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Vijay Shah – The Limitless Potential of Learners
Vijay is currently the co-founder, director, and a Socratic Guide at The Humanist Academy. Has two Master’s degrees, one in from The University of Chicago (Divinity School), and another in School Leadership and Administration from National Louis University. His professional experience includes teaching high school history and math teacher in inner-city Chicago, he’s also been an assistant principal, […]
Vijay Shah – The Limitless Potential of Learners Read More »
Vijay is currently the co-founder, director, and a Socratic Guide at The Humanist Academy. Has two Master’s degrees, one in from The University of Chicago (Divinity School), and another in School Leadership and Administration from National Louis University. His professional experience includes teaching high school history and math teacher in inner-city Chicago, he’s also been an assistant principal, principal, an adjunct professor (at Loyola University), and he worked briefly with National Geographic leading student expedition trips across the world. One of his most formative experiences was when he spent two years in India studying philosophy and literature at an alternative residential institution near Mumbai. Most importantly though, he’s the loving father of 3 adorable kids, all 5 and under, has a wonderful wife, amazing parents, and a very close knit extended family that have been his backbone and support throughout his life.
Key Takeaways:
00:22 What’s your favorite thing about working with Young Learners?
07:02 Vijay’s origin story on how he decided to do something different.
17:14 Advice to Frustrated and Afraid Parents
23:51 All About the Humanist Academy
27:00 How do you deal with religion?
31:15 How do you train guides?
35:02 How has your school been affected by COVID?
43:25 The Business Fair
44:58 Metaphor that describes conventional schooling versus what you do.
Quotes:
“Let’s take out two things. Industrialized education and behaviorism. This idea that children need adults to jam information into their incompetent, incapable empty vessels. They are full of wisdom, knowledge, and genius, and we need to allow them to, to thrive.”
“Every human being, I believe, is in this world to find their place and to learn about the world and themselves and make an impact – have some meaningful contribution.”
“We’re all human beings. We’re here for a higher purpose. There’s a spiritual element to who we are as beings. And I think that brings out, personally, that’s the greatest part of what we are.”
“Children are far more capable than we can ever imagine.”
“What’s beautiful about the Acton model is that we don’t have teachers that give answers. We have guides who ask questions and nurture curiosity.
Social Links:
Vijay Shah
LinkedIn- https://www.linkedin.com/in/vijay-shah-a156ba27/
Humanist Academy
Website – https://www.thehumanistacademy.org
Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/thehumanistacademy/
Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/thehumanistacademy/
Aaron Eden – Re-humanizing Education
Aaron Eden’s mission is to re-humanize how we work, learn, live, and lead. Aaron is Executive Director at the Institute for Applied Tinkering, the parent organization of Brightworks which is consistently listed as one of the most innovative schools in the world. He is also a founding partner at Eliad Group, a transformation design firm,
Aaron Eden’s mission is to re-humanize how we work, learn, live, and lead. Aaron is
Executive Director at the Institute for Applied Tinkering, the parent organization of
Brightworks which is consistently listed as one of the most innovative schools in the world.
He is also a founding partner at Eliad Group, a transformation design firm, where he works
with schools and businesses around the world to shift from command-and-control to cocreation as the basis for purposeful, innovative endeavor.
He helps start new schools that are trying to re-humanize education, and help existing ones
transform to new paradigms of learning. He also coaches parents and learning facilitators
that are working to support Self-Directed Education in non-formal learning environments.
Key Takeaways:
1:30 Parents to Reconnect with your Why.
10:00 Aaron talks about Adult Power.
28:00 Advice to Frustrated Parents.
30:39 Dealing with Parents who don’t align.
32:40 Two Things to Look for a School
41:30 Entrepreneurial Enterprise Program
45:05 How do you help students without forcing yourself to be in the process?
52:00 Screen Time, COVID and meeting Learners’ Social Needs Health
1:05:02 How do you see College for your kids?
01:07:23 Metaphor that describes Traditional versus your Vision of School
Quotes:
“I believe every human being should be allowed to do whatever it is they’re choosing to do as
long as it’s not hurting somebody else or them in the very short term.”
