by Renee Owen | Apr 1, 2014 | Director's Blog
Why create innovators?
Rainbow’s mission statement ends by saying we are developing students who will be “leaders in building a more compassionate and environmentally sustainable world.”
Anyone enrolling their child at Rainbow must resonate with the urgency of this goal. One would have to have blinders on to ignore the stream of evidence and quotes from leading scientists, sociologists and experts in almost every field who declare that sustainability is the most important vision for human survival.
From Tony Wagner, “The solution to our economic and social challenges is the same: creating a viable and sustainable economy that creates good jobs without polluting the planet. And there is general agreement as to what that new economy must be based on. One word: innovation.”
This is a three-part Heart of the Matter on preparing children to be innovators. In the first part, we will explore how rapidly our world is changing and try to adjust our own thinking to the new paradigm of innovation. In Part Two we will examine why innovation is important and how innovators are developed. Finally, in Part Three we will unveil the barriers to innovation in our current traditional school system and society. We will understand the methods Rainbow uses to encourage innovation, and how parents can support that effort at home.
Download the rest of Part I here
Innovation Generation Part II
by Renee Owen | Mar 25, 2014 | Blogs, Director's Blog
Heart of the Matter – Innovation Generation Part II
In this issue, Executive Director Renee’s article is titled “Educating the Innovation Generation Part II: What Encourages Innovation?”
Most people assume that creativity and innovation are qualities that a person is born with – that there are an extremely small percentage of people, perhaps, 1 in 1,000,000 who are creative geniuses.
These creative individuals are the inventors and visionaries, but only if they are also given the proper circumstances and have the courage to buck a system that may do everything it can to squash creativity. The rest of us move throughout our mediocre lives which are interrupted occasionally by an invention or new paradigm that radically changes the way we function or think.
Download the rest of Part II here
Innovation Generation Part III
by Renee Owen | Mar 22, 2014 | Director's Blog
Educating the Innovation Generation, Part 3
an article by Rainbow Community School Director, Renee Owen
In the first of this three part series, we defined innovation as creative problem solving that is useful. We gained perspective on the new generation of students, and learned that innovation will be required of 21st Century students entering the work force. In fact, some posit that innovation will be required to save the human race, given the grave circumstances we find ourselves in, with issues such as global warming, diminishing natural resources, and the growing divide between the rich and poor.
In Part II we explored Tony Wagner’s concepts in his book Creating Innovators: The Making of Young People Who Will Change the World, in which he defines Play, Passion, and Purpose as the three qualities people, schools, and work place environments need to have in order to encourage innovation. In this third part, we will discuss barriers to innovation, and then in Part IV we will look at one particular school, Rainbow Community School, which has designed an educational program that encourages innovation.
Download the rest of part III here.
by Renee Owen | Mar 8, 2013 | Director's Blog, Heart of the Matter, News
Without equivocation, Rainbow Mountain Children’s School is a unique learning environment. Everyone knows it the minute they step onto campus. Although Americans would find Rainbow’s education very different compared to American prep schools, it is not at all unusual compared to Scandinavian schools. Read More
by Renee Owen | Nov 4, 2011 | Director's Blog, Heart of the Matter, News
Gifted is an uncomfortable term. It seems to imply that some children are born with more gifts than others, and therefore, are more important or more special. The Multiple Intelligence Theory used at Rainbow Mountain recognizes that all children have gifts in various areas. One child may have musical gifts, while being kinesthetically challenged, for example. A child who may not consider herself to be academically gifted, per se, shines because they are talented in some other area, such as interpersonal skills, and at Rainbow, she will feel special for who she is. Our school’s mission is for all children to have the opportunity to discover and develop their personal gifts and talents.
This article is specifically about educating children who are academically gifted. A large proportion of our population at Rainbow Mountain is academically gifted.
Read entire article here.
