Gever Tulley

Another inspirational person I discoverd through TED.
I had heard the fuss in the media about the book '50 dangerous things (you should let your kids do) but had/have never read it, but it had obviously sunk in enough for to me to remember Gever Tulley's name. So when I saw he had a couple of TED talks I watched them. This was the first one.



I love this approach. Although I was never brave enough to have power tools in my early years class rooms (I doubt my school would have been too keen either), the kids did use real tools. I remember being very anxious the first time I had hammers and saws out, but the children were brilliant. It was one of those activities that guaranteed focus and enthusiasm.  And since becoming a mum and making friends with people much more able than me my little boy has had lots of fun..

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I think children getting to experience these activities and watch skilled people use these tools for real purposes is so valuable. I wish I had more opportunities like that when I was young. 

I became a bit of a Gever fan, he seemed to be on a similar journey to me in regards to questioning todays schooling. Another of his TED talks was Reimagining Education. This talk goes through the modern school system as well as looking into other options including "unschooling." I had always been quite prejudiced about the idea of home schooling but after reading some of John Holt's books and talking to friends had I become interested in, and sympathetic to the approaches. There were a couple of quotes from this speech than have stuck with me and inspire me to keep thinking.

"Nothing is better than public school"

"It's time to do less, and by doing less allow children to do more."

Gever Tulley has then gone on to open a school, Brightworks in San Fransisco.
This is the description of the school from their website;

Brightworks is a school that reimagines K-12 education. By taking the best practices from both early childhood education and hands-on, project-based experiential learning, we strive to meet students’ needs in a flexible, mixed-age environment that breaks the traditional walls between school and the community outside the classroom. We offer a broad-spectrum learning environment designed to encourage creative capacity, tenacity, and citizenship.

Sounds fantastic, doesn't it?