The Learning Lab
Woodstock’s Own Adult Education Experience
Winter, 2017 classes
Culinary lessons from some of Woodstock’s top chefs
Howard Coffin on the Civil War
Memoir writing
Hemingway novels
Metaphor, Gesture and Communication
The Founding of the Vermont Republic
Culinary class with Master Chefs
If you want to shake the late winter blues and you enjoy cooking, this class is for you!
By popular demand this year's class follows a string of past interesting, informative, and tasty nights out. Executive chef Dan McLellan and Chef de Cuisine LydaLemire of The Prince and the Pauper, and Executive Chef JevgenijaSaromovaof The Lincoln Inn & Restaurant will demonstrate their culinary skills as students can follow along with copies of the recipe. This is a great way to add a new recipe to your file and at the same time learn some new kitchen tricks. You will be able enjoy the dish prepared in front of you immediately following each class. The cost including both nights will be $50. This event has previously sold out quickly as it is limited to 18 students, so it is suggested you sign up early
Mondays, February 27 and March 6 - 5:30 to 7:30 p.m.
JevgenijaSaromova, Executive Chef of the Lincoln Inn & Restaurant, is known for her creative vision and artful presentations. She comes to us from award winning and Michelin Star restaurants in Italy, France, and England. Her limitless passion for cooking and her inventive dishes have pushed the boundaries of food innovation. She has had over 20 years experience as a professional chef, having begun cooking at a young age under the influence of her grandmother who first inspired her to use fresh herbs and vegetables from her garden. Jevgenija has followed that practice with her own garden producing herbs and vegetables at the Inn. She began working in a restaurant in her home town of Jurmala, Latvia at the age of 17. She attended culinary school while continuing to work in restaurants in Latvia before taking her talents to other places in Europe where she immersed herself in the food and culture of the regions.
Dan McLellan, Executive Chef of The Prince & The Pauper Restaurant, started his cooking career as a young man at the Prince & The Pauper in 1994 at a kitchen entry level. Chef/Owner Chris Balcer recognizing Dan's interest in food and fine dining, and apprenticed him as Garde Manger (pastry chef). Through careful training Dan became a full-fledged Garde Manger in 2004. Working alongside Chef Balcer he perfected the skills of the sous chef position for all of the dishes offered at the restaurant. With his now extensive experience he was elevated to Executive Chef in 2015 with the announcement of Chris Balcer's retirement.
LydaLemire, Chef de Cuisine of The Prince & The Pauper Restaurant,worked at the P&P with Chris and Dan from 1990 to 2004. Lyda's previous experience was as the chef at the Lincoln Covered Bridge Inn which was owned at that time by Philip DiPietro. From 1988 to 1990 Lyda was both sous chef and pastry chef at the Kedron Valley Inn. With that experience Lyda returned to the P&P from 1990 to 2004, working with both Chris and Dan. She furthered her education and experience from 2006 to 2010 as Chef at The Juniper Hill Inn. From 2011 to 2015 she was Chef at The Common Man Restaurant in Claremont, NH. In March of 2015 Lyda returned to the P&P to work with Dan in creating an exciting renaissance of the kitchen.
The Civil War, from a Vermont Perspective
Howard Coffin
We will cover the entire Civil War, from its causes and beginnings, to its endings and aftermaths. A decided emphasis will placed on Vermont's participation in the war. Battles in which Vermonters played a key role will be emphasized, including Lee's Mill, Gettysburg, Wilderness, Winchester, Cedar Creek, and Petersburg, particularly the April 2, 1865 Union breakthrough. And there will be considerable discussion of slavery and Abraham Lincoln, particularly the emancipation proclamations. Also, the home front will be considered, much including the role of women in supporting the war effort.
Tuesdays, January 17,24,31 and Feb. 7 - 1:00 – 3:00 p.m.
