You Should Read… (November 20, 2011)

Video is such a powerful tool to spread messages and share some amazing stories.  I would love to share two videos that inspired me this week, along with a cry for “play” in the classroom, to assure that we continue to inspire innovation in our children.

1.  If we don’t let our children play, who will be the next Steve Jobs? – In this awesome Huffington Post piece that was shared with me as I continue to work on my video for “play”, the author shows the belief that we have to be open to the true messiness of learning and be comfortable in an environment that is unstructured:

We are raising today’s children in sterile, risk-averse and highly structured environments. In so doing, we are failing to cultivate artists, pioneers and entrepreneurs, and instead cultivating a generation of children who can follow the rules in organized sports games, sit for hours in front of screens and mark bubbles on standardized tests.

We say we’re “protecting” our children. We say we’re setting them up to “succeed.” Really, we’re doing neither, and we’re letting an entire generation down. The most fitting way to honor Jobs’ legacy? Let our kids outside to play.

In my own time that I have spent on this topic, I really believe that we should never limit kids to what we think they should be learning or even what we think they know.  This post exemplifies those thoughts.

2.  Kevin Spacey on Desire – I shared this video of Kevin Spacey speaking to a group of actors and his quote really resonated with me on the work we should be doing with students to help guide them in their futures:

To *want* and to be ambitious and to want to be successful is not enough. That’s just desire. To know what you want, to understand why you’re doing it, to dedicate every breath in your body, to achieve . . . If you feel that you have something to give, if you feel that your particular talent is worth developing, is worth caring for, then there’s nothing you can’t achieve.”

Check out the video below:


3.  Thomas Suarez : iPhone Application Developer and 6th Grader – This TedX talk by a young student is both inspiring and  powerful in the message that he has about the power of his own learning.  Watch this kid share genius in his own personalized learning

As the snow continues to fall in Alberta, I hope that everyone has a wonderful and warm week!


cc licensed ( BY NC SD ) flickr photo shared by weaknechtc

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