What people think of Rick

marylin

I just wrote a review of “The Genius in Every Child” on my blog devoted to how families, schools, and communities help kids thrive. One of the commenters said, “I love the word genius because it comes from an old word that meant ‘guardian or guiding spirit’ indicating that we all come into the world with our own genius to guide us.”

amazon

This is a beautiful book and one that every human being should read. How different the world would be if all of our teachers and parents had believed (or just assumed, as Rick Ackerly wisely says we need to do) in that genius in each of us; allowed us to stay in the struggle to become our full selves; acted outside of fear, and just been with us through it all, no matter how “ugly” or “bad” we may have looked or seemed to the world.

carla

Don’t let the word “genius” in the title mislead you.  Ackerly’s book is not about children with “extraordinary intellectual power” – the definition you might find in the dictionary. He does not suggest that all children are geniuses.  Instead, Rick returns to a lesser used definition of genius: “the tutelary spirit of a person, place or institution.”

With a master’s in education from Harvard University, Rick has devoted his career to building thriving learning communities. He has served as headmaster of four independent schools and has been a consultant and coach to teachers, school leaders and parents for many years.

Rick speaks to parent and school groups across the country. He also presents at numerous education conferences including the People of Color Conference, the California Association of Independent Schools, the Coalition of Essential Schools, the Symposium on Students with Learning Disabilities, Progressive Education Network, the National Association of Episcopal Schools, and the Pacific Rim Conference. He has been an active participant in the annual “Call to Action” conference sponsored by the National Association of Independent Schools’ Office on Diversity and Multicultural Education.