Carolyn Wood

Carolyn Wood has lived in Oregon all but one year of her life - the year she worked as the governess for Senator Robert and Ethel Kennedy's children. Class Notes: A Young Teacher's Lessons from Classroom to Kennedy Compound recounts the serendipitous path that led her to Hyannis in 1968, months after the senator's death, and provides a glimpse into a world few of us encounter.Over the course of her career, Ms. Wood spent more than thirty years in Portland-area high school classrooms,...See more

Carolyn Wood has lived in Oregon all but one year of her life - the year she worked as the governess for Senator Robert and Ethel Kennedy's children. Class Notes: A Young Teacher's Lessons from Classroom to Kennedy Compound recounts the serendipitous path that led her to Hyannis in 1968, months after the senator's death, and provides a glimpse into a world few of us encounter.Over the course of her career, Ms. Wood spent more than thirty years in Portland-area high school classrooms, encouraging students to read broadly and to write. After retirement, she traveled, trekked, backpacked, and gardened, then heeded her own advice and began to compose. Her first memoir, Tough Girl: Lessons in Courage and Heart from Olympic Gold to the Camino de Santiago, came out in 2018. The publication of Tough Girl brought her back to teaching students of many ages in workshops and school visits. Carolyn's essays have appeared in Teachers as Writers, Elohi Gadugi Journal, Curve Magazine, and REI Co-op Journal. See less