The other day I watched an interview with Dr. Ken Atchity that planted a seed in me that’s been growing for a week or so now.

In the interview, Dr. Ken offered insight into the life of an artist by examining the creative process and comparing how different artists have worked…

“When asking a student what they got out of a class, they often say their grade.” Sir Ken Robinson, Creative Schools

This is tragic. The sad reality is that grading kills creativity. Just writing this will result in me losing some followers, I’m sure of it. That’s ok, it has to be said. To be honest, several years ago even I would have disagreed...

Over the past 10 years, I’ve had the distinct privilege of working with twice-exceptional kids in a variety of manners. What I found is that when I was wearing my academic teacher hat, I was often too rigid and focused on standards, rubrics, and grading. Tragically, I would squeeze the fun out of learning because I was so caught up in what I thought school had to look like.

Education is a funny thing, isn’t it?

When looking at pictures of my dad when he was younger there are 2 trends that appear almost instantly: 

1. He always has a paintbrush or pencil in his hands 

2. Someone is always holding him still for the picture 

He came of age in the 1950s and ‘60s. The trouble was that mid-century schools didn’t get my dad and his complex learning profile. He was highly verbal, creative, energetic, athletic, and gifted in the arts, while simultaneously having ADHD and dyslexia.  At the time, there wasn’t an understanding of cognitively diverse learning profiles. In fact, there still isn’t… 

The 2008 recession gave birth to ride-sharing, home-sharing, food trucks, cryptocurrencies, content-streaming, and a great many other transformative inventions that we've become so familiar with that it's hard to imagine life without them.

Remember when we used to watch cable? I don't miss it, do you?

Have you seen this cartoon before? The teacher is asking all of these uniquely talented animals to take the same assessment.

It’s painfully obvious that the elephant, the goldfish, the crow, and the monkey all have very different strengths and areas for growth, right?