Matt Karlsen
Learning about playing to learn
Play is a strategy for learning for which humans are hardwired. This message seems clear, both in the literature as well as Opal School’s lived…
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Remembering Symposium 2015
Today, Opal School staff returned to school. For me, it’s been a very busy summer: I left the country just a few days after Symposium…
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Communities of Resistance – Where each member thrives
In a recent episode of This American Life, W. Kamau Bell struggles with how to talk to his young daughters about race and racism. As…
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The Class of 2015
Today was the final day of the 2014-’15 school year, and tonight we celebrated the Class of 2015. From the podium, three of the students…
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Keeping it Lively
Getting ready for next month’s Symposium, I find myself re-reading Ann Pelo’s The Language of Art. She writes, “we begin to use the word ‘art’…
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New ground for play and possibility
New territory for discovery and transformation This week, the new Opal School playground opens. Over the coming days, weeks, months, and years, stories will be…
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New Possibilities for Writers – Workshop Recap
Last week, educators gathered at Opal School to consider a question dear to all of us: What conditions support the the young writers we work with in…
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Legislative support for Opal School
Opal School was one of the first charter schools established in Oregon. The Oregon Charter Schools Act identified nine goals for charter schools: (1) Increase student…
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Opal Parents Chime In
At the edge of spring break, there is much in the air. In the last week, we’ve had glorious sunny days transforming to downpours and…
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When did you become an author?
Opal 4 is discussing Ralph Fletcher’s “First Pen“: TP: The pen gives him power. ZG: Because it was the first time he wrote in pen,…
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