Dear Reader, How's your summer going? Hot? Smoky? I hope you're finding rest. It's been a busy couple of months at work - and not only in the online Studio. Susan and I have been enjoying some rare opportunities to spend real time with teachers in-person all along the Pacific Ocean. We started summer by heading south for a couple of days with the staff of Evergreen Community School in Santa Monica as they reflected on their year and considered their core principles. This week, we headed north...

Dear Reader, Today in The Studio, Matt wrote: On a deep level, we recognize - we treasure - that we live in dependence. And yet, in our work, this almost comes across as pejorative. I've often seen schools highlighting their success in raising independent children. Can you imagine a school advertising its achievement in supporting children to celebrate their dependence? In conversation on another post, Miriam Beloglovsky invited a shift: Perhaps the question is not, "How do we help children...

Dear Reader, As I was wandering bookstores this weekend, I was pretty excited to notice Mac Barnett's new book, Make Believe: On Telling Stories to Children on the front page of the Indie Next flyer - listed as this month's "#1 Great Read" - and yes, I mean on the issue they publish for adult readers! I was excited because I have read this book - and in my opinion, it is one of the best declarations of what it means to hold a strong image of the child that I have ever encountered. That wasn't...