This is the blog of Joan Jaeckel.

It’s about reconsidering our expectations of what a “good” education is,
because what gets expected gets respected.

If scientists at CERN in Geneva can switch on the Large Hadron Collider, reportedly in search of the “God Particle”, why not collectively switch on the Power of the Contemplative Human Mind in search of the “Human Spark” so we can apply this knowledge in our Pre-K – 12 schools?

What is the nature of the spark in us – as children – that so longs to collide with and cooperate with life?

What sets off the BIG LEARNING BANG in a child?

What kinds of life experiences can parents and educators provide to keep the human spark lit? What dampens it?

“Empathy fosters brain development.” – GENERATION NEXT blog http://www.generationnext.com.au/

“Don’t do anything that isn’t play.” — Joseph Campbell, quoted by Marshall B. Rosenberg, Ph.D.

“I started this center out of an uncompromising vision of what it means to love children well.”  —Founder of Echo Parenting & Education, Ruth Beaglehole

“Listen to biology and the laws of nature, otherwise [every strategy we try with children]  will fail.” —Dr. Bruce Perry, MD - Senior Fellow of the Child Trauma Academy