkers, a free hiking group for parents and kids. The success of that group led her to found and co-organize the
Anchorage Outdoor Family Network. Yoga and ice hockey are interests she pursues as well.
***Disclaimer - While I try to provide myself with time to edit the blog, entries often come out fast and furiously during my son's nap time or when I can find a window in our busy schedule to get a spare moment. The blog serves as much as a place for me to coral my thoughts, as it is a resource for others. Please do not judge too harshly if the wrong homophone rolls off my fingers when wildly typing. Even after years of correcting millions upon millions of sentences, paragraphs, stories and essays, I myself make many of the same mistakes until I get a chance to come back and review.***
