Do You Belong Here?
If you are interested in taking an active role as a founder for the Open School please contact us. We are open to new members!
If you are interested in taking an active role as a founder for the Open School please contact us. We are open to new members!
Beth has been involved in educational initiatives for 15 years in both Dallas, TX, and Rochester, NY. She has served on the boards of public and alternative schools. She has been an education consultant, tutor, teacher and administrator in the private, public and alternative sectors.
With a 5-year-old daughter in kindergarten, Beth is actively engaged in the community in helping to improve the access and availability of quality, democratic, meaningful/real-life and expeditionary/discovery learning for all students. She is a strong proponent of authentic and self-assessment versus standardized testing. Beth has witnessed in her students and child that confidence, motivation, skill and a love of learning are developed when she and students work together to source the space and tools necessary to perform their own research into the world around them.
Having a background in education, training/development and business/marketing helps Beth to understand the needs of the world and help her own child develop into an individual with a real sense of community.
I was drawn to the open invitation to help start this unique school because of what I had learned over the years from books on progressive parenting. Books like Alfie Kohn's Punished by Rewards and Unconditional Parenting, Jean Liedloff's The Continuum Concept, Aletha Solter's The Aware Baby and Helping Young Children Flourish, and Scott Noelle's Daily Groove newsletter taught me, among other things, that children (and people in general) thrive on self-determination and lack of compulsion. I was excited to think that my children could continue their learning journey in an environment similar to what they have at home: a place where their innate love of learning would be nourished, and not eroded by rewards and punishments and other methods of coercion; where they would continue to learn about the value of community, and not be bombarded by messages, subtle or overt, that one must win out over others; where they would be free to go where their passions take them, and not be compelled to trudge to the next mandatory class when the bell rings. I have thoroughly enjoyed witnessing my daughters' inquiry into the world around them. Part of my job is to ensure that it is always a joy and never becomes a chore. And if all children had an opportunity like the Open School of Rochester, what a different world we would live in!
I attended Indiana University in Bloomington where I received a BA in Latin with a minor in Linguistics. My interests include a never-ending exploration into living more naturally, participating in the efforts of the Rochester Area Birth Network to ensure women's access to healthy birth options, and sitting in the backyard with my husband watching our kids romp and squeal. I live just south of Rochester, New York, with my one-in-a-million husband and our two lively and curious daughters, ages 5 and 3.
Location: Village of Spencerport
Email: carlana@gmail.com
Education Backgroup: University of Rochester. Chemical Engineering and Mathematics. Interest in Economics and Art. Fluent in spanish.
Children: Sarah, born 25th of September 2007.
Inspiration: Aletha Solter - The Aware Baby and Tears and Tantrums: What to Do When Babies and Children Cry; John Bradshaw - 'Bradshaw on: the family' the video series; Maureen Murdock - The Heroine's Journey; Scott Noelle - Daily Groove newsletter (view example); Practicing EC with Sarah.
Reasons for participating: After having my first child I have been exposed to literature regarding learning and the different settings children learn in. I went to a conventional school and never really questioned the validity of their methods until I read about unschooling. For the first time I heard a realistic description of schools in our society. I hope my daughter can be in a setting that allows interaction with other children while valuing her individuality and interests.
Alex holds a BA in Computer Science from the University of Rochester, and has been teaching high-school students for the past six years. He has two children, and originated the idea of an "open" school for the Rochester area when faced with the question of how his kids should receive their own education. He was first inspired by the writings of John Taylor Gatto, and further by Neil Postman and John Holt. Besides computers and eduation reform, Alex also has an avid interest in history, particularly the history of science, warfare, and exploration. In his spare time, he enjoys hiking, biking, star-gazing, and role-playing games.
Childbirth, nursing, and responding to my children's needs as they grow has taught me a lot about trust: trust in my body and in my children - a trust I most recently found well expressed in Parenting with Grace. I love the concept of unschooling, because it cultivates our natural state of curiosity rather than insisting that we would refuse learning if it weren't thrust upon us.
It was my husband's idea to start the school. With ten years of teaching experience between us, we'd seen enough to know what was wrong with schools as they are, and to want something better not just for our own children, but our students, or kids like them. Reading The Underachieving School, Summerhill School, and Dumbing Us Down helped me define and articulate these problems, and the videos Voices from the New American Schoolhouse and Free to Learn helped me visualize the solution my husband was proposing.
Our two young children learn constantly and with pleasure, and I never want that to end for them. For myself, I'm rediscovering my own powers to learn, thanks to The Teenage Liberation Handbook. After reading that, I realized that I'm not dead yet (even if I am far from being a teenager) and I can still learn French and how to play guitar if I want.
In my parenting circles, I volunteer with The Mamatoto Project and Diaper Free Baby. In my academic/professional life I am an alumna of University of Rochester and hold a MFA in Fiction from George Mason University. I teach English at Monroe Community College and live in the illustrious Nineteenth Ward.
