A few weeks ago I showed our kids Takaharu Tezuka’s TED talk about a unique kindergarten he designed in 2007. The school provides students a lot of freedom to climb and run around. I enjoyed this talk years ago, but this was the first time I watched it with our kids. And even though the school was built more than a decade ago, our kids were still amazed by how the students spent their school day. After watching this talk we couldn’t help but start brainstorming how we would design a school ourselves.

It was wonderful to finally be talking with our kids about changing school in positive ways. To see them taking parts of the school experience that they liked pre-pandemic, mixing it with experiences they are enjoying now, and also including elements that they’ve only dreamt about.

Not surprisingly this school year has had its ups and downs. Our kids’ schools have changed so dramatically over the past year and many of the changes sound negative. Virtual learning, socially distancing from friends, wearing masks and spending extra time washing hands.

Listening to this TED talk was exactly what we needed to stay positive. It helped us remember that there are many innovative and creative people designing new tools for kids to learn both in person and virtually. And while many of the changes we hear about right now sound negative and challenging, maybe, if we keep our eyes open, we’ll be able to discover some positive ones too.