Robert Van NoodRobert van Nood has a set of journals about setting up and maintaining a
democratic classroom within an establishment school.
 "Welcome to Springville – Population 23 People"

At present Robert works as a staff member with the Trillium Charter School

I grew up thinking about the world. My parents, both Dutch, moved to Minnesota 3 years before I was born, and from the moment I was old enough to start traveling we did.

Until I was 10 years old summers were spent at a variety of campgrounds, riding horses around the Grand Tetons or visiting family in Holland. My formative middle school years were spent in Brussels, Belgium. From there I had the great fortune to see much of Europe, a sliver of the Middle East and a few countries in Africa. Each country I visited gave me deeper understandings of our planet’s interconnectedness. Those experiences germinated my desire to help make the world at least a little better for others.

I fell into teaching after I graduated from Lewis & Clark in 1993 with a degree in English/creative writing. I worked as a VISTA volunteer in two SE Portland schools running the newly established SMART (Start Making A Reader Today) program. That experience revealed that working with kids, especially in schools, was what I really wanted to do with my life. Since graduate school I have worked in many different settings: summer arts camps, small private schools, and large public ones. I feel so fortunate to have been part of Trillium since we opened the doors for the first time 6 years ago. Working in this community has been a labor of love. It is my work (and my wife Genevieve’s work, as she runs the preschool), my extended family, and now the school to my own two children (Violet will be starting preschool this year and Huxley will be in the baby room two days a week).

There is no other place like Trillium. As a teacher it has given me the freedom to explore those things that make me passionate about working with kids. It has given me the chance to really be with kids, to have the time to understand them, and see what will help them as they explore the world. Trillium has allowed me to make my teaching an art form. Each year I explore, and create, and change and grow right along with my students. This year, after a long summer, I bring with me a newfound excitement to help the kids of Trillium explore the world with their minds and to open up to the world with their hearts.

And what is it that I do outside of Trillium you ask? When I have time, I love to ride my bike (a century anyone?), write, paint, cook, play guitar and sitar, play soccer, do yoga, read (mostly non-fiction), work in my yard (building things, taking things apart or just pulling things out of the ground) and I have this little known desire to take a stand up comedy class.