Reflecting on Leaning In With Curiosity (Part Two)
In my last post, I told the first part of our story of using Playful Inquiry to create conditions for children to lean into making sense of the world with curiosity rather than judgment, to accept and seek out complexity, and to develop empathy and understanding for people and perspectives different from their own through interactive […]
Inventiveness emerges through the tangles found in play
At a recent meeting Opal teachers were asked to reflect on the ways invention has emerged in their respective learning communities this year. Using a resource describing dimensions of invention education at Opal School crafted with Project Zero’s Ben Mardell and Mara Krechevsky (who will be sharing this work at our Summer Symposium), we revisited the […]
Seeking to understand and be understood
In the beginning community of three-, four-, five-, and six-year-olds, the teachers hope to cultivate courageous thinkers, collaborators, and change makers. We want the children to know — as we do — that their ideas, theories and stories can change the world. This year, the big idea that the children and adults are co-researching in […]
Confronting the disimagination machine
Friday, a frustrated colleague texted me this worksheet that a teacher in her school had given to the kindergarteners she works with on an “accountable walk” that day. My colleague wrote, “This is what the testing craze has done. Kids can’t even go for a walk without a worksheet! At my school, a ‘failing’ one, […]
Leaving the Door Open for Theory-Building
In the story below, I tell about work that the Sitka classroom of third- and fourth-graders did in the Fall from my own perspective as a teaching apprentice. To read about the work through the lens of my mentor teacher, Nicole, read her blog post here. The first time I watched A Private Universe—a video […]
Growing Theories and Provisional Thinking
This year, in the Sitka learning community of 8 – 10 year-olds, we have been chewing on a big question: How does exploring the relationships between water and people help us understand systems? We decided to use water as a lens in hopes that it would provide opportunities to look closer into the idea of […]
Spreading Love While Marching for Love While Being Loved
On March 14, in solidarity with children all over the United States, Opal’s students and teachers walked out of school at 10 am, local time. Preparing for the participation of our 3-11 year old students in this event that was recognized widely as both a protest of gun violence in schools and a remembrance of […]
Love, Play, and Mail
“In play, children begin with their own set of premises and learn to follow through, step-by-step, scene by scene in the complex process of creating a logical and literary dramatic project of their own.” – Vivian Paley, The Importance of Fantasy, Fairness, and Friendship in Children’s Play The Cottonwood community of kindergarteners and first-graders has […]
Reflecting on Leaning In With Curiosity (Part One)
In the beginning of the year, Opal School teachers wrote letters of intention. As Matt wrote here, these letters are our North Star – our guide as we navigate our way through big questions, relationships, curricular content and more in conjunction with our mission, guiding principles and values, and goals. They are a source to […]
Marching for Love
When I took the Opal Advisory Council’s advice to the Opal teaching staff the day after our meeting, I also brought the same reading material: a copy of the Superintendent’s message, and the Hand to Hand letter. Additionally, one of the Advisory Council members had a copy of a letter sent from an older child’s […]