How Children Learn.  Children are wired to learn; their survival depends on it.​

Relationship is the crucible for learning. ​

Build Community. Our sense of community was the sheath in which capacities for empathy and a sense of shared responsibility could grow. 
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Tell Them A Story. Stories form the scaffolding for our lives.​

The Arts Are Not Extra:  The arts are essential to education; without them we risk losing our souls as well as our biosphere.​

We Learn Through Asking (But Not Necessarily Answering) Questions.
Being able to ask probing questions, listen thoughtfully to others and follow a line of inquiry in a group discussion is an art that merits daily practice. 
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We Learn By Experiencing. It's way easier to learn things, and to remember and use things, when you learn it by yourself.”Aiden Croft, 7th Grade, Hood River Middle School.​

Raise Wild Children.  Children must learn to love the natural world and its denizens, not on computer screens or in zoos, but in what is left of the wild. Their health depends on it.​

Let's Celebrate:  This is the sensibility that I wished to arouse  in myself and in my students– the sense that life is a miracle, absolutely worth saving and defending and that we must participate in life with reverence and gratitude for what we receive.​