Mary’s Minute
“Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to
climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.”
~Albert Einstein
It seems in society we spend a lot
of time, energy, and money trying to decide how smart people are. This is a deficient model, looking at what is
missing instead of what is present.
Instead of asking, “How smart are you?”
We should be asking, “How are you smart?” One of our goals with classes like STEAM,
Power Hour, and Genius Hour is to build on students’ strengths. We call these efforts passion-based learning,
as we seek opportunities to help all students become the geniuses Einstein
describes. It is important to create
experiences that allow students to be put in situations where they can be
judged by their strengths. One important
part of this is to nurture all talents and abilities, including visual arts, music,
emotional intelligences, athletics, as well as traditional subjects. It isn’t always easy in today’s world, but
Einstein’s words are an important reminder to be cautious about how we sort and
label students. Our students are full of
wonderful strengths, and our goal is to nurture their strengths as we lessen
their weaknesses.
Thanks
for all you do!
Mary
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