I'm a former Bostonian, but I've lived in Rochester since 1989. I am a family physician and worked at the University of Rochester family medicine residency program until my son, now 5 years old, was born. I also have a 20 year old daughter. We are a vegetarian family, home organic gardeners, grow a fair amount of our vegetables (especially in the summer) and bake much of our bread. Two winters ago we set up a cold frame. It's truly magical picking salad greens in the snow!
As a high school student I read Summerhill, and then everything I could find that A.S. Neil had ever written. I went on to read John Holt. More recently I've been reading Alfie Kohn. I'm the veteran of many years of schooling, and teaching, and it's left me a with a strong conviction that conventional schooling damages the intrinsic drive to learn that is inherent in everyone.
My daughter was homeschooled during a year in Boston after six weeks in a bad-fit school situation. The homeschool community there was very unschool focused. I was very attracted to the idea of unschooling, but also terrified that my daughter wouldn't learn anything when I pulled her out of second grade. I decided that I could give us a year and that it would be OK if she didn't learn anything for just one year. That let me relax and take a deep breath and just not worry. I read lots of John Holt for myself, and stories to her. In the end of course she learned a lot, and learned enthusiastically, and from that I learned a lot.
I'm excited about participating in the development of a school community that supports each individual's autonomy and drive to learn.
What is learning? What does it look like? And more importantly, what *can* it look like? A recent example that comes to mind is the image of my toddler running into the wind, his arms outstretched toward the flurry of "helicopter" seed pods swirling down from the trees and onto his head. What a lesson in how seeds travel! And he's only 19 months old! Other examples I recently witnessed as part of the Open Learning Foundation's Pioneer Program include: a group of children of various ages, excitedly creating their own methods to make rainbows appear on the wall using a flashlight and a glass of water; 2 children, using recycled tin cans and rubber bands to build instruments and make their own music; one child pretending to be her most favorite animal, a cat, playing with a ball of string under the table. Learning happens all of the time, all around us, and in more ways than could ever be expressed in words. I believe the most joyful learning, the learning that stays with us throughout our lives, is the learning that occurs when we have the freedom to choose what we are learning about, and how.
My own education (formal and informal), along with my experiences working and learning with children, has led me to believe that non-compulsion is essential to joyful learning. I've worked as a special educator at School of the Holy Childhood, been a nanny, a daycare teacher, and taught yoga to children in both classrooms and summer camps. Currently, being part of the Pioneer Program has been a wonderfully exciting experience of learning with children in a non-compulsory, student directed environment. More than anything else, becoming a parent to my amazing, curious, exuberant and beautiful son River has shown me firsthand how learning unfolds naturally, especially when allowed to happen without the interference that often occurs in typical school settings.
My parenting and educational philosophies have been greatly influenced by the work of Naomi Aldort, Alfie Kohn, and John Holt, among others. I also have a BA in sociology, certifications in elementary and special education, and I am a registered yoga teacher. I have many passions in life, including children, cultural studies, yoga, gluten-free cooking, reading, and more...But, perhaps my greatest passion is a love of learning. I so enjoy researching new subjects to share with others, especially children. I am excited to continue my own learning journey with the students of the Pioneer Program, and am thrilled to see what learning *can* look like when encouraged to happen freely and joyfully.
There is a line in a Cat Stevens song that goes, "From the moment I could talk, I was ordered to listen." That pretty much sums up what I believe is wrong with the conventional attitude toward childhood and education. I believe in the Open School because it aims to create a learning environment that celebrates learning, curiosity, and our natural sense of wonder instead of forcing knowledge upon children through coercive means.
My own experience with self-directed learning began after I finished high school. I decided that instead of going to college, I wanted to explore the world the way I'd always wanted to. In the three years after school, I walked a long section of the Appalachian Trail, spent a summer volunteering at a battered women's shelter, recorded an album of original songs, traveled around the country visiting national parks, worked as a volunteer at a reforestation program in Haiti, and spent a year of service through Americorps teaching elementary school. (I'm still very grateful to my parents for supporting me through this time, even though the thought of me not going to college was scary for them, especially at first.)
After those three years of exploration, I had discovered my own capacity as a learner and my passion for science. I attended Sterling College (the smallest 4-year college in the country) where I eagerly dove into classes and earned a B. A. in Ecology.
Over the past several years, I've spent a lot of time working in public schools trying to incorporate my philosophy of self-directed learning into my teaching. While working with middle school students in Asheville, North Carolina, I started a mentor program, connecting students with community members. I had students interview and spend time with professional athletes, musicians, chefs, authors, cheerleaders, actors, lawyers, and many others.
Presently, I am pursuing a master's degree in Education with certification in Earth Science Education. I hope to be a teacher that can foster my student's natural sense of wonder and curiosity by supporting them as they learn about themselves and their world.