It is summertime in the northern hemisphere!
We enter now the ease and expansion of the summer months. What better time to reconnect with the beauty and bounty of the earth; to go adventuring and exploring; to romp and play; to smell, touch, taste, hear and see a bit of the wild side of living; [...]
Continue reading “A Day Outside” »
Every single human being, every one of six and a half billion people living now on Earth, each one who has been and each one yet to be - every single one is a unique, first time, original opportunity and genius potentiality!
No matter how we think of our human origins, there is no [...]
Continue reading “Fostering Genius” »
Facing Future
Now, as many teachers end their school years, casting up the successes, sending their students on to new adventures, tidying up the class room, completing the admin… having given of yourself for nearly nine months with regularity and dedication… it is now time for something completely different.
It is now time to give something [...]
Continue reading “Facing Future” »
Here we are, human beings, one of two genders, genetically loaded, born somewhere on Earth into one of the kaleidoscopic expressions of human culture… its language, history, collective psyche, art… and before we know it, we’ve been pre-conditioned by all these influences - including of course, one of the most dominant influences of all [...]
Continue reading “Begin as Beginners” »
“How can I help my kids ‘switch on’ to learning?”
“How does one promote creative, enthusiastic, inquisitive learners in a public school setting?”
“Most of us see our students for one school year and that’s it, they move on. How can we expect to make a lasting difference in their lives within such an artificial and [...]
Continue reading “The Wonder of Wonder” »
There is a quality, a presence, an attitude; it engenders a kind of magnified understanding and sensitivity; it is a rare quality in our world by and large and yet it speaks to the heart of nearly every human being; it has inspired great acts and great art throughout history; it is the mother [...]
Continue reading “Fostering Humanity” »
Way, way back in the Summer of 1979, I was adventuring through Anchorage, Alaska after living for many moons in a tiny Athabaskan village 40 miles south of the Arctic Circle. It was early in the morning and the city was just waking up. I was trying to catch a ride to the [...]
Continue reading “Defying the Big Box” »
In 1987 the United Nations World Commission on Environment and Development defined SUSTAINABILITY as “development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs”.
If only our grandparents and great grandparents had operated with this definition in their hearts and minds!
We live in [...]
Continue reading “Teaching Sustainability - Part Three” »
Give historical context:
For millennia humans lived sustainably - up until the onset of the industrial/technological revolution.
For many thousand years
We made everything by hand
Then came industrialization
Marching through the land
Now we could make and do things
Much easier and faster
No one thought this revolution
Would lead to such disaster
The demand for resources increased
With the demands of growing populations
Robbing the [...]
Continue reading “Teaching Sustainability - Part Two” »
We live in a time now rife with contradictions.
Never before have we had the capability of mass self destruction on one hand; and at the same time stand at the threshold of such extraordinary breakthroughs in the human potential.
Never before have we faced environmental degradation and biological devastation on a global catastrophic scale on [...]
Continue reading “Teaching Sustainability -Part One” »
Paul Andrew Zeir grew up in the adventurous and expansive landscape where the Rocky Mountains meet the Great Plains west of Denver, Colorado in the U.S.A. He learned the basics on the piano from the age of 5 and took up the guitar at age 12, writing songs and composing music since he discovered the gift to be able to do so. Music, the wild and free outdoors, the magic and mystery of being an adopted child, rhythmic sports and glimpses of inspired community were his principle mentors growing up. Paul’s search for vocation and mission began with the Institute of Cultural Affairs where he lived and worked with indigenous people in Alaska, Guatemala, Mexico, Peru and Venezuela. It was in these small villages that he discovered the spiritual integrity and kaleidoscopic human theater of indigenous peoples around the world. These were profound and indelible influences. He studied at Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff and Colorado University in Boulder between his travels. His education continues to this day, expanding and deepening through a variety of researches best characterized as the field of Human Development and Education. Because of the many gifted teachers in his life, including his lifelong love Melanie, he discovered solidarity in kinship endeavour with people from all over the world working to pioneer new pathways in the human potential. The world of child education opened up when he became a father of 2 boys. His primary wish as a parent was to provide a rich & loving multi-layered learning ecology in the home and family life which included natural human theater arts. Thus the adventure into children’s education began! His family has put down roots near Santa Fe, New Mexico where they live in the foothills of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains.
Note: This is the end of the usable page. The image(s) below are preloaded for performance only.
