teachingwoodycollective

Year in Review

The Collective had a busy year, attending numerous conferences and folk festivals. Here’s a few highlights from 2024:

We have much more in store for the coming year, beginning this February with a roundtable session at Folk Alliance International in Montreal on teaching Indigenous folk artists in the classroom. We also have some exciting announcements on the way so stay tuned …

Here’s to keeping Woody’s hoping machine alive in 2025!

  • Aimee Zoeller and Gus Stadler facilitated a conversation with Stephen Walden and Natalie Jaser at Woody Fest
  • Michele Fazio, Daniel Ouimet, and David Amram at Folk Alliance
  • Newport Folk Festival Lineup
  • Michele Fazio with Linqua Franqua at Newport Folk Festival
  • Billy Bragg at Newport Folk Festival
  • Poetry reading by Joan Baez at Newport Folk Festival
  • Aimee Zoeller with Joan Baez

Aimee Zoeller and Gus Stadler facilitated a conversation with Stephen Walden and Natalie Jaser, high school teachers from Tahlequah, at this year’s Woody Fest in Okemah, Oklahoma. Walden, Jaser, Stadler, and Zoeller shared specific course curriculum across three disciplines – English, sociology, and history. Walden shared using “Pastures of Plenty” to teach about the Depression and World War Two. In Jaser’s creative writing class, students analyze “This Land is Your Land” and then create their own poem, short story, or essay. Guthrie’s journey to anti-racism is explored in Zoeller’s Protest Music in the U.S. course through the song “The Blinding of Isaac Woodard.”

They also shared the purpose, barriers, and opportunities of Guthrie’s work and were primarily concerned with advancing the role of music in creating stories and ideas that connect us in uncertain times.  Critically, the panel discussed negotiating issues of equity and justice and aligning disciplinary convictions with external legal and political constrictions.

teachingwoodycollective

World of Bob Dylan

On June 1st, members of the Woody Guthrie Teaching Collective gathered once again in Tulsa, Oklahoma, to present at the World of Bob Dylan conference. The Collective hosted a roundtable on bringing Woody into the classroom and taking the classroom into the community. Titled “Woody Guthrie’s Expansive Reach: The Purpose & Possibilities of Historical and Contemporary Protest Music in Education,” this panel fostered a conversation about the efficacy of and need for bringing protest music to students at the university level. Mark Fernandez discussed the history of Pete Seeger’s “Waist Deep in the Big Muddy,” a song about World War II but resonant with the 1960s antiwar movement. Court Carney looked at Woody Guthrie’s “Grand Coulee Dam” and how educators can use this song to interrogate the past from various angles. Aimee Zoeller presented her work bringing South African singer Berita to Indiana as part of the Art for AIDS initiative. Michele Fazio discussed her ongoing research project on Sacco and Vanzetti, which she uses to promote civic engagement and community outreach. Finally, musician Chris Buhalis joined the group to sing the appropriate songs connected to the discussion, including “Waist Deep in the Big Muddy,” “Grand Coulee Dam,” “Two Good Men,” and ending with a rousing “Song to Woody” to connect directly with Bob Dylan. The roundtable attracted a large and engaged audience interested in expanding the university classroom through protest music.

Teach On and Sing Out!