There were over 20 people from Rainbow Mountain Children’s School at the Sir Ken Robinson lecture last night, and we were all inspired — actually, validated, is a better word for it. Validated to know that the style of education we have been doing for 34 years at Rainbow, is now considered visionary, cutting edge, and the direction education needs to go nationally.
One of Sir Ken’s points that really stuck with me was when he answered a question by saying, “It’s about Spirit.” He clarified that he was referring to energy. Great teachers are energized by the children and by the material they are teaching. It resonates with their spirit. They also recognize what is special about each child, and they use that. For example, a child who habitually hums would be given more singing instruction and asked to lead songs for the class.
When asked to describe the perfect school, he might as well have been describing Rainbow: A school with strong underlying structure (as Ken said “creativity can only happen within structure”) and an ability to allow both kids and teachers to be creative in all subjects.
Here is another great Sir Ken Robinson talk:
