02.08.05 Tuesday@REI: "Intergenerational Learning" in public education

Submitted by Norm Roulet on Mon, 02/07/2005 - 17:46.
02/08/2005 - 16:00
Etc/GMT-4

"Intergenerational Learning"

Educating our children and sharing the experiences of our elders are critical to the economic development of our community. This Tuesday@REI will focus on innovations in public education, particularly those involving elders from our community. Sharing stories in celebration of learning will be a pedagogical theme of the session and the mechanism we will use to tap the wisdom of the audience - young and old.

Place: The Cleveland Museum of Natural History, Rare Book Room. Visit: http://www.cmnh.org

Presenters:

  • Cathy Whitehouse, Principal, The Intergenerational School - the only such school in the world and the only charter school that achieved an excellent rating based on state evaluations. Visit: http://www.tisonline.org/
  • Peter Whitehouse, M.D.-PhD., Director Integrative Studies, Department of Neurology, Case will discuss the concept of "Successful Aging" as being promoted by the Cleveland Foundation.
  • Kirsten Frei-Herrman, Project Director, Experience Corps/RSVP of Greater Cleveland, as implemented in the Cleveland Municipal Schools. Visit: http://experiencecorps.org
  • Crystal Davis, Office of Family and Community Engagement, Cleveland Municipal School District

The Program Format will include an Appreciative Inquiry session with people pairing off to share a story with each other about an empowering learning moment involving an older person (e.g., mentoring); the partner will present the story to the group.

Admission: Free and open to the public. Please register at: http://www.weatherhead.case.edu/rei/events/register.cfm

Free Parking: is available in the lot adjacent to the Museum. For more information:

http://www.cmnh.org/directions.html

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The Center for Regional Economic Issues (REI) at Case Western Reserve University hosts weekly forums called Tuesdays@REI. The public discussions are part of "Making Change," a regional initiative supported by the SBC Foundation. Each week the Forums are hosted at the Weatherhead School of Management from 4:00 P.M. to 5:45 P.M. providing a place for individuals and organizations to talk about new ideas, initiatives and strategies to build our Innovation Economy in Northeast Ohio.

"Expand your networks. Sharpen your brain. Build your knowledge."

Location

Cleveland Museum of Natural History on Wade Oval

A needed dialogue begins? But no PD in sight!

It was a memorable opportunity to listen to three workers on the front lines of education in our region discuss their respective programs and insights.  Clearly each has fully invested head and heart in efforts to make learning a successful priority in our community.  It was the beginning of what I hope is an emerging public dialogue about the ways that various modes of delivering public education can work together to span both the full range of ages and the full diversity of needs that exist.  It was clear to me from the talks that we are ready to abandon the stovepipe isolation of independent actors and move to a network of interwoven regional threads in support of an effective comprehensive curriculum.  I welcome sessions like this which accelerate the pace.  Our only major daily newspaper needs to give more emphasis to facilitating and reporting this type of dialogue between and among those working daily in the trenches of educational effort.  It needs, perhaps, to learn a few lessons from those, like the panelists at this session, who, without attention or fanfare, are going about our community each day and making real education happen.  I would encourage any interested member of our NEO community to regularly engage with the thought and action leaders represented at Tuesday@REI.