Use Your Words
By Madison Siwak, Class of 2016 Editor’s Note: At graduation, we invite our students to share a performance, speech, or story that reflects the uniqueness of their educational journeys. This speech by 15-year-old graduate Madison Siwak describes the power of words and offers inspiration for anyone who feels they have something important to say. Excerpts 00:00:01 — Words are […]
A Science Lesson to Remember
By Gabi Kunoff, Campus Student (Olders, Grades 9–12) As a student who went through traditional schooling for the majority of my life, having the ability to experience Clonlara School’s hands-on learning style has opened my eyes to the many ways children of all ages can be educated. In a recent lesson, my fellow campus students […]
Developmentally Appropriate Schools = Well-Developed Brains
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]By Barbara Robertson, Clonlara School Parent At a recent conference in Philadelphia, I attended a session that suggested most neo-intensive care unit (NICU) environments are not developmentally appropriate for premature babies. That is not to say the care these units provide is not critical, but that in many cases the environment is not optimal to […]
Solving the Case of the Boring Science Lesson
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]By Carol Caraccia, Off-Campus Program Advisor Who doesn’t love a good mystery? With the popularity of television crime shows today, forensic science can be a fun and different twist on traditional science subjects for students of all ages. It challenges creative reasoning and problem-solving skills, and it provides a more hands-on approach to learning through […]
The Student Is the Curriculum
By Pat Montgomery, Founder Editor’s Note: From time to time, we’ll “look back” through our archives to share articles that are as relevant today as when they were printed. In this piece that was originally published in the January 1999 issue of The Learning Edge, Clonlara’s founder discusses the power of letting students’ interests, not textbooks, […]
Perspectives on Homework
By Bev Munday, Director of Education Alfie Kohn, education theorist and author of The Homework Myth, has described homework as “a case of all pain and no gain” and said, “The disadvantages of homework are clear to everyone: exhaustion, frustration, loss of time to pursue other interests, and often diminution of interest in learning.” Like […]
Bringing Learning to Life Through “Living Books”
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]By Shari Maser, Off-Campus Program Advisor I’m 49 years old. I don’t remember everything I learned in school, but what I remember most isn’t information I studied in textbooks or was exposed to via what my daughter describes as “consume-information-and-regurgitate-it” activities. Instead, everything I remember was rooted in a story of some kind—a story that […]
The Ingredients of a Learning Environment
By Chandra Montgomery Nicol, Executive Director What does it take to create a space for learning like Clonlara School’s campus in Ann Arbor, Michigan? That’s a question often asked by our colleagues in Clonlara’s 11 international offices and affiliates for which I have no set answer. I don’t know of an exact science for determining […]
The New Workplace
By Pat Montgomery, Founder Editor’s Note: From time to time, we’ll “look back” through our archives to share articles that are as relevant today as when they were printed. In this piece that was originally published in the December 1990 issue of The Learning Edge, Clonlara’s founder offers support and encouragement to anyone who wants to […]
Uncommon to Our Core
By Stefanie Weyand, Campus Teacher (Olders, Grades 9–12) and Clonlara Graduate A paradigm shift is happening in the United States. Americans are beginning to doubt the Prussian style of education that has been the common way of teaching our children. Brought to us by Horace Mann, who could have only dreamed of advancements like the […]