Robin Child - Instructors

Robin first discovered crankies as a K-12 itinerant art teacher in the Bering Strait region of Western Alaska. A musician and artist, she loved that crankies combine visual arts with music to tell stories, and that they can be made from simple recycled materials- from matchboxes, to shoeboxes, to refrigerator boxes! She used scrap wood to build big crankie boxes for each of the 15 schools she taught in, and proceeded to make crankie stories large and small with hundreds of students from Kindergardeners to adults. She has been hooked ever since!
Robin serves on the board of the Alaska Arts Education Consortium, which works to advance teaching and learning through the arts across Alaska, and is a Fairbanks Folk Fest volunteer. She loves to play music (old-time banjo, mandolin, and classical piano). She currently serves as an Assistant Professor of Elementary Education at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, and is passionate about connecting learning with place and culture, and helping inspire new educators with creative ideas to enhance their own teaching practices.