As a creative person I am constantly "On". Whether is a new idea, image, sound, food, everything stimulates my senses sometimes it seems like it all happens at once. Working in education has been a challenge, because I remember being a student and having teachers who were a lot older, and sharper. I also remember my learning environment, in Elementary school I went to my neighborhood school. In 2nd grade I was transferred to another school in my neighborhood except it was for Gifted students. I attended that school from grades 3-6 and it was awesome! Not so much for the teachers, but for my environment. First of all the school looked like a castle, every day was an adventure. Its the William Lloyd Garrison School and it was an amazing place to grow up. As for my learning environment there were constant discussions, images and art all over the building, music, chorus and we were encouraged to be intelligent and ask questions. We were held accountable for our learning, but we also WANTED to learn. Kids did not go to summer school because they failed, we went to summer school to prepare for the next grade and we ENJOYED going as did our parents. Last week I had the pleasure of joining a friend for dinner at Google. She works there and invited me as her guest, which I can say I was super excited! I have read so many articles about the perks they offer their employees. Man oh Man! Why didn't someone tell me!!! It is a dream environment, to work in. I joked with my friend that whomever they chose to design the space must have ADD! The endless snack counters, video games, views of the city, food, endless fridges full of whatever you could possibly think of to drink, scooter stations, need I go on? Out of all of it the thing I really liked about it, was its a place that encourages and sparks creativity. They understand their employees and have stripped away some of the humdrum features that usually come with working for someone else. Like a time clock? There is no time clock! If you need to take a break you can go and take a snooze in the sleep pod, or sit in the library or even head over to the music room and bang out your frustration on the drums. It really is incredible. I also loved one feature that I wish I could see in a school there was a section of space where the walls were made of what looked like the material that dry erase boards are made from. So there are just endless doodles, and scribbles all over it. How many times as a kid did you have your markers or crayons and got in trouble for writing on the walls?
Be Great,
The Diva
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