This is a speech delivered by Jesper Jurcenoks (then Chair of the Assembly) at the graduation ceremony in June 2017 at Diablo Valley School in Concord, CA, USA. It was delivered in front of a full auditorium, with students, staff and family members listening. We celebrated the successful graduation of one student. Continue reading
…And Justice for All
While we never force students to sit down for classes, that does not mean you can do whatever you want. In this blog entry, I will explain what happens if you break a rule, how we create a culture of mutual respect and how we protect our community against disruptive behavior. Continue reading
No curriculum, no tests, no grades?
After four months of working at a Sudbury school, I am still amazed at how different our approach to education is, and I am sad that very few people know about it. In this blog entry, I give a brief overview of how the Sudbury philosophy is different from traditional education. Continue reading
First weeks as a new staff member
Sudbury schools don’t divide their students by age, they don’t test or grade their students, and the teachers don’t teach unless asked to do so by the students. That’s why my job title is “staff member”, not “teacher”. In this post I want to share how my first weeks went. Continue reading
Hundred observations in two weeks
My drawing of a student’s favorite toy
This article was written in March 2016 and published in the Diablo Valley Newsletter, the “Free Times”. It is a loose collection of observations without additional explanations, interpretations or judgments.
I have seen 120 eggs getting colored by students, and I colored my own with “DVS” in graffiti-style letters. I drew two Little Pet Shop animals with markers on paper and gave it to children. I drew a Graffiti style on paper and made some studies of Gary Larson’s “The Far Side”. I have seen a six students sitting in Judicial Committee for more than two hours. An older student helped a kid get up on the fridge, then the kid happily ate a banana and later voted for a sentence while still sitting on top of the fridge. I have seen JC-clerks respectfully asking witnesses and suspects, I have seen witnesses telling the truth, in rare cases caught lying. I have seen suspects pleading guilty or no contest (during my visit, some also pleaded not guilty, but I was not in the room). Continue reading
The story so far
Freiberg, Saxony, Germany. CC-BY Carsten Pätz.
I grew up in Freiberg, Germany and did not know what to do with my life. In 2005, I decided to study to become a teacher of two of my favorite subjects, English and Mathematics.