Tagged:
Learning
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This is a confession: It took me many, many years to learn how not to pounce and use what are called "teaching moments" at home with my own children and here at school.
Like most people, I like to tell stories, to talk about things that I know and… Read more ›
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School's a place for kids to learn. Everybody agrees to that. That's why they exist. Well, but kids learn all the time; it's part of human nature to learn. People have known that forever. The opening sentence of one of the most famous books ever… Read more ›
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One of the criticisms I hear from time to time about Sudbury Valley School is along the lines of, “Well, doing what you want all day and making democratic decisions about the way your community is run, that's all well and good, but when they get… Read more ›
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I was talking to a friend of mine a while ago. He's a college professor at one of the local universities, and he was talking to me about the different educational backgrounds that the kids who came to that school experienced and how it affected them… Read more ›
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Matt: Why no curriculum, if this is a place for people to become educated for life in the 21st century? Actually, have you even updated the curriculum in the half-century of this school's existence?
Dan: We didn't need to. “No curriculum” was… Read more ›
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It’s amazing that anybody considers that what's called “a school” in the traditional meaning of the term has anything to do with preparing children for adulthood. To the contrary: it doesn't let them talk; doesn't let them move; it squelches their… Read more ›
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I want to talk about something called “the zone of proximal development”, an idea developed by Russian psychologist Lev Vygotsky early in the 20th century. He felt that people learn best when either they are learning from somebody who knows a… Read more ›
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Remote Learning:
When Governor Baker announced on April 29th that schools would remain closed in the state of Massachusetts through the end of the school year, he also emphasized the importance of continuing and expanding “remote learning” for… Read more ›
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It’s amazing that anybody considers that what's called “a school” in the traditional meaning of the term has anything to do with preparing children for adulthood. To the contrary: it doesn't let them talk; doesn't let them move; it squelches… Read more ›
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Being a Sudbury Valley School parent presents unique challenges. For one, when there’s no honor roll, varsity team, or Gifted & Talented Program, it takes awhile for you to figure out how to brag about your child. “Sally got down from Big Rock… Read more ›
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Our son recently spent two weeks visiting his grandmother in Paris by himself. It was a wonderful adventure that allowed him to explore his independence and experience the world in a new way. He had an amazing time and came back with a lot of great… Read more ›
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The over-riding fear that parents express when they approach this model of education is that kids aren’t learning anything. Of course, when confronted, they will admit that kids do learn things all the time without the vaguest coercion, but it… Read more ›
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On the radio a couple of weeks ago, I heard a man talking about educational reform, and what they consider progress made with young children’s education in Illinois in recent years. He talked about a goal, which he called “agency”. The word… Read more ›
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[reprinted from The School Bull, Informal News about The Clearwater School]
Feel in it
Even swim in it
And music noits
Fill my bain
This is the poem my son wrote to accompany a three-foot tall, three-dimensional art project he created while… Read more ›
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For many centuries, philosophers and scientists have been debating human knowledge: its nature, limits and origin. On this last point, we still are trying to understand how much the human being is born knowing and how much he discovers… Read more ›