Each day I receive recommendations from Medium of articles to read.
It is an excellent service that leads me to some great writing. Each post has a reading time indication.
Today, I followed up on Amanda Ripley’s discussion with Elizabeth Green (10 minutes) about The Smartest Teachers in the World.
Elizabeth shared this short video (1m 05s) from Japan in the post.
I thought it was a great example of wonderful play.
As I watched it I contemplated what Iona and Peter Opie would make of the play taking place.
Elizabeth observed of her experience:
The idea of walking on stilts or struggling with a difficult problem is such a good example because that Japanese recess was like an entrée to Japanese lessons. In both cases, it seemed like the teacher was invisible. But really what was happening is the teacher was making assumptions about the tasks that kids were capable of and structuring an experience for them that would be really engaging.
I have just spent three days at an ECB Conference in England. The theme was Leading to Performance. One of the major conversations there was about player-led leadership. Elizabeth’s video would have been a great trigger for conversation about leadership at an early age.
… now where is my unicycle?
