I want to share a documentary with you today.
This 2003 award-winning documentary, titled “Children Full of Life”, is about a rather unusual 4th grade classroom in Kanazawa, Japan.
Here is how the film starts:
On the first day of school, Mr. Toshiro Kanamori asked this question to his 4th grade class: “What’s the most important thing this year? What are we here for?”
“To be HAPPY!” the 10-year-olds shouted in unison.
Are you surprised?
I was.
I’ve been in classrooms both here in the US and back in China, from K-12, to college, to graduate school, no teacher has ever taught me that the most important thing in a classroom or in life is to be happy.
I’m going to bet most of you haven’t either, which is why the classroom in this documentary is so unique. [continue…]