Thursday, August 12, 2010

Developing talents and passions

Summer reading for Parker teachers is The Element by Sir Ken Robinson, and Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson. Please read them along with us! 

"The world is changing faster than ever in our history.  We need to evolve a new appreciation of the importance of nurturing human talent along with an understanding of how talent expresses itself differently in every individual.  We need to create environments -  in our schools, in our workplaces and in our public offices - where every person is inspired to grow creatively."  ~ Sir Ken Robinson

As Sir Ken says, there is a breathtaking diversity of human talent and passion and an extraordinary potential for growth and development.

I look around me during summer camp and the school year, and I see teachers nurturing creative growth and appreciating the vast diversity of ways that children show their talents and passions.  At camp it shows in the delight of cooking a marshmallow, following a hopping frog in the underbrush, building things in the woods, or holding a friend's hand.