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Workshops for students and teachers rooted in Abenaki traditions.
Judy offers an integrated approach to teaching through a variety of workshop that are appropriate for various age groups.
The History of Basketry in Vermont
Students learn about the four techniques of Abenaki basketry and create a traditional basket using recycled materials. (Second grade-up)
Native Technology
Students travel through Paleo, Archaic and Woodland periods, learning how changes in flora, fauna, climate and geology lead to new technologies. Students will construct an ancient piece of technology that is still used today. (Third grade-up)
Writing Projects that Integrate Art, Science, Math and History
After hiking through and observing various ecosystems, students explore, document and illustrate environmental cycles and changes. (Third grade-up)
Toys and Games as an Educational Tool
Students discover how Abenaki children learned life’s survival skills through games and toys. Students will create a traditional toy and game and explore its relevance our lives today. (First grade-up)
Ethnobotany
Students learn how Abenaki people have used plants for food, medicine, material culture and religion. Students will undertake art projects using natural materials. (Third grade-up)
We Are All Related
Students examine their cultural backgrounds and create a classroom history picture book. They will interview family or community “elders and olders,” document their families’ histories, and explore how we are all related. (Grades 4-up)
Culturally Appropriate Art Activities
Teachers learn, discuss and share art activities that are appropriate for teaching about American Indian cultures. Participants also learn how to identify art activities that are culturally inappropriate and might shame or embarrass American Indian students. (Educators)
Judy Dow
See specific descriptions above.
Most schools or educational centers that contract with Judy select a group of workshops from the descriptions above or create their own workshop with Judy’s guidance. Workshops can be one hour, one day or one week long. Judy can repeat projects in several classrooms or integrate several programs into one visit. Judy’s fee is usually $500 per day plus expenses, but it may vary depending on the topics that are chosen and cost of materials.
History, in the European sense, is viewed as a timeline, with “points” that denote certain eras or events. In Native communities, however, time is circular, and beginning, present, and future overlap and come around full circle.
For indigenous peoples, changes in the climate and land became the mother of technology, and creating tools to meet the challenges of this change was part of the fabric of everyday life. The land was also an open classroom: knowledge of plants for food, medicine, material culture and spiritual use has been passed down for millennia, from generation to generation. As invading groups encroached on Native lands, Native peoples continued to adapt—sometimes willingly, sometimes not willingly—to new environmental, political, social and economic changes. They had to in order to survive. This tradition of adaptation has ensured cultural continuity, allowing our body of knowledge to persist.
Judy’s program addresses adaptation and change from this indigenous perspective of history and time.
Judy Dow
273 Old Stage Road
Essex Jct., VT 05452
Phone: (802) 879-6155
Alt. Phone: (802) 879-1419
Fax: (802) 879-1419
Email: Jdowbasket@aol.com