The AERO conference is now 2/3rds full with six weeks to go. We have talked to many people who have told us they plan to come but have not registered yet. This makes it difficult to plan transportation, school visits, plan meeting and keynote spaces, dorm spaces, etc.
We really need everyone who is planning to come to register, either in full or with a deposit, or contact us ASAP to confirm that you are coming. Also, we still can arrange group rates and some financial assistance, and we need more volunteers. So contact me at [email protected].
Furthermore, if you have already registered at a good rate, we can arrange the same rate for anyone you bring with you. Let us know. The low package deal for room and registration is still in effect as well as 10% discount for AERO members.
*** Breaking! ***
Justo M�ndez Ar�mburu to Present at AERO!
Meanwhile, the AERO conference just keeps looking better and better. For example, I just heard that Justo M�ndez Ar�mburu, founder of Nuestra Escuela in Puerto Rico, will be able to come to the AERO conference.Who is Justo? I can't tell you the whole story, but a traumatic event caused Justo to start a school for children facing the most difficult circumstances in Puerto Rico--dropouts, gang members, pregnant girls, etc. What he and his wife created is nothing short of revolutionary. For example, when I visited I saw that the staff hugged and kissed all the children as they come to school. When they first arrive they take them on a two-week introspective trip to the woods. The results were so spectacular that the government simply gave them four other schools to run. They also started a school for the children of their girls. Justo organized the 2012 International Democratic Education Conference in Puerto Rico which 800 people attended, including many teachers and superintendents. He will come to the AERO conference to tell his story! Here's a recent TEDx Talk that Justo gave to give you a taste:
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Justo Mendez - Nuestra Escuela, Todo por mi Estrella
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| Dr. Peter Gray's AERO Conference Keynote Talk (Video) |
Watch Dr. Peter Gray's keynote from the 2013 AERO conference in its entirety by clicking here.
 Dr. Peter Gray, research professor of psychology at Boston College, has conducted and published research in a wide range of fields, including neuroendocrinology, animal behavior, developmental psychology, anthropology, and education. He is the author of a highly regarded college textbook, Psychology (Worth Publishers), now in its 6th edition. Most of his recent research and writing has to do with the value of free, unsupervised play for children's healthy social, emotional, and intellectual development. He has expanded on these ideas extensively, for the general public, in a blog that he writes for Psychology Today magazine and in his recently-published book, Free to Learn: Why Unleashing the Instinct to Play Will Make Our Children Happier, More Self-Reliant, and Better Students for Life (Basic Books, 2013).
Peter Gray grew up in small towns in Minnesota and Wisconsin, where he had a rich childhood play life, which, he believes, prepared him well for adulthood. He did his undergraduate study at Columbia University and then earned a Ph.D. in biological sciences at the Rockefeller University, in New York City. His career since then has been centered entirely at Boston College. His play life continues, not only in the joy he derives from research and writing, but also in his enjoyment of long-distance bicycling, backwoods skiing, pond skating, kayaking, and backyard vegetable gardening.
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| Ron Miller: A Map of the Alternative Education Landscape |
by Ron Miller
What type of learning environment is right for your child? Choosing a school, or choosing to educate your child outside the institution of schooling, is an important decision - and today, with many educational choices available to families, a complicated one. There are significant differences among the diverse teaching and learning approaches that often get lumped together as "alternative education."
One directory published in 1997, The Parents' Guide to Alternatives in Education, by Ronald E. Koetzsch, described over twenty distinct types of alternative schools and six innovative "trends" in public education. The differences among them reflect diverse moral and philosophical orientations: Some aim to maximize freedom in learning; others provide what they consider to be a child-nurturing structure of one sort or another. Some are rooted in specific religious or cultural understandings; others, in ideals of social justice or ecological wisdom. As a parent with no training in educational philosophy, you might find it confusing to try to figure out which approach would best address the needs of your child and the values of your family.
In sorting through these diverse approaches, I have found it useful to place them into several broad categories, and, using these categories, I created a conceptual map that I have presented in workshops and courses...
Read the entire article here.
Don't Forget: Ron Miller, one of the leading and most frequently cited pioneers in holistic education, is briefly coming out of retirement to be a keynote speaker at the 25th anniversary AERO conference this June.
Ron Miller's talk will be entitled: 1964-2014: A Half Century Since Freedom Schools and How Children Fail. Miller offers a unique and critical perspective on the history and landscape of alternative education in the United States. Miller's book, Free Schools, Free People, placed democratic, freedom-based schools in an historical context that enabled a more thoughtful and necessary critical analysis of the movement to take place. As schools continue to be founded out of those same theoretical traditions, Miller's work demonstrates the relevancy of learning from these historical roots to create healthier and more successful alternatives. In the same vein, this talk will help alternative educators learn about the significance and relevancy of the 1960s and what has happened since as it relates to their schools and learning environments today.
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Important Conference Links
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| Event: Awareness Through the Body |
 Ed. Note: ATB will also be at AERO Conference this year! Click here to find out more.
Awareness Through the Body USA is coming to Antioch University New England (Keene, NH). Significant financial aid is available.
Awareness Through the Body is a comprehensive curriculum of exercises that aims to raise awareness and enable children and adults as well to become conscious of their own perceptions and abilities so that they may become self-aware, self-directed individuals. The activities are creative and often fun. The program works by first bringing the individual into a state of receptivity in which they can better "listen" to the many and varied inputs being continuously received from both their inner and outer worlds. For all ages the exercises allow for each person to gradually discover all the parts of themselves and to find the tools to manage this complexity effectively.
Awareness Through the Body (ATB) offers tools for living in the world of today:
- tools to increase self-awareness, self-knowledge and self-confidence;
- tools to enable children and adults to be witness to their own thoughts, feelings, moods, actions and interactions with others;
- tools to reduce stress, to concentrate and still the mind.
These tools are useful for any person, young or old, male or female.
In this training adults, teachers, therapists, yoga and movement instructors can learn activities experientially which they can then implement with their students.
Available this summer:
Click on the session for more information or to register. ATB 1 is the prerequisite for all the other workshops.
ATB 1: July 7-8
ATB Kindergarten: July 9
ATB 2: July 11- 13
ATB 3: July 14-16
ATB 4: July 18-21
All sessions will run from 9:00- 4:00 and will be held at the Antioch University New England Keene, NH campus (Kindergarten workshop is the exception).
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Do you have a news or resource item you think Education Revolution newsletter readers would find useful? Send it to [email protected].
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Thank you for your ongoing support. With your help, we will make learner-centered alternatives available to everyone!
Sincerely,
Jerry Mintz
Executive Director
Alternative Education Resource Organization
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The Ten Signs You Need to Find a Different Kind of Education for Your Child
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Many parents don't realize that the education world has changed drastically since they were in school. Schools and class sizes used to be smaller, dropout rates lower, in-school violence almost unheard of, and teachers weren't terrified of showing affection to their students, or of discussing moral values. Of course, even then, school was far from perfect, but at least the teachers-and usually the principal-knew every student by name, something that is increasingly rare today.
Because our public school system has deteriorated considerably, many parents, teachers, and individuals have taken it upon themselves to create public and private alternatives to that system; and it is important for parents to know that they now have choices.
So how do you know that it's time to look for another educational approach for your child? Here are some of the signs:
1. Does your child say he or she hates school?
If so, something is probably wrong with the school. Children are natural learners, and when they're young, you can hardly stop them from learning. If your child says they hate school, listen to them.
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