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 last few years, educators in British Columbia and Alberta have shown a great deal of interest in Opal School’s work: it responds to their curiosity about the intersection of inquiry …
Read more “What does holding a strong image of the child mean in a complicated world?”
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 the region served by Portland Public Schools, and as a result they’ve gone on to attend just about every public and private middle school and high school in the area. …
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 reflected on what they saw as the most important things they learned at Opal School. What they said tonight seems important for others to hear: DW: Sometimes it’s really hard …
Observing, listening, asking questions, and documenting student growth and learning is all a part of what we do as teachers every day at Opal School. As we document the growth and learning of the children in our classroom, of course we pay attention to the academic skills that they are acquiring, but we look for …
A few months ago, it was hard to open a newspaper or turn on the radio without running into Paul Tough and his book, How Children Succeed: Grit, Curiosity, and the Hidden Power of Character (see, for example, this episode of This American Life.) As the title suggests, the book highlights the fundamental relationship between …
As the weather turns colder, our bellies and hearts remind us that we’ve got to work together to stay warm and loved inside and out! Small groups of children have been scurrying around our beloved play spaces, preparing recipes of mud soups for our community. They’ve been collecting and gathering bits and pieces of natural …
With all of our talk with Opal 2 students in this first month of school about intentions, some questions have come up about the process of being intentional and thinking about our thinking. Together with the children we’ve wondered: How do you have intentions but still stay open to possibilities? Are there chances to be surprised and …