Norman Williams Public Library
Howard Coffin is a seventh generation Vermonter with six ancestors who served in Vermont Civil War regiments. He has given more than 300 talks on the Civil War in Vermont alone, and leads tours of Civil War battlefields. A member of the Vermont Sesquicentennial Commission, he was appointed by the U.S. Senate to the Civil War Sites Advisory Commission and served on the boards of the Association for the Preservation of Civil War Sites and the Civil War Trust. Long involved in historic preservation, he delivered the keynote address dedicating the Vermont Monument on the Wilderness Battlefield. Coffin and Vermont U. S. Senator James Jeffords led efforts to add 500 acres where the Vermont Brigade fought to the Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park. His books includeFull Duty: Vermonters in the Civil War;Nine Months to Gettysburg; The Battered Stars; Guns Over the Champlain Valley andSomething Abides: Discovering the Civil War in Today’s Vermont. Coffin lives in Montpelier, Vermont.
Introduction to Memoir Writing
Margaret Edwards
This introductory course is the “gateway” to all that might follow. People who have taken this course often will keep on writing, working on their own memoirs or on family histories, or attending “Memoir Reunion Workshops.” To begin a memoir is not an act of egotism, it’s an act of generosity. You will leave behind for your family members (and for students of history) an account of your particular era, as well as a narrative of your personal life. What lessons you’ve learned, what difficulties you’ve overcome, what good fortune you feel you should celebrate—all of this is valuable and interesting. A class will give you the discipline to sit down and actually write, as well as an audience for your output. Fear you can’t get started? This class (and its facilitator) will get you going—it’s guaranteed.
Fridays, January 20, 27, and February 3, 10, 17, and 24 - 10:15 a.m.--12:15 p.m.
Norman Williams Public Library
Margaret Edwardsspent 30 years as a professor of English at the University of Vermont.Her specialty was Modern & Contemporary American Poetry. She also taught writing seminars, including one entitled “Expository Writing: the Personal Voice.” On her retirement in 2001, she moved from Burlington to Barnard, Vermont, where she and her husband now live. She earned her B.A. from Bryn Mawr College, and her M.A. and Ph.D. from Stanford University.
The Founding of Vermont
Ron Miller
From 1777 to 1791, Vermont was not part of the United States but an independent republic that had fashioned itself out of the wilderness. How did this happen? The history of Vermont’s origins is a fascinating story of intrepid settlers on the frontier, greedy colonial governors, and a colorful cast of backwoods leaders including Ethan and Ira Allen, Thomas Chittenden, Moses Robinson, Seth Warner, Nathaniel Chipman and others who are largely forgotten today.
In this class we’ll learn about Benning Wentworth’sHampshire Grants and the resulting conflict with the colony and state of New York, and consider the Haldimand negotiations, during which Vermont’s crafty leaders played the British Empire against the American Congress. We’ll see the Green Mountain Boys in action and learn about the Westminster massacre, the Dorset conventions, the Onion River Land Company, and various attempts to incorporate towns on the New Hampshire side of the Connecticut River into the upstart Vermont republic. Finally, we’ll look at the process by which Vermont became the 14th state in the union and the alternatives that might have happened instead.
Mondays, January 23, 30, Feb. 6, 13, 20, 27 10:00 a.m. – noon.
Class will be held at a home on River St.
Ron Miller, coordinator of the Learning Lab, teaches classes on many aspects of American history. He received a Ph.D. in American Studies from Boston University and has taught at Goddard, St. Michael’s, and Champlain colleges. He is the author or editor of ten books, including Most Likely to Secede, a collection of essays by various authors who wonder whether Vermont might be better off reclaiming its status as an independent republic. Ron is also board chair of Sustainable Woodstock and an organizer of the Bookstock literary festival.
Ernest Hemingway: Two Novels
Margaret Edwards
This seminar follows a fall study of 12 short stories by Ernest Hemingway in which the class explored his innovative prose style, also becoming aware of events in his remarkable life that pertain to his fiction. In this winter seminar, we will read and discuss two of Hemingway’s most important novels. The Sun Also Rises(1926)describes “the lost generation” of young Americans who were disoriented by World War I. Hemingway portrays men and women leading reckless, expatriate lives in the 1920s in Paris.For Whom the Bell Tollsis set in Spain where Hemingway and his companions had fought for the Loyalists during the Spanish Civil War (1936-37). This novel requires knowing more about a war termed a “rehearsal” for World War II. Our two texts are available in new paperback editions. Publication ofThe Sun Also Riseswas overseen by Hemingway’s scholarly grandson, Sean Hemingway, who includes two fascinating appendices of material cut from the final version along with some rare photographs.
