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The most important thing is to establish an education
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through which human beings learn once again
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how to live with one another.
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The most important thing is to establish an education
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through which human beings learn once again
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how to live with one another.
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The author of this quote, Rudolf Steiner,claimed that in the future
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no human being will be able to rest if they know that another human being in the world is in pain.
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How do we educate children now to accelerate this very powerful goal?
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Teach subjects imaginatively and artistically
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so that students are encouraged to think independently and creatively.
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Teach so that students make heartfelt connections to subject material,
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so that they love science, math and history.
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Teach students to work together,
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to forge meaningful and caring relationships with each other, their school, their community and their world.
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Why?
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Because the world needs people who have heartfelt thinking.
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Because we need people who feel connected to their community and care about their community.
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We need people who have the fortitude and the will
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to actually to get out into the world and to do the good work.
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I believe every teacher can accomplish this goal in every classroom.
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Rather than animating computer screens, let's encourage animated conversation in the classroom.
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Rather than assign boring textbooks, let's bring the past back to life through the art of telling his story as well as telling her story.
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Rather than teaching to and stressing over standardized tests,
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let's activate deep critical thinking and problem solving.
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(Applause)
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Let's transform mainstream education so that every student engages
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academically, artistically, physically and socially.
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So here are two academic lessons: one math and one history.
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How do we get fourth grade students to engage and be excited about fractions?
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How do we get them to wrap their minds around a fractioned number,
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a number less than one?
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We teach fractions concretely and artistically.
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So in mainstream workbooks you've probably seen how pizzas
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pizza slices are used to demonstrate fractions.
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Well, if you really want to get your students' attention,
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bake a whole pizza pie from scratch with them in the classroom.
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Let them see the whole pizza and then devour it fractionally.
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Abstract concepts made concrete.
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Students completely immersed and bellies full.
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Try teaching fractions through music.
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So in my class, in grades one through three,
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I taught my students to play flutes by ear.
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But in fourth grade, I'll take musical notation
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and time signature and relate those to fractions.
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At first the students work individually
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and try to relate these abstract dots on the page
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to the music fingering they already know so well.
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But to learn a new tune, as one whole class,
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students must practice and help each other
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listen to each other, problem solve
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and get it together so they can actually learn this one new song.
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Let's look at one history lesson from 7th grade.
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But first who is the 7th grader?
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12, 13-years-old entering puberty often aloof, particularly, towards adults.
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Also maybe self-absorbed, but often vulnerable, looking for a peer group,
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looking for a way to fit in.
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These young adolescents need worthy role models
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so imagine this, the classroom is silent, the lights go dim, the story begins.
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Long ago in a 15th century rural French village
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there lived a 12-year old girl who heard God tell her to leave her family,
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leave her home and go save her country from English invaders.
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She was so commited to her vision that she defied the church
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and proclaimed that God spoke directly to her.
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She defied gender norms and wore a suit of armor and commanded an army.
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She rode with soldiers into battle and put herself in harms way
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to spur on their courage, yet she, being personally against violence,
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carried only a banner into battle, no weapons.
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She ultimately gave her life.
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She, Joan of Arc, was burned at the stake.
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7th graders passionately relate to this biography.
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Their thinking hearts are ignited to ask questions, to defy authority,
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to act on their beliefs and do the good.
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In sum, enable students to think with their hearts, to feel connected to each other
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and to develop their will to change their world.
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Thank you.
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(Applause)