About the Book

Dear Readers,
        
I did not write this book for a specialized market.  The issues it explores are relevant for all of us. We have all been shaped by our educational experiences.

If you are a teacher  I want to encourage you to look deeply at the children in your charge, to question what you are doing  and to ask whether you are protecting and nurturing development of their innate capacities or stunting their growth through undue anxiety and stress. I want to encourage all  dedicated, creative and passionately engaged teachers to  use my book to support what you are doing and to extend the learning trajectories that I (and more importantly, you) imagine.

 If you are a parent consider with me what your children really need to become confident and capable and what kind of future you want for them. Then make sure that they receive all of the elements supporting natural, joyful learning that I describe in my book.

 Finally, if you are a young adult wondering what to do with your “one wild and precious life”, I want you to know that teaching can be the most satisfying of all professions. Also the most fun and the most consistently challenging. I want to inspire you.  Let me know if I do.  

Anne

Available on Amazon Now!  click here

What is Natural Learning?

I recently did a presentation for the Design School for Regenerating the Earth, an international group focused on bioregional regeneration of the natural world and our human communities.  I described nine interconnected activites necessary for the full development of children's capacities. The subsequent discussion was heartwarming.

What I learned from my many years in the classroom is tragically at odds with our current educational reform movement and its reliance on a standardized curriculum with computerized assessments to determine the success of children, teachers and schools. . .Trust Children is my attempt to address this crisis foundationally by looking at children and how they learn in order to understand why so many of our current schools are failing. I also address what we must do instead to transform our public schools into  places where all children and teachers can thrive, learn and develop the capacities and skills necessary to meet the tremendous challenges that will be facing them in the decades ahead.