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These are wonderful Paul stories, particularly zip lines. How sweet to share that time of Paul’s complete joy and the funny photo. Paul’s persona is frankly legendary. I agree with Wil that knowing the “prickly pear” enriched self-discovery. Additionally, thank you Ann for the work you put into this site by maintaining a connected flow and linking Paul’s poetry, photos and papers. Reading through them was comforting especially knowing that Serendip will be a surviving wellspring of his thoughts to immerse oneself at any time.
I am a grateful graduate of five of Paul’s Summer Institutes. As a result, my high school science teaching has evolved significantly.

My practice now includes an overlay of storytelling within the content to support students’ personal connections. I confess that I initially fought against Paul’s notion of science as a story. Unsurprisingly he welcomed my arguments, encouraged my point of view and allowed the time that I needed to eventually recognize that I was telling my own personal story of science. Paul successfully demonstrated the teaching methodology that promoted metacognition. I needed to experience, think and reach my own understanding. Paul was brilliant in his mastery of the emergent process. Our Teacher Institutes were fabulous. So lovely to watch Paul intertwine his intricate threads of possibilities, spinning them in midair and waiting patiently for the following flurry of teacher reactions.

Paul presented stimulating scenarios and I valued the teacher responses that ensued. His Institutes’ culture supported creativity and nurtured the possibility of designing new ways of thinking. In my quest to engage my students in science I found a wonderful teacher and friend. Paul’s mentorship in evolving my practice will definitely influence my future classes just as his outreach to K-12 teachers (spanning more than a decade) will impact many of their future cohorts of science students. I’m confident and thankful that the designs of this master weaver will last for generations.