Inspiring news about children, youth, learning and education


Letters from The Indigo Children waarvan de oudsten nu dertigers zijn

(jan. 2008) In the 80s and 90s of the 20ste century for the first time people started to talk about a new generation of children, sometimes called new age children or Indigo Children, who came here to change the world. Now the oldest Indigos are in their mid-thirties, the internet magazine Spirit of Ma’at took the initiative in early November to send out a questionnaire asking any and all Indigo Children to share their vision and what they are thinking and feeling.
The questions asked were for example:
How do you see the future unfolding?
If you could change the world, how would you change it?
How do you feel about the educational system?
What is the older generation missing?
The very impressive results are now to be read on their website in the december 2007 issue of Spirit of Ma’at. I really enjoyed reading it. So let you inspire by these letterwriters to relly listen to the children!
Letters from The Indigo Children
Questionaire Responses from Indigos

For the next 7 generations: The Grandmothers speak

(dec. 2007) Many indigenous people were used to make their decisions not only thinking about themselves and their own generation, but also for their children, grandchildren and greatgrandchildren and so on, in short for the next 7 generations. Many indigenous people also know the same prophecy: "When the Grandmothers from the four directions speak, a new time is coming." In october 2004 this prophecy seemed to have become reality when for the first time 13 indigenous wise elder women from around the globe came together to share their wisdom. Since then they form the International Council of Thirteen Indigenous Grandmothers. Trailers of the documentary about them can be viewed on youtube:
1. For the next 7 generations: The Grandmothers Speak
2. Scenes from the Grandmother’s Gathering in Dharamsala, India, oct. 2006: (1) On the road to Dharamsala, (2) Tibetan Refuge children make a movie about the Grandmothers. Photografy and storytelling seem to be good ways to bring children and people from different cultures together. (3) The 13 Grandmothers meet the Dalai Lama.
3. More trailers for the movie are on this website: www.forthenext7generations.com
Read more about this in the book Grandmothers Council the World by Carol Schaefer (2007)

Teenagers in England creating a break through in learning

(oct. 2007, after Soleira Green) This past week BBC3 produced a wonderful reality tv show called 'Leave Us Kids Alone.'  Twelve teenagers with a passion to improve education for young people today were given a whole school to run for three weeks.  They had thirty kids, aged 12, to teach for this three week period.  While the first week was definitely rocky and the teenagers were being teenagers, by week three it was breathtaking to watch them come together as a team to create a new style of learning.
At the end of the third week, their students were tested and achieved above average scores on the subjects they'd taught.  But better than that, parents were reporting that their twelve year olds couldn't wait to get out of bed in the morning to go to school and that when they came home at night they'd enthusiastically tell them about the amazing new things they'd learned in history, math and other subjects.
What worked was:
1. The teenagers had a real passion for having learning be fun, exciting and memorable.  They took the time to find new ways to get the kids to learn.
2. They weren't trying to be professional with their students.  They were befriending them while still maintaining authority AND having fun together. 
3. Hanne, the young woman who finally became the school head in week three, was awesome to watch.  Her leadership skills at the young age of 19 were awesome. 
What didn't work was:
1. They tried working without timetables and schedules and found that the students preferred having some structure to follow.
2.  Some of the team didn't like pitching in, especially in the mornings, to get things ready to roll, so it was often others who had to catch up the missing gaps when a teacher didn't show up for their class.
While the BBC will broadcast the whole thing from beginning to end there are a few of the clips from the earlier part (week one and two) on youtube:
Natasha teaches math ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mi6aw0u5o3M)
Liam teaches sex education http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mWq3plmgJ9I
Amy teaches Adult Education http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k13CyziJs2g
Let's hope someone in a teaching or school head role has seen this and can implement some of the wonderful breakthroughs that these young people initiated. 

The world is changing

(aug. 2007) The world is changing and we can all contribute and play our unique role. Look at:
1. A 6 year old little girl, Connie Talbot, singing on 'Britain's Got Talent' a complete diva rendition of 'Somewhere Over the Rainbow'?  Be prepared to be awed!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QWNoiVrJDsE&mode=related&search=
2. 4 year old Hunter Hayes who brilliantly plays an accordion and sings with a country and western band to a huge audience:  http://www.2cme.cc/real/index.asp?video=9694  
3. Take a look at The Shift Movie and watch - amidst Desmond Tutu, Al Gore, Marianne Williamsen, Deepak Chopra - for global youth activist Derrick Ashong at the end of the film for his wonderful view of new visionary leadership: http://theshiftmovie.com 
Derrick Ashong: “… The world is going to change. The only question is now will the change be to the better or to the worse. And that’s entirely up to you.  (…) It’s not only your responsability, it’s your joy, it’s your blessing, your gift! It’s your opportunity to make your life mean something. So take it.”

Ken Robinsen and the importance of creativity in education

(june 2006) British creativity expert Ken Robinsen spoke in february 2006 about the importance of creating an educational system that stimulates creativity instead of undermining it: http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/view/id/66


The movie with the talk of Severn Suzuki

Severn Suzuki is the girl of ECO, the Environmental Childrens Organisation (a small group of children, 12 to 14 years old) who addresses the VN Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro in 1992: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5g8cmWZOX8Q