Tinkering School is a place where kids can pick up sticks and hammers and other dangerous objects,and be trusted. Trusted not to hurt themselves, and trusted not to hurt others. Tinkering School doesn’t follow a set curriculum, and there are no tests. It sounds like my kind of school!
Gever Tully shares more about his school in the following TED talk:
I came across this video when looking for ideas about Genius Hour and Genius Year – the latter being the idea that self-directed learning be embedded into daily school life. This was interesting to me as that was the outcome of a year-long group study into Genius Hour: that time be allocated – or more accurately, prioritised – so that students have a chance to engage in truly self-chosen projects that see them pursuing their own interests and passions throughout their time at school.
Time is definitely of the essence – and is something Tully acknowledges children need a lot of if their creativity is truly able to flourish:
“we can offer the kids time — something that seems in short supply in their over-scheduled lives”
Will you be a passionate teacher this year and help your children explore their inner genius?
If you are looking for a regular boost to inspire your creativity, Creative Something is for you. I came across this website a while back now and every now and then I find my way back there for some inspired reading. Check it out.
sonya terborg 
Don’t know if this might be helpful to others but my colleague and I have been running “Genius” time for a year and have begun to chronicle our experiments on this website:
https://melvin-mutschler-design.squarespace.com
School just started today so we’re only beginning to think about what our work might look like this year. Beware! this work can be addictive. Once you start you might not want to teach anything else ever again.
I love it! This is something I will be sharing with the colleagues I was working with last year on our Genius Hour project. It looks great. I will be back in touch with more questions, I’m sure – especially regarding how you plan to change the way implement this year (if any?). I really like the notes on feedback too. I am reading up on effective feedback at the moment and there is a lot of interesting information about how the right feedback can not only create a growth mindset but really move learning forward. Thanks for sharing your work!
One of our inspirations last year was Sonya’s success line activity! Love this blog!
Thank you! And thanks for the Success line reminder! Off to share that again with our fourth graders.
Gever Tulley has founded a very interesting school in San Francisco called Brightworks. Check out this school here: http://www.sfbrightworks.org/
Thanks for the Creative Something blog. Looks like inspiring fun!
Is that the school you went and visited?