“The most important thing is that we are consistent in our relating with our kids.”
“I would say the underlying philosophy of all of the work that I do, whether it’s in corporate
spaces and like high-performance teams and all of that, or kindergarten or graduate school,
it’s all the same, which is that when we shift from a language of blame and judgment to a
language of need and appreciation, we all get more of what we want.”
“And sometimes when I don’t finish something, it’s because I’m scared of putting the thing out
into the world and being judged on it.”
“What I think is the beauty of all of this is that the recipe is the same for every challenge,
which is to be honest about why we care.”
“Every kid, every human can choose, how they want to do things and enrich their life. If we
haven’t trained them out of that ability.”
Social Links:
Aaron Eden
LinkedIn- https://www.linkedin.com/in/aaronmeden/
Twitter- https://twitter.com/edunautics
Blog- https://edunautics.com/
Talks
Education Reimagined – Accelerating Innovation: Education Disrupted, Education
Reimagined online conference, WISE and Salzburg Global Seminar
Re-Humanizing Education: Keynote, Inspiration Fest, Goa, 2018
Flip
ping the Script: Foundations for the Future of Education
Entrepreneurial Learning
Self-Directed Education
HOMEBOUND PARENTING – Tools for Thriving (Video Playlist)
RE-THINKING ADULTING / Self-Directed Education Short Topics (Video Playlist)
When Needs Collide – Deschooling and Partnering with Youth #1
The Danger of Talking for Our Kids – Deschooling and Partnering with Youth #2
Finishing What We Start: Deschooling and Partnering with Youth #3:
Chores: Deschooling and Partnering with Youth #4
Conflict: Deschooling and Partnering with Youth #5
Programs
iLead+Design community action studio school
GreenLEAP community action studio program
LEAP Academy: The next generation of school
Interviews
Re-Humanizing Education – Off Trail Learning podcast with Blake Boles
Educators Who Inspire Spotlight Series
Transforming Public Education Podcast
Progressive Education Voice [articl
Jerry Mintz – International Democratic Education
Jerry Mintz is the Founder and Director of the Alternative Education Resource Organization. He was the first executive director of the National Coalition of Alternative Community Schools (NCACS), and was a founding member of the International Democratic Education Conference (IDEC). In addition to several appearances on national radio and TV shows, Jerry’s essays, commentaries, and
Jerry Mintz – International Democratic Education Read More »
Jerry Mintz is the Founder and Director of the Alternative Education Resource Organization. He was the first executive director of the National Coalition of Alternative Community Schools (NCACS), and was a founding member of the International Democratic Education Conference (IDEC).
In addition to several appearances on national radio and TV shows, Jerry’s essays, commentaries, and reviews have appeared in numerous newspapers, journals, and magazines including The New York Times, Newsday, Paths of Learning, Green Money Journal, Communities, Saturday Review, Holistic Education Review as well as the anthology Creating Learning Communities (Foundation for Educational Renewal, 2000).
Key Takeaways:
00:24 Jerry’s Favorite Thing about working with the Young Learners
01:15 Origin Story of Jerry’s Journey to Alternative Education
12:06 Options to Alternative Education
19:09 Demand for Alternative Education in this time of Pandemic
23:17 Democratic Process for Learners
33:12 International Democratic Education Conference (IDEC) and Alternative Education Resource Organization (AERO) Conference
36:01 Frustrated Parents who wants to start something new
40:00 Metaphor comparing Conventional to Alternative Education
45:53 Requirements for a School to be in AERO
Quotes:
“So the whole idea is to make a learner centered approach available to students everywhere. And what I mean by learner-centered, is a program that listens to what the students are interested in and build on their interest rather than curriculum-driven, which is an old model, which is just very, very antiquated. It had its purpose at some point, maybe. But this will help you become a lifelong learner.”
“If kids are natural learners, forcing them to learn things they’re not interested in extinguishes their natural ability to learn.”
“Children are natural learners. If you know that they’re the ones who are bringing the curriculum to you, all you have to do is be a good listener.”
“When you have not stopped kids’ ability to learn, they learn at lightning speed. Unbelievable speed.”
Social Links:
Jerry Mintz
Websites