Central District
2300 East Cherry St
23rd Ave
Seattle, Washington 98122
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Description
The founders’ secret weapon as teachers was to arouse curiosity. Before diving into a course in physiology, kids spent serious time pondering what does happen to a hamburger after swallowing it. In their self-contained 5th and 6th grade classrooms, they always found ways to pull kids into actively learning and discovering, whether it was math, science, or grammar.
The earliest Coyote years were dedicated to academics. The founders enlisted gifted teachers who relied on projects and problem solving to engage kids in subjects such as physical science, mathematics, physiology, geography, and fiction writing - and the kids came. Where they came was part of the story. Kids went to Marybeth’s family home or to homes of fellow participants. For each course they’d find out who else had a centrally located home attached to an open front door. Bill Nye the Science Guy taught Coyote kids in one of them.
In 1992 the founders began Hit the Streets and gathered harder-to-reach kids to create major permanent public art for their communities. This was an opportunity for kids to discover just how much they could accomplish and contribute, which they found out by working with gifted public artists as their mentors and teachers. Hit the Streets kids have created a score of projects in the Central Area, south end, and First Hill. Each summer twenty-four kids, 12 – 14 years old, have created public art that includes park entrances, ceramic murals 200 feet long, viewfinders highlighting urban vantage points, and tall columns along the Jackson Street corridor at Washington Middle School.
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Teachers at Coyote Central
- Amy Crawford