We're Heading to Ojai

Thanks to our friend Linda O'Toole, we learned of the Ojai Valley Youth Foundation, which is doing amazing work with young people in the Ojai Valley.  After looking at what they are doing, we just had to go and do a Listening Session. 

Last week, we received board approval, thanks to our intrepid contact at the foundation - Meg Wall - who paved the way for us to come.  Meg has more energy and ideas than most anyone I have met and she loves helping kids - a dynamic combination.

So on May 27th, we will hit Southern California with a three-hour Listening Session beginning at 5 PM.  We cannot wait to meet everyone and listen to what they have to say. Many thanks to the board for making this possible.

Check out their new website - http://www.ovyf.org/index.html to see all of the great programs they are running. One of their newest - Blinc - has been so successful that the Board has asked that it be continued long after it was scheduled to end.

I have never been to Ojai, which is about 80 miles northwest of Los Angeles, but it is surrounded by mountains not far from the Pacific Ocean and is considered to be quite a unique place to live.  Ojai is derived from the Chumash word "Awahai", sounding like Ojai, meaning "Valley of the Moon”. Since Ojai is lined up with an east-west mountain range, it is one of few towns in the world to have the "Pink Moment" occur as the sun is setting. The fading sunlight creates a brilliant shade of pink on the Topatopa Bluffs that stand at the east end of the Ojai Valley. We will see you soon, Ojai.

A Beautiful Quote

"Somewhere among the youth of today are minds capable of discovering ways to world peace, ways to deeper and more fulfilling lives, ways to new appreciations of beauty in art or literature or music, just as there have been minds capable of splitting the atom. Ours is the task of breaking the thought barrier which keeps our young people from realizing their creative potentiality."
                                                                          - Samuel B. Gould

Stella sent me this quote the other day and I loved it!  Young people are the seed of the future and contain everything that is necessary to recreate the world in a way far wiser than it is today. As Samuel Gould says, ours is the task of breaking through the barriers to keeping that knowledge from bearing fruit!

PS   Samuel Brookner Gould (1910-1997) was an American educator prominent for promoting access to education through non-traditional means such as educational television, college teacher-mentor systems, and universities without walls.

Listen to the Children

I think we have found a beautiful supporter of Imagine Learning - at least in spirit anyway (she has yet to meet us)! This is 12 year old Adora Svitak speaking at TED asking adults to listen to young people. Her talk is astounding on one hand and the message couldn't be more true on the other.  We hear you Adora.

Listening

I received this in an email today:

"Our greatest possession is resonance of our own true heart,
and the greatest gift you can give to anyone
is the gift of your listening, attention and love".

Unfortunately, the source was not attributed, but this beautiful statement is very much at the heart of what Imagine Learning is all about.  I awoke this morning thinking about how many of us receive wounds in our early lives. Sometimes these wounds are so deep that parts of us and sometimes most of us are immobilized from growing.  Instead of acting to find ways to heal, we actually just wait.  Sometimes we spend our whole lives waiting for someone to come along and show us how to take away the pain.

This is not a rational telling like we hear from people when we are experiencing doubt about our lives. You've heard the phrase "It's going to be all right", or, "you going to be OK, trust me".  Somehow these are momentarily comforting but they are not the type of comments that help someone who is deeply wounded get up and move forward in their lives.

In the work that Imagine Learning is doing, we are discovering that real listening is walking beside that person, leaving all judgment behind, and opening as completely as possible to their story.  This requires opening in such a way that the person telling the story actually feels your deep presence. Through this, they feel you "hear" their story and then through that, they can begin to hear their own story in a completely different light. In that listening alone, healing begins to take place and they know that they are not alone.

The Listening Sessions we are conducting around the country and the rest of the world are in some small way attempting to do that for young people.  It is our way of giving them a few moments of deep listening, in which they find hope and a sense of connection to themselves, each other and a future they can have a role in designing. It is a way for them to briefly find the "resonance of their own true heart".

Castle Rock...well, Rocks!

We have just completed a Listening Session in Castle Rock, CO where we had a beautiful time with some amazing people.  Nate, Lily, Emmy, Kayla, Tim, and Megan all provided wonderfully creative and thoughtful responses to the questions as well as told the most amazing stories about their lives.

A very special thanks to Tam Hill who made it all possible.  She was a tireless recruiter and helped throughout the process. It was a lively evening that came just after six inches of snow had fallen a couple of days before.  Conversation was stimulating, exciting, moving and delightful.  The paintings turned out beautifully and we are pleased to report they are home safe and sound in San Francisco.

We thank all of you for the amazing participation, time and willingness to share.  We also deeply appreciate your courage, your commitment to changing education, and your passion for life.  Welcome to the growing world of Imagine Learning! Here are their paintings:

Restoring Harmony to Young People

I love how curiosity can lead anywhere... I was reading the book Holy Personal by Laura Chester, which is about private places of worship that individuals create for themselves. Within the book, the author tells the story of an artist, Michael Dowling, who has put a small chapel in a root cellar in his home. It was really amazingly done, but what struck me the hardest was the following part of his story.

Michael had a talent for art at an early age, even drawing things from his subconscious that were symbols that were ages old... however when (and I quote)... he was eight, his art teacher was teaching the class: The Six Steps to a Perfect Tree.

"So there I was, looking out the window, he recalls. It was a beautiful fall day. I had my crayons and I was coloring and coloring - but then she held up my drawing and said to the entire class, 'This is the worst tree I've ever seen a child draw.'

