Tony Wagner, a national leader in education reform, will visit Peddie School on Thursday, April 19, to share ideas from his new book, “Creating Innovators: The Making of Young People Who Will Change the World.” The event, sponsored by Princeton Common Ground, a collaborative effort of the parent associations of 14 Princeton area independent schools, begins at 7:30 p.m. in William Mount-Burke Theater. The free lecture series is open to the public.
Wagner, the founder of the Change Leadership Group at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, is a leading proponent for change in American education. His lecture will outline the skills needed for children to become meaningful participants in the economy that awaits them.
A former high school teacher, K-8 principal, and university professor in teacher education, Wagner is the author of five books. He has served as senior advisor to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and consults with public and independent schools and foundations around the country.
Wagner identifies qualities that motivated entrepreneurial youth as collaboration, risk-taking, and social responsibilities. He shows how their success was built upon a foundation of parents, teachers, and mentors who nurtured their curiosity, imagination, and initiative.
Some of the questions he will answer include:
What career, college, and citizenship survival skills should be in our curricula, and how are they most effectively taught?
How can we harness the forces that drive young innovators: play, passion, and purpose?
How do we teach children to use failure as a learning tool and to persevere?
How do the most forward-thinking schools, colleges, and workplaces develop cultures of innovation based on collaboration, interdisciplinary problem solving, and intrinsic motivation?
“Creating Innovators” features more than 60 interviews with young innovators, teachers, writers, CEOs, and Entrepreneurs, embedded into the eBook edition or at www.creatinginnovators.com.
Wagner’s book “The Global Achievement Gap: Why Even Our Best Schools Don’t Teach the New Survival Skills Our Children Need — And What We Can Do About It” will be on sale at the event. Refreshments will be served beginning at 7 p.m.
Lecture Series for Parents, Common Ground, William Mount Burke Theater, Peddie School, Hightstown. Thursday, April 19, 7 to 9 p.m. Refreshments. Free. 609-944-7678. www.princetoncommonground.org.
