WORKSHOPS & KEYNOTE ADDRESSES

The world, and the challenges it presents, has changed. Our national public education system has not. This topic explores what we must provide to our students, and suggests the current practices and obsessions that must be abandoned if we truly hope to provide The Education Kids Deserve.

Educators are bombarded with mandates and initiatives. Within a context of a standardized experience, where does the autonomy of innovation reside? The best of both worlds are possible with deliberate intention and collaborative action.

A preoccupation with a prescribed curriculum and standardized assessments fails to guarantee that the education our nation’s children receive is relevant: to their interests and aspirations, and to the demands of the society they are about to inherit. The tools to assure relevance are defined and explored.

Can creativity be taught? This is the topic of emerging study and speculation. However, creativity can be nurtured, as it is a fundamental component of the human experience. How may we nurture and support creativity in children? Why don’t we, and why should we? How might the intentional inclusion of creativity benefit students? We’ll explore these questions and offer practical suggestions.

As humans, we experience the world through integrated thinking. We access the full range of our experience and knowledge toward a holistic (and dare I suggest, a creative) approach to solving problems. Yet, public schools continue to promote discreet disciplinary thinking. Can we do better? What would that look like?

Where does the concept of failure fit within a culture of creative inquiry and risk taking? Prevailing interpretations of “failure” are counterproductive as the focus becomes negative and punitive, when, in fact, failure is a desired experience along a meaningful
trajectory of learning.