Allison Taylor

Professional Interests

Voyage planning, weather routing, leadership instruction, art education; traditional sailing vessel rigging upkeep and maintenance, meteorology, celestial navigation.

Teaching Philosophy

I enjoy teaching what I wish I’d learned at the students’ age, so I focus on teaching useful skills and knowledge, which is often directed by the students’ interests. I focus on three main goals: 1. Since working with others is such a large part of being in the workforce, I spend a lot of time instilling communication, time management and teamwork/leadership skills of which I’ve had a lot of experience from the sailing world. 2. Half of our programs are on large sailing ships which require keen observation, accountability, situational awareness, and hands-on skills to operate safely so we also practice these skills regularly, and then practice them again, to be prepared to join the ship’s company. 3. Another component of my courses is the Sheet Anchor, which is a sketchbook/field notes journal where the students document their knowledge and experience during the program. I aspire to make the illustration instruction that goes along with the assignment accessible to all students and also inspirational – they often amaze themselves at their work when given some tools, time, and a little direction! Overall, supporting the students in their understanding of the content is very important to me as well as teaching them to ask good questions. When I update my course content, examples and activities every semester, I hope to stay relevant to the current state of the world and keep it engaging. It takes a lot of work but I find it all very rewarding.

Personal Interests

Hiking, yoga, watercolor painting, letter-writing, traveling, knitting, crafts