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Worry is an expression of love

Posted on Nov 05, 2009 - 03:32 PM by Scott Nine in Uncharted Parenting

As a parent of a ten- and two-year old, I continue to be awed and humbled by what parenting asks of me. Whoever said that raising children is like watching your heart move around outside your body was spot on. As an educator who spends my day with other people's kids, I'm also deeply aware of the ways parents and educators can work and grow together as well as the potential impact when we don't.

I've come to love the worry parents feel and often express (including my own). I didn't start there, but as my kids got older and I found my own anxieties arrive at how my son spent his day, I found myself needing to rethink my responses to worry.

The way I see it, the worry a so called...

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Actions Speak Louder Than Sticker Charts

Posted on Mar 04, 2010 - 01:45 AM by Sara Schmidt in Uncharted Parenting

Today my daughter broke my heart.

It wasn't the first time, and it certainly won't be the last. And it wasn't even late in the day!

We were reading, she in my lap, a small toy fish in hers. By small, I mean it was slightly larger than a fingernail; she loves tiny things. This is the same fish that she accidentally broke by pulling of its tail yesterday. I glued it back in place (rather messily; it is tiny, after all) and today, while reading, she tore it in two once again.

Exasperated, I sighed, taking it from her and setting it on the table. "Didn't I just fix this?"

"I'm sorry," she pouted, and she was. "I didn't mean to do it." And she didn't. I saw her absently pull at the little...

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A Glimpse of Compassion in Room 114

Posted on Apr 14, 2010 - 08:27 PM by Claire Russell in Pulse

In my Waldorf grade school, compassion and inspiration were the norm, which was a beautiful thing. However, in my current public high school it is much harder to come by, which is something I dearly miss about my old schooling. Words like "stupid" and "retarded" are thrown around like they mean nothing and like they aren't hurtful. However, every once in a while you can truly see the heart of the student body, and that is precisely what inspires me to write about this.

I never intended to take a band class, but I had heard the teacher was awesome and well loved. So I decided to do it. I play percussion, so I don't always have much to do, but it's great fun just to sit and watch the teacher...

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Nuestra Escuela: A School with a Mission of Love

Posted on Jun 15, 2010 - 01:10 AM by admin in Features

Click on any photo to see its caption.

Love. It’s not a word you hear very often in professional settings. In discussions of education, “accountability” and “achievement” are far more common. It’s as if people are afraid to lose credibility by saying the word “love,” even if it’s what they know, deep down, that children need.

Justo Mendez and Ana Yris Guzman, the founders of Nuestra Escuela (“Our School”) in Puerto Rico, don’t pay this social convention any mind. They will tell you within the first five minutes of meeting you that Nuestra Escuela, the “Center of Sustainable Support for Young People and Their Families,” is based on love. They know that no matter how many resources they...

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Tour of Our Lives

Posted on Apr 11, 2011 - 09:11 PM by admin in The Landscape

Last week 37 educators from 10 states and 4 countries gathered at the headquarters of Project Reach and Fertile Grounds in Manhattan to begin the Institute for Democratic Education in America's (IDEA's) first ever Innovation School tour.

After receiving our Metrocards (this was an all subway all the time tour), and a quick chance to get to know each other, we were off to do what we came to do: see four innovative, breakthrough schools, each with different histories, instructional models and student populations. (Monday: NYC iSchoolThe Green School; Tuesday: Urban AcademyCalhoun School).  We were especially interested in the culture and climate of each school"each one was considered...

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