Hi, I’m Sue Snyder. When I started my career in education, I could not have imagined the many interconnected paths that would impact my work. IDEAS is the result of many journeys, many friendships and collaborations, scholarly endeavors and business pursuits.
I’ve lived and worked outside the box, always keenly aware of what was going on IN the box! IDEAS is on the constructive cutting edge of educational change, synthesizing best practices, evidence, and experience. In a spiral, each new venture has led to the next, and each has grown organically from authentic learning environments.
One constant in this journey is a commitment to democracy, creativity, and joyful, purposeful pursuit of improving lives and learning. Much of IDEAS’ work over the past years has targeted under-served children and families – those who don’t succeed in traditional environments. We have also made a commitment to using technology and media as tools for learning, and to deliver the hands-on, brains-on strategies that lead to constructive learning and thinking.
Another constant is a passion for young children, and developing initiatives that address the multiple systems – physical, cognitive, affective, social-emotional and environmental – that impact learning and growing. Every child can thrive with support and motivation, and our task is to focus on what is best for the child.
A third constant is the arts. The arts are the core of human being. We are made to think and feel deeply – Our brains work that way. Arts-rich communities connect people, and build cultural values. Arts-rich education provides unique and essential processes and tools for learning everything. Children educated in and through the arts understand and communicate in the many essential ways of knowing: visually, aurally, kinesthetically and linguistically, and develop values that give purpose to learning.
