Learning Unboxed

The most important thing adults can provide young people in their learning journey is a caring relationship. That is the fundamental belief that drives Jim Bailey in his work as co-founder and executive director at Rock Tree Sky, a self-directed learning community. In this episode, Jim and Annalies discuss adults’ roles in making space for young people to tap their innate curiosity and problem-solving skills.At Rock Tree Sky, adults roll up their sleeves and get inspired along with students. They act as guides, not knowledge holders– after all, most young people hold the world’s knowledge on a phone in their pocket. Rock Tree Sky is a learning space free from constant evaluation and purposefully designed for building relationships.Jim also gets into some of the nuts-and-bolts of running this kind of organization. For example, Rock Tree Sky partnered with its local California school district to create an independent study model: Young people can get public funding to attend Rock Tree Sky twice a week. In retur