Kids Say the Darndest Things

My wife was chatting on the phone with her mother, speaking in Spanish, interspersing the conversation with the name of my daughter. I turned to my 3 year old daughter and said, "You're going to have to learn Spanish." She replied, "Que?"

My kid, like many of my students, is constantly surprising me with her quick thought and information processing, as well as her impeccable comedic timing.

And as her dad, I know my responsibility is to feed her stimulating, intellectual opportunities so that she can go forward to create, participate, and share with the world, while squeezing in the occasional stand-up at Dangerfields.

At the Edgewood lunchtime Media Club, we give our students time to explore and create. Two students in Mrs. Huang's 5th grade class came to the lab, opened up the Garageband audio editing software, which they were using in Ms. Forte's music class, and created the Circuit Rap. This song was a reflection of their classroom lesson on electricity.

I find that the key to positive learning is teaching basic skills, then giving kids time and opportunity to practice and discover. And when they discover, as a researcher, I learn so much.

Adora Svitak is a 12-year old author, public speaker, and according to the media notes, a child prodigy. She agrees that "learning between grownups and kids should be reciprocal."

She recently spoke at a TED conference. TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, and Design and these conferences bring in speakers who have ideas that are deemed worthy of sharing with the world.

This tender-aged presenter is a gifted and polished public speaker. And her ideas are compelling, although not new to every educator.

She reminds her audience, consisting primarily of adults, "The way progress happens is because new generations and new eras grow and develop and become better than the previous ones. It's the reason we're not in the Dark Ages anymore. No matter your position or place in life it is imperative to create opportunities for children so we can grow up and blow you away."

Take a few moments to watch her presentation. She'll blow you away.