Today has been another day of reading, writing, and note taking.  Which to me is just fine, I really enjoy learning new information, especially about something I’m interested in but don’t know a whole lot about.  Today’s focus has been all about the Cedar tree, and indigenous uses of wood for tools, cultural practices, and other forms of daily life that were facilitated with the use of cedar trees.  I have a neat book by Hilary Stewart entitled “Cedar”, that outlines and details the importance of trees for the Haida people to develop their culture.

I also had the big meeting with my Faculty Adviser and two members of the Gallery Staff to solidify my understandings of what I was doing in the gallery for my CFE.  Turns out, they’re incredibly interested in developing a hands-on lab of some sort that will focus on the importance of wood, trees, and forests in relation to indigenous cultures, specifically in Haida Gwaii (though it could easily transfer to other West Coast indigenous groups).  So my job it would seem is to compile and create all the needed resources (education ones) that would be needed to have an hour or two long lab within the gallery.  To me this is an excellent opportunity to use some of the activity making skills I learned during my practicum, as labs are often more about touching, seeing, and interacting with material rather than simply learning content from a power point or a book.  Students often learn much better when they fully integrate themselves with the material they’re studying, so if the gallery wants students to learn more about wood and its importance to indigenous cultures then the best way to do that is to have a lab like the one I hope to create.

Now that I have my focus I feel like I can really create a more concrete timeline of “due dates” for the information I gather, and for the project I create as a whole.  So here goes nothing.

P.S. I realize this post is a day late.  Everyday from now on!

Here are some of the cool photos from the book Cedar

Stewart, Hilary. Cedar: Tree of Life to the Northwest Coast Indians. Seattle, Washington: University of Washington Press, 1995.  (Making a citation just in case I need to)