LEARNING RESOURCES
This page offers optional resources for families who want to explore the ideas behind learner-driven education and the Acton model more deeply.
You are not expected to watch or read everything listed here. Many families explore these resources gradually, either before or after a Fit Conversation.
Videos
Reason #1: 10 reasons why young heroes need a learner driven environment
Reason #2: 10 reasons why young heroes need a learner driven environment
Reason #3 10 reasons why young heroes need a learner driven environment
Reason #4: 10 reasons why young heroes need a learner driven environment
Reason #5: 10 reasons why young heroes need a learner driven environment
Reason #6: 10 reasons why young heroes need a learner driven environment
Reason #7: 10 reasons why young heroes need a learner driven environment
Reason #8: 10 reasons why young heroes need a learner driven environment
Reason #9: 10 reasons why young heroes need a learner driven environment
Reason #10: 10 reasons why young heroes need a learner driven environment
Do schools kill creativity?
Tedx OKC - Jeff Sandefer
A Virtual Tour of Acton Academy
Acton Academy Interviews
Growth Mindset vs. Fixed Mindset
Let's teach for mastery -- not test scores | Sal Khan
Most Likely to Succeed | Official Trailer |
Sugata Mitra: Build a School in the Cloud
Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance | Angela Lee Duckworth | TED
Books
Click on a books image to be routed to it's Amazon page.
Courage to Grow: How Acton Academy Turns Learning Upside Down (2nd Edition)
In this second edition, Courage to Grow is the intimate origin story of Acton Academy, one of today's most innovative schools with a model quickly spreading around the globe.
Creative Schools: The Grassroots Revolution That's Transforming Education
A revolutionary reappraisal of how to educate our children and young people by Ken Robinson, the New York Times bestselling author of The Element and Finding Your Element.
Unschooling Rules: 55 Ways to Unlearn What We Know About Schools and Rediscover Education
The most powerful new ideas in education are coming from the families that have given up on schools. From his experience with homeschoolers and unschoolers, education guru Clark Aldrich distills a revolutionary manifesto of 55 core ''rules'' that reboots our vision of childhood education and the role of schools.
One World Schoolhouse
A free, world-class education for anyone, anywhere: this is the goal of the Khan Academy, a passion project that grew from an ex-engineer and hedge funder's online tutoring sessions with his niece, who was struggling with algebra, into a worldwide phenomenon.
Mindset: The New Psychology of Success
After decades of research, world-renowned Stanford University psychologist Carol S. Dweck, Ph.D., discovered a simple but groundbreaking idea: the power of mindset. In this brilliant book, she shows how success in school, work, sports, the arts, and almost every area of human endeavor can be dramatically influenced by how we think about our talents and abilities.
NurtureShock: New Thinking About Children
Nurture Shock offers a revolutionary new perspective on children that upends a library's worth of conventional wisdom. With impeccable storytelling and razor-sharp analysis, the authors demonstrate that many of modern society's strategies for nurturing children are in fact backfiring--because key twists in the science have been overlooked. Nothing like a parenting manual, NurtureShock gets to the core of how we grow, learn and live.
A Thomas Jefferson Education: Teaching a Generation of Leaders for the Twenty-First Century
Is American education preparing the future leaders our nation needs, or merely struggling to teach basic literacy and job skills? Without leadership education, are we settling for an inadequate system that delivers educational, industrial, governmental and societal mediocrity?
Outwitting the Devil: The Secrets to Freedom and Success
Using his legendary ability to get to the root of human potential, Napoleon Hill digs deep to reveal how fear, procrastination, anger, and jealousy prevent us from realizing our personal goals. This long-suppressed parable, once considered too controversial to publish, was written by Hill in 1938 following the publication of his classic bestseller, Think and Grow Rich
Blog
By Co-founder and Chief Encourager for Acton Academy
Laura Sandefer
Want to Start with the Basics?
If you’re looking for practical information about Wonder Studio, you may want to begin with our Frequently Asked Questions page.
Acton Midwest Academy admits qualified students of any race, color, national or ethnic origin, sex, age, religion, mental or physical disability, sexual orientation, and gender identity to all the rights, privileges, programs, and activities generally accorded or made available to students. Consistent with its obligations under the law, Acton Midwest prohibits unlawful discrimination on the basis of race, color, national or ethnic origin, sex, age, mental or physical disability, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity or any other characteristic protected by applicable law in the administration of the school’s programs and activities.
