permaculture

[Michael Kramer <michael@naturalinvesting.com>]

> Rick said:
> I found it pretty scary! I certainly wouldn't want to do an entire weekend
> by myself, and I'd need to know the other teacher(s) very well before I'd
> feel like I could talk between classes and really get things set for the
> next weekend. Wouldn't you want the continuity of having at least one
> teacher around most days at least part of the time?
>

For the sake of continuity, it makes to have someone who is the primary 
course coordinator there at least for parts of each of the four weekends, but 
it doesn't seem to matter whether or not the same instructors are there, 
again as long as they don't overlap content.  It's best to have two teachers 
per weekend plus an apprentice teacher covering some piece of the material.  
It worked well in Santa Fe for about 7 years, and in Tucson it's still going 
strong. The success of this format is due to regular meetings of the local 
teaching team, which are critical to organizing and formatting courses, 
designing curricula, etc.  These teachers come to know one another well over 
time, can select appropriate teaching partners as necessary, and really 
evolve into a nice instructional guild.  Teaching teams can also ensure their 
succession by developing clear processes for apprenticing and expanding the 
pool of qualified teachers, as they can provide valuable feedback to novice 
teachers in
order to build the art of teaching.  For being knowledgable about 
permaculture does not mean one is a solid teacher.

Michael
~~~~~~~~~~~
Michael Kramer
Natural Investment Services
www.NaturalInvesting.com