What if quizzes measured kids’ ability to question, not answer?

Reinventing education. We've been talking about it for a long time. Thanks to Post Oak parent Stephan Kinsella for sending this along to me.

10 Things your commencement speaker won't tell you

By Charles Wheelan, The Wall Street Journal “I became sick of commencement speeches at about your age. My first job out of college was writing speeches for the governor of Maine. Every spring, I would offer extraordinary tidbits of wisdom to 22-year-olds—which was quite a feat given that I was 23 at the time. In the decades since, I've spent most of my career teaching economics and public policy. In particular, I've studied happiness and well-being, about which we now know a great deal. And I've found that the saccharine and over-optimistic words of the typical commencement address hold few of the lessons young people really need to hear about what lies ahead. Here, then, is what I wish someone had told the Class of 1988…” Read the full story here.

another big project

a note from Post Oak parent Audra French (her daughter Aurora is 6 years old and ready for elementary next year):
"I see Aurora developing in very "Montessori" ways. (She wrote a chapter book after/during dinner last week. She continued to reread and revise her sentences throughout the writing process, as well as brainstorm on topics and which illustrations to include. The next day, Aurora created another big project for herself, but it's escaping me right now. And she is very upset that our homeowner's association won't allow her to have an actual retail store in our home to sell her creations.) She's a lot of fun, and I think Montessori is enriching our family life.

despite their schooling--not because of it

How to develop innovators. That's the tag line of Tony Wagner's recent article in the Wall Street Journal.

Samples:
"Learning in most conventional education settings is a passive experience: The students listen. But at the most innovative schools, classes are "hands-on," and students are creators, not mere consumers."

"In most high-school and college classes, failure is penalized. But without trial and error, there is no innovation."

"In conventional schools, students learn so that they can get good grades. My most important research finding is that young innovators are intrinsically motivated. The culture of learning in programs that excel at educating for innovation emphasize what I call the three P's—play, passion and purpose. The play is discovery-based learning that leads young people to find and pursue a passion, which evolves, over time, into a deeper sense of purpose."

How do you spell "entrepreneur" in Canadian?

--illustration from Marine Magnetics, where Doug Hrvoic,former Montessori kid, is the president and technology director.

"The Creativity Gap: Maria Montessori: guru for a new generation of business innovators"--From the Toronto Globe and Mail

"Being a Montessori child is a gift for life."

the purpose of education

Noam Chomsky is at it again: thinking!

"There have been many measures taken to try to turn the educational system towards more control, more indoctrination, more vocational training, imposing a debt, which traps students and young people into a life of conformity… That’s the exact opposite of [what] traditionally comes out of The Enlightenment. And there’s a constant struggle between those. In the colleges, in the schools, do you train for passing tests, or do you train for creative inquiry?”

(Thanks to Post Oak School parent Lana Rigsby for sending this along to me.)

7 things you don't know...

...about a special needs parent.