NAIS+Conference+2008

National Association of Independent Schools Conference 2008

**NAIS NYC**
NAIS was attended by more than 6,000 members of the schoolroom tribe. Granted, the lure of New York may be the reason, but it was still a setting for a lot of earnest conversation and reflection by a lot of smart people dedicated to doing right by kids. The most compelling aspect of it all was the universal conviction that schools and the people who make them go have to be humble enough to look directly and honestly at what they do and what they assume as they head into the classroom. That humility and the creativity touted by Sir Ken Robinson and Daniel Pink at the conference are natural allies. As Robinson said, "Pedagogy is an art form."

Incorporating Pink's principles may be daunting to some; it does, after all require a whole new mind. But some sessions that I attended were reassuring in that they emphasized the need to base change on good things from the past. We know kids, after all, and we know our subjects. One of the positive elements of our work to use as a propellant is our love of whatever it is we teach. Teachers spend their lives with an area of inquiry that they find compelling. Why not look deeply into "that thing that it does" and consider the best ways to share its beautiful complexity?

Let's be connoisseurs and foster connoisseurhood in our students. It's not a stretch to declare that our chosen field appeals to us in its design, in its meaning, in the story that it tells us, and so on. Sharing those elements of a subject is the next step for those who take to heart Robinson and Pink's speeches, in which they lamented the second-class status of creative thinking in most schools.

A link follows that outlines the dangers of not being humble and creative.

Posted by Cheryl McKiearnan 03-03-08

[|How to Prevent Another Leonardo da Vinci]

**Museum of Modern Art (MoMA)**
Exhibit: [|Design and the Elastic Mind]

With over 130 objects, projects and concepts, the exhibit explores the merger of science, math, technology, and art.

From biojewelry, laser textiles and honeycomb vases to nanotechnology’s DNA origami, pheromone dating, and mapping worldwide animal messaging networks, the exhibit engulfs participants in what is not only possible for tomorrow but today as well.

From MoMA’s exhibit description: "It focuses on designers' ability to grasp momentous changes in technology, science, and social mores, changes that will demand or reflect major adjustments in human behavior, and convert them into objects and systems that people understand and use."

The exhibit underscores the need for interdisciplinary curriculum using project-based learning, especially when considering Daniel Pink's six senses.

Click [|here] for the incredible online exhibit. It's well worth a visit. Click [|here] for teaching resources, which can be used with the online exhibit.

Posted by Emily Vickery 03-03-08 [PS I have the book accompanying the exhibit if anyone is interested.]

**Sir Ken Robinson**
Radio City Music Hall was packed. And, for good reason. Robinson’s reputation preceded him.

He served as chair on the report //[|All Our Futures: Creativity, Culture and Education]// way back in 1999. Also known as the Robinson Report, its findings and suggested next steps have dominated British education and business designs. Today, the report’s influence has expanded worldwide.

“Above all, our aim is to urge the need for a national strategy which engages the energies of all of these to provide the kind of education, in substance and in style, that all young people need now, and to enable them to face an uncertain and demanding future.” - //All Our Futures: Creativity, Culture and Education//

His wonderfully engaging 2006 presentation //Do Schools Kill Creativity?// to [|Technology, Entertainment, and Design] (TED) can be viewed [|here]. From TED’s description: “Sir Ken Robinson makes an entertaining (and profoundly moving) case for creating an education system that nurtures creativity, rather than undermining it. With ample anecdotes and witty asides, Robinson points out the many ways our schools fail to recognize -- much less cultivate -- the talents of many brilliant people. "We are educating people out of their creativity," Robinson says. The universality of his message is evidenced by its rampant popularity online. A typical review: ‘If you have not yet seen Sir Ken Robinson's TED talk, please stop whatever you're doing and watch it now.’”

Using the chart //The Decline of Genius//, from the 1968 study by George Land and Beth Jarman, Robinson shared the sobering results of the extent that //we are educating people out of their creativity//.

While 98% of children 3-5 years of age scored at the genius level on the creativity test, only 32% of the same children did so at ages 8-10, and then only 10% did so at 13-15 years of age.

Further, the researchers gave the same test to adults over the age of 25 and only 2% of those participants scored at the genius level.

He also spoke of his work with the [|Oklahoma Creativity Project], which is a statewide initiative to:
 * Establish Oklahoma as The State of Creativity.
 * Empower all Oklahomans to develop their capacities for creativity and innovation.
 * Facilitate the growth of an entrepreneurial economy that will stimulate new careers, companies and industries.
 * Make possible the further development of world-class cultural and educational opportunities.

Robinson is the author of [|Out of Our Minds: Learning to Be Creative (2001).] A teaser from the book: “Technological innovations are driving economic and social change at a faster rate than ever before. In the 150 years since the Industrial Revolution began, the world has been transformed in every way. But the changes we have seen may be as nothing compared with those to come. We are in a deepening revolution in the work people do, who works and for how long, how we relate to each other and how we conceive our own intelligence and abilities. The most extraordinary developments may yet come from the merging of information technologies and human intelligence. These radical transformations call for radical strategies in how we think of and develop human resources."

Ken Robinson writes brilliantly about the different ways in which creativity is undervalued and ignored in Western culture and especially in our educational systems. - John Cleese

It's well worth the time to spend listening to and reading the words of this engaging and provocative thinker.

Posted by Emily Vickery 03-03-08 [PS I have his book if anyone is interested.]