For the Facilitators

A year ago we posted a video of a lady, Dorothy, who taught paper arts for Seattle Free School - and discussed why she decided to teach. http://seattlefreeschool.blogspot.com/2011/04/why-be-facilitator.html

Have you facilitated a class for Free School before, or in some other venue? Please leave a comment and share a small story about your experience. :)

Are you out of practice or new to facilitation, and slightly intimidated? Of course it takes practice to get good, and Free School is a great launch pad for practice. Here are some resources online you may want to check out as you consider your treasured skills you'd like to teach others about (including a youtube clip, because there are a lot out there):

Teaching Effectiveness Program - Ensure comfort, expect responsiveness, encourage deeper thinking, allow time

Blink - The design of your class is everything, control the content, let go of the process

Why be a facilitator?

There are a lot of reasons to become a facilitator at Seattle Free School. Many people just want to share their passion. Others know that it will help them with their presentation skills which can apply to anything from giving a speech to acing a job interview. Others want to inspire people to create art. This is Dorothy's reason. What's yours?

Why teach with Seattle Free School?

Our wonderful teacher, Irina tells you why she teaches with Seattle Free School right here:

I enjoy facilitating Seattle Free School classes because they bring together a really diverse mix of people from our community to learn something new in an informal and friendly setting. I teach Russian cooking classes, and it's so much fun for me to share my skills and knowledge with people who come to class unfamiliar with Russian cuisine and leave inspired to try and make a new dish in their home kitchen. People are always so appreciative of the instructor's willingness to take the time to teach the class and of the overall concept of the Seattle Free School and the broad array of classes that is available.

Thanks for sharing Irina!

New Classes!

Couple new classes posted folks. Here's the info:


Thu, Apr 30:
Card-Making for Real People
Time: 8:00 PM to 9:30 PM
Location: The Giving Tree
Non-designers can learn how to make great cards with rubber stamps, ribbons, shape punches, and other simple tools. We’ll start with a quick, informative overview and demonstration, and then you’ll get your hands on the good stuff: stamps, ink, and cards. Bring your creativity and open-mindedness; leave your self-doubt at the door.

The Giving Tree is located at 2008 Westlake Ave

Thu, May 21:
Facilitating a Seattle Free School Class
Time: 7:30 PM to 9:30 PM
Location: Vivace Coffee 227 Yale Ave N
Come learn what it takes to facilitate a Seattle Free School class. How to plan for your class, locations, etc will all be covered in this class/meeting.


You can register for either of these by going to the Seattle Free School website.

Note for Teachers- Scheduling the Cascade People's Center

From Holly at the Cascade People's Center. If you're wanting to facilitate at the Center please let Jessica know asap!



As you know, the CPC auction is quickly approaching (Friday, April 3rd 5--10 pm @ the South Lake Union Armory youcanbuyticketshere, wink) and I am being pulled into the auction frenzy! The success of the auction will determine what our budget for the rest of the year looks like. This, in turn, will influence programs, how many hours we're open, whether we need to start charging for space, etc. Basically, the outcome of the auction is a big deal.

The event is bigger and better than ever, but we have less people here to pull it off. With our smaller staff and growing list of responsibilities, I need to take a short break from booking folks to use the space. I apologize for the inconvenience, but I can't manage the increasing auction workload while remaining responsive and available to you.

Sooooo, here's the new plan. I will be booking the Center for March, April, May, and June dates from now through next Friday (March 6th.) After March 6th, I will not book dates to use the Center until Tuesday, April 7th (after the auction.) I plan to use this upcoming week to schedule out the next few months and answer any questions you may have. After that, until April 7th I will ONLY be available to answer questions/address concerns that are not related to the calendar. Of course, you can book for April, May, and June again once April 7th rolls around.

Teaching Clarification

Just wanted to offer a bit of clarification about Seattle Free School. While currently the classes are largely craft based, there is no need for this to be the case. If you want to teach classes on just about anything, you're welcome here. Foreign language classes, photography classes, business classes, football appreciation classes, basketball classes... really, you name it.

And if there are classes you would like to see please let me know that too... and I'll do my best to hunt down someone to teach it.

The other idea is that you really don't need to be a pro to teach/facilitate a class. I've been making soap for about 2 years... I'm in no way a professional, but I've got enough experience to teach what I know to people that haven't ever done it before. Really that's all that's needed. Of course, if you're got a bit more knowledge you can always offer an advanced class... that's welcome too!

On a different note, I have a couple of people signed up for the beekeeping class and a couple for the chickens class. Once I've had a chance to put out a few more flyers I'll be arranging a time for these. If you'd like to be on the list please let me know.