Self-Determined Learning Episodes

Terri speaks with author and teacher Michael Hernandez on why and how we can support teens in the purposeful use of technology.

Terri speaks with Lenore Skenazy, author, speaker, and cofounder of LetGrow.org to discuss the why and how of bringing independence, competence, and courage back to our lives.

Terri introduces Jonathon Haidt's best-selling book on technology's impact on the mental health of adolescents.

Meet young high school students who share how their natural love of learning remains alive through a personalized learning journey.

Ken Danford, author of Learning is Natural; School is Optional and co-founder of North Star, a center for teen learners shares his story and insight on self-directed learning.

Imagine your children waking each day, knowing what they are going to do and how they need to go about doing it. You've prepared them and the environment so well, they hum along in their work driven by curiosity and fueled by discovery. They tackle the “boring stuff” with patience and overcome challenges with optimism. They learn things you never even knew or may have forgotten. These are the characteristics of self-determined learners. Today we discuss the purpose and function of learning and how to let go of the edge of outdated conventional practices to swim in the waters of self-determined learning.

Scott Schimmel, Founder, and CEO of You School walks us through the process of identifying what success looks like and explains why it is different for everyone. "Where do you go to figure yourself out?"

Dr. Yong Zhao, award winner and author of hundreds of articles and thirty books on education, talks about the need for a new paradigm for assessment, technology, and the purpose of education.

Play is self-determined learning at its best, Peter Gray author of Free to Learn states, nature does not turn off our desire and capacity to learn when children turn five or six, we turn it off with our coercive system of schooling. In this episode, Terri speaks with Dr. Gray on the history and value of play, parenting styles, his definition of play, and the concept of learning loss.

Imagine spending time on what you care about using your observation of others as not only motivation but as an actual learning resource. Today is part four of four on making learning personal. Mike Wehmeyer, co-author of the 2020 book titled, Teaching Students to Become Self-Determined Learners, shares with us strategies for student ownership and self-determined learning, as well as why now more than ever, the development of those skills are crucial.