Teaching and Learning
Creating TEDx (remembering how to jump)
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text] When the organizers of the TEDx West Vancouver conference called to ask if someone from Opal School would like to share at their event,…
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Maintaining a Strong Image of the Child
One of Opal School’s values is A powerful image of the young child as intelligent, creative, and capable with gifts and abilities that the world needs. Loris Malaguzzi…
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What does holding a strong image of the child mean in a complicated world?
At the end of September, Matt Karlsen and I spoke to several groups in the Vancouver area about conditions that support playful inquiry. Over the…
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What about the graduates?
Reconnecting at Opal School Parents and visitors alike often ask: What becomes of Opal School students after they graduate? Opal School students come from throughout…
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Supporting empathy and agency
Opal School is part of the Ashoka Changemaker Schools Network, a group of schools distinguished in their efforts to support empathy and agency. Last year,…
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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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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 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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