On the edge of Symposium, thinking without bannisters
Opal School’s Summer Symposium begins Wednesday. It’s a frenetic time around the building: having said goodbye to students last week, teachers are setting up their classrooms for visitors, creating documentation panels, and writing presentations (not to mention annual academic reports). It’s a time of long days and nights consumed by deep reflection and meaning-making – of […]
What school should be like
Fourth-graders gave these cookies to the graduates “to remind you to always find a third door and to not ignore that there are third doors all around you.” Friday, another group of students said goodbye to Opal School, moving on to middle schools around the city. I think the annual graduation ceremony is made beautiful […]
What are the children teaching me?
What kind of community do you want to be in?
Everyone plays a role
The fourth- and fifth-graders in Opal 4 have been stretching out, finding ways that their gifts can address the world’s needs. Many of their stories will be told at next month’s Symposium. Here, eleven-year-old Chase shares her project – and invites you to contribute. A couple months ago, my teacher, Susan, asked my class how […]
Play, the arts, and education for democracy?
Next month, Opal School will host it’s 16th Summer Symposium. We determined the theme, Play, The Arts, and Education for Democracy, a year ago. Knowing that it was an election year, we figured that questions of democracy would find their way into classrooms. Little did we know how forceful that impulse would be. As we inch […]
It’s not about the spelling…
How do conflicts, oopsies, and the strategies we use to work through them help support a community over time?
We are influencing our own play. Yes!
Periodically, Opal School’s community of staff, parents, and children come together. Recently, the community tended to its outdoor space as the sun came out of hibernation. The children moved like a team over mounds of dirt and bark chips, fully engaged in their work. Inspired by the beauty of this moment, I stopped and pulled out […]
