Wahoo! Summer has started! I finished my last class today, and I’m free, free, free for the summer! I’ve got huge plans for the summer, with lots of stuff to add to my todo lists, but I wanted to stop and just revel a bit in the joy I get from teaching. My job at the University of Redlands is to teach lab science courses to non-science majors…this often means seniors who have put off taking science because they hate it, or feel they’re no good at it. So I design courses that teach them the scientific method in ways they can relate to! During this crazy month called May Term, I teach a class called Mother Earth Chemistry: we make beer, cheese, soap, and learn all about dyeing: fiber reactive as well as natural dyes. We even got to try indigo dyeing!
Today my students put on a feast, bringing in food they made using the concepts we learned about, and they all wore/brought the things they dyed. What is awesome is to have them realize that they could predict and (at least partially!) control the dyeing process. Here’s a slideshow of all their successes:
![om [one moment] meet up](http://i748.photobucket.com/albums/xx125/alamodestuff/OM_alamodemeetupbutton.jpg)
We had a fantastic time, and today’s final presentations were fun moments I’ll enjoy remembering!
alamodestuff Linda has started a weekly meetup based on taking a moment each week to really notice something as you go about your daily grind life. I need to do this. You may want to too – read more about it here:
My name is Candy Glendening,and I’m addicted to color! I dye fabric so I can have just the hue & texture I want, and then use it to make art quilts and “everyday art”.
What a wonderful idea for a class! (I want to take it!) You must be a fantastic instructor because you can see how happy and engaged the students are!
I wish I could take your class – I bet you’re a favorite there! Those projects are AWESOME!
Wow Candy, its developed from last year. What a range of things they’ve dyed – love the bedding, the bags, baby stuff, just love it all. Congratulations to you all. Happy summer…
Oh, Candy! This post made me tear up. What a great experience for your students. The looks on their faces speaks volumes of you as a teacher. Was the class concept your idea? It’s genius.
WOW That’s such an awesome class! I would totally take it! And your students look like it was a very rewarding class for them! Congrats on finishing classes and have a wonderful summer!!
So cool, Candy! Your students look like they had fun while learning! You are a teacher they will remember!!
Happy start of summer vacation to you!!
This kind of class I would have loved. Fun, beautiful end results and a skill for life. What more could they ask for?
Have a beautiful start of your holiday.
What a great class! And I remember that wonderful feeling at the start of summer vacation (even though I really dug school.) Can’t wait to see what you’ve got up your dyed sleeve!
sounds like something I would have liked to take
fun!
Wow, that sounds like a fun class!
The onesies are so adorable!
Wow this is fabulous; such great projects you are doing with them! The non-science students will be lining up to get into your class in their first year! It’s wonderful that you’re teaching them that science really is part of their everyday lives.
[...] School’s out for SUMMER! I’ve had a tough time of it this Spring, with the stress and upheaval that’s been [...]
What a great class! And I remember that wonderful feeling at the start of summer vacation (even though I really dug school.) Can’t wait to see what you’ve got up your dyed sleeve!
How fun Candie! You are an AWESOME teacher!
How fun! I’m sure that class will be full to overflowing every year when the students hear about this!!!!
[...] is “Tie Dye Day” in my Mother Earth Chemistry class (here are pix from last year’s fun) so I’m going to be having a busy [...]