How People Learn

How do you teach students to be life long learners?  I find myself often wondering how many of my students have hidden talents.  I know that the "traditional" classroom and learning environment isn't the best fit for most of the students we serve.  That's why we have been innovative in creating outdoor education opportunities, service-learning and committing to the arts.  I think about Bill Gates who didn't finish school yet went on to become a major success.  I wonder how many times we stress doing well academically in school, when in the end, it may be a limiting factor in how to measure our students knowledge, success and ideas.

I was a little surprised that the data showed that students only spend 14% of their time in school.  I would've said they spent 1/2 their time in school and the other half at home.  I believe in community building and look to finding more ways to connect the two.  Then I wonder how much of what the students learn at school, really gets taken home, applied or shared with their families and communities because of what is really going on at home.  There are so many other things students are surrounded by when the leave school.  What then becomes important and how do you bridge that gap?