The specificpaperbacksbeing assigned are:The Sun Also Rises(ISBN 978-1-5011-2196-8) $16 andFor Whom the Bell Tolls(ISBN-10 978-0-684-80335-7) $18. (It’s less important that you buy the copy ofFor Whom the Bell Tolls, because its text is not accompanied by appendices and can be read in any version.)
Tuesdays, January 17, 24, 31, and February 7, 14, 21 - 10:15 a.m. to 12:15 p.m
Norman Williams Public Library
Margaret Edwardsspent 30 years as a professor of English at the University of Vermont.Her specialty was Modern & Contemporary American Poetry. She also taught writing seminars, including one entitled “Expository Writing: the Personal Voice.” On her retirement in 2001, she moved from Burlington to Barnard, Vermont, where she and her husband now live. She earned her B.A. from Bryn Mawr College, and her M.A. and Ph.D. from Stanford University.
Communication:
The Hidden Power of Metaphors, Gestures, Scaffolding and Pauses
NiraGranott Fox
In four meetings, we will discover and analyze four important and usually ignored aspects of communication. We will discuss these aspects, analyze and laugh at examples, discover their functions, and answer the questions posed below:
1. How do metaphors guide thought and actions? What makes metaphors work? What can we understand from metaphors about our cultural values? Metaphors may seem to be just ornamental formulations. However, they can be extremely influential: they can direct our thinking in one way and prevent us from thinking in other ways; they can highlight and disseminate cultural values we may not even agree with, mark some neutral activities as better than others, or shape neutral and accepted activities as combative.
2. Is there a function to the gestures we spontaneously generate with our hands and arms as we speak? Are gestures personal or cultural expressions? Can gestures reveal hidden knowledge that even the speaker is not aware of? Can gestures uncover what a speaker wants to leave hidden? Gestures are so prevalent that talking without gesturing usually seems awkward to listeners. Gestures accompany speech but also can affect thought. Gestures can reveal hidden meanings, will, preferences, and secrets.
3. How can we scaffold nonexistent knowledge? Can we bootstrap ourselves with no external help to lean on? How can we create bridging to the unknown? Analysis of communication reveals techniques people use to scaffold and bootstrap knowledge of the unknown. These techniques defy any rational expectation: they help create something out of nothing. Remarkably, these techniques can create new knowledge.
4. Are there rules that govern the length of pauses—the blank spaces of communication? What are the functions of pauses? What is the secret power of pauses in promoting infants’ ability to learn to talk? Pauses seem to be just empty spaces built into conversation. However, they have functions that often we are unaware of yet sometimes obey spontaneously. Pauses can direct the listener’s thinking, help the communicator function better, promote abilities, smooth communication, and give us power.
Thursdays, Feb 2,9,16, and 23 - 10:00 a.m. – noon
Class will be held at a home on River St.
NiraGranott Foxworked as a professor at University of Texas at Dallas, specializing in the process of change in short time spans (microdevelopment). She was a founding director of the Microdevelopment Research Lab and taught graduate seminars on change and other courses at UTD, and, at Harvard, taught Learning and Development through Interaction. Nira received her Ph.D. from MIT Media Lab, where she researched microdevelopment of understanding unfamiliar robots, and her Ed.M. from Harvard School of Education. Before coming to the US, she worked as a senior analyst on developing educational and training software at Control Data Israel and headed a multi-media project at the Israeli Educational TV, focusing on alternative ways of learning. She received an M.A. in curriculum development from Tel Aviv University and a B.A. in economics from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. She lives with her husband, Steve Fox, in South Pomfret, Vermont.
Tuition fee is $40 (except $50 for the culinary class). Reduced fees for those on limited income—please inquire.
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