Unbelievable. But the thing was, I believed it. Suddenly everything was split in two - everything had a right and left, light and dark, wet and dry, visible and invisible. It was a time of confusion. My intuitive knowledge got put aside, it's so hard to retrieve that earlier sense of things. I remember showing the bad tree drawing to a little girl across the street, Jane Nicholson. She loved it, so I gave it to her".

Suddenly everything was split in two - everything had a right and left, light and dark, wet and dry, visible and invisible. It was a time of confusion. My intuitive knowledge got put aside...

I believe all young people are born with innocence and a beautiful sense of harmony with the world. They understand from the beginning that everything is one, that we are all connected. Possibility is king and their creativity is alive with their curiosity pushing them to learn at incredible speeds. We may hold the common belief that we grow out of this natural state, but I wonder if it is not the fact that events such as this one that Michael experienced and so eloquently stated, or hundreds of smaller ones, take us to a very different place - that of separation. Separation from parts of ourselves and from those we respect and admire around us.

In the work we must do with our children, healing is required if we are going to help them grow back toward that natural understanding of creative energy, curiosity and oneness with all things.
If we can develop learning journeys that protect their innocence, enable them to find their true gifts and the inner strength to hold on to them as they grow, it will be a joyous future for all of us.

What others are thinking

Kia ora to the IL community.
I've just been reading this Action Spark weblog & really like many of the things the writer says about institutional education. It's very relevant to those of you in the US but, of course, these issues of youth disengagement from education are happening here in NZ, too.

Presently, we are battling massive budget cuts to Adult and Community Education, Early Childhood Education and Education for Sustainability. Our conservative government (National) seems to be tracking NZ away from a course set toward sustainability and life long learning. Educationalists such as myself fear the direction we are taking bodes ill for our future. The government has, however sunk money into private education to the tune of NZ$35 million much to the horror of a number of us - this NZ Herald article captures that.

I do hope that you in the US continue to do some wonderful work with young people searching for a new learning pathway. I may be wrong, but my impression is that there is renewed hope for education right across the US after years of neglect. We're looking forward to hearing from Syd Golston, President of your National Council for the Social Studies, when she speaks at our Social Science teachers conference in Sept. Will keep you posted.

Don Tapscott on Self Organization by Young People

This short video is a wonderful synopsis of the abilities of young people to create dramatic change in the world. It gives a short encapsulation of where we are and then discusses how young people have grown up in technology and thus are capable of using for tremendous good in the world. The video was created for corporate executives to view after NetChange - an event held in Toronto last week, so it might appear a bit odd for our purposes. But if you think about learning as you watch it, you will see the possibilities.

A message from Don Tapscott from SiG @ MaRS on Vimeo.

The ability of young people to self organize has massive implications for education. It is a given in young people's lives, yet it is not an integral part of their learning in schools. We must hold this possibility in deep regard as it is a way for young people to speak with their true voices in a manner that can come from the heart.

Beauty in Small Places

Yesterday, I received this video of a young 17 year old named Declan Galbraith singing a song when he was 9 or ten years old, called "Tell Me Why?" I was literally moved to tears, not only at the message but at his passion for almost demanding an answer to the question.




I researched into Declan a little bit and he was born in 1991 in England. He has been singing for most of his life. He is no longer in school as his performance schedule was too demanding, but he is instead being home schooled. He is mostly known in Europe and Asia, although since I got this in an email, I am sure he has a following here as well.

Declan, a different knowing of ourselves is required. One that - if we were to discover it quite early in our lives - would serve us and all life on the planet well. Then, we would not feel the separation, the loneliness from ourselves and from the Source of life that leads us to do things that lead to the problems you are asking about. This will come, but we are going to need young people, who have found their wisdom at an early age, to help make it happen. You have inspired me and I hope will continue to inspire others to keep asking inside themselves to listen within for the answers. Don't get lost in the glamour and fame, but keep using your voice, which comes from your heart, to raise the questions we need to hear.

Education has to be able to bloom young people who can brilliantly master the problems they are inheriting. As you can see from Declan, they are immensely capable and their potential unlimited. Beauty comes in small places and sometimes with more power and potential than we ever dreamed.

A beautiful new school opens in Aotearoa New Zealand

Today, 9.30am a new school was brought into being by a group of people who share a powerful vision for education that values the whole person and wishes to nurture the 4 quadrants of our beings - the heart/ taha manaaki , the mind/ taha hinengaro, the spirit/ taha wairua and the physical aspects/ taha tinana.
The school, Seven Oaks, is located on an area of land within the city of Christchurch, an area they share with a community organic garden, and so the tamariki's learning will be deeply embedded in the whenua, the land.

This new school presently has only 12 children/ tamariki enrolled but others are waiting in the wings. These pioneering children and their families have begun a wonderful journey of exploration; they have seen a different way of educating the next generation that is affirming and life enhancing. This is the same journey that Imagine Learning is taking with various groups around the globe - so wonderful to know that eventually many more children and young people will be experiencing the joy of learning in environments that nurture them. Kia kaha, kia manawanui to Gaike, Trent, Bruce & others on the initial team, for bringing this vision to fruition.

For more information on The Holistic Education Trust, Seven Oaks School and the Journey to Brilliance visit their website.
I'll keep you posted should there be a newspaper article on the opening in the next few days.