One of the most anxiety-producing, despair-inducing, frustration-creating aspects of self-directed and noncoercive learning is the fear among adults that kids left to their own devices will do nothing but play video games…or watch YouTube…or go through season after season of shows on Netflix, or…fill in the blank. And that too much of these things, unlike other activities kids choose to … Read More
Fear, Ballet and Magic
Let me explain how this video happened. That’s right – it’s me taking a ballet lesson from our fabulous member Kennedy. For folks who know me, the sight of me doing ballet is as equally surprising as a third ear growing out of my forehead. I lead a class called Be More Awesomer. It deals with the core of what … Read More
Delving Deeply
PLC visited the legendary Princeton Record Exchange recently and had the chance to hear from owner Jon Lambert about how he left high school before graduating and created a path for himself by pursuing what he loved, working hard, self-improvement and perseverance. It reminded us a lot of what Seth Godin has to say in this blog post. Teens who … Read More
The Art of Self-Directed Learning
PLC had the pleasure to invite Blake Boles to give a talk in December on his latest book, The Art of Self-Directed Learning. You can see the entire talk here. I particularly like Blake’s concept of “consent-based learning”—in the same way that medical personnel get consent before helping or treating their patients, educators should have student’s consent before working with them. … Read More