Michael Strong is most recently the founder of expanseonline.co, a virtual secondary school program. He is an experienced school creator whose projects include Moreno Valley High School, a charter school in New Mexico ranked the 36th best public school in the U.S. by Newsweek; Winston Academy, a school for highly gifted students in Florida who successfully completed AP exams; and The Academy of Thought and Industry, the high school model for the largest U.S. Montessori network. He is the author of The Habit of Thought: From Socratic Seminars to Socratic Practice and Be the Solution: How Entrepreneurs and Conscious Capitalists Can Solve All the World’s Problems.
Key Takeaways:
1:16 Michael Strong’s common and significant components among the schools he has built.
3:18 Describing Expanseonline program and its role in helping middle-schoolers.
5:40 The trend of online learning and how community building can still be present among kids.
9:09 Advice to conventional parents forced to do homeschooling in this time of pandemic.
13:40 Socratic approach to learning vs. Traditional schooling
17:57 Developing High Level Academic skills of kids and how it can help in lowering the suicide rate.
19:18 Learn the 3 Techniques towards Intellectual Dialogue
30:43 Incremental Progress and Expectation on maintaining kid’s engagement.
35:41 Develop Critical Thinking in the Era of Disinformation.
41:23 Establishing trust and vulnerability in group dynamics through the lens of Socratic Discussion.
49:55 Identifying the type of student who thrives in the Socratic approach.
53:11 Understanding the balance among diverse human principles.
Quotes:
“Young people are finding lots of social options online. I think there is something about having your core learning community, be part of your social community.”
“Well, we can’t get the physical, you know, we can’t hug her, we can still have eye contact. it’s imperfect eye contact, but it’s eye contact.”
“ Our job is to create a deliberate learning community that also includes that community warrants. “
“I think the notions of love and curiosity take you a certain way of loving the workings of your child’s mind.”
“We underestimate the value of active engagement elsewhere and overestimate the value of schooling.”
“I think instead of saying, Am I doing it right? Our goal is rich intellectual dialogue.”
“The school game is so much about following rules and it’s doing what the teacher tells you.”
“But, you know, in Socratic, as soon as you (as a teacher) start hoping that they’ll (children) come up with a certain answer. Totally. You’ve ruined it. You’ve just ruined it. “
“Personal identity is not just tattoos and piercings or what clothes you wear. The most important kind of personal identity consists of what kind of convictions do we have? What do we stand for?”
“I think love, curiosity, empathy, conquers all, and victim oppression is never a healthy dynamic.”
Social Links:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelstrong1/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/school/expanseonline/
Books:
The Habit of Thought: From Socratic Seminars to Socratic Practice
Be the Solution: How Entrepreneurs and Conscious Capitalists Can Solve All the World’s Problems
Schools:
The Academy of Thought and Industry
Other Links:
TEDx UChicago, “The Creation of Conscious Culture through Educational Innovation”
TEDx GrandRapids, “Innovate: Experience”
TEDx UFM, “Socratic Practice as Disruptive Technology”
Voice & Exit, “Startup Cities”
Blog: “The Purpose of Education is Happiness and Well-Being for All“