SPEAKER & AUTHOR, ADORA SVITAK

Curiosity & Nature Are Essential

April 6th, 2014 @ Topanga Library

• The role of nature in giving students a sense of autonomy and internal locus of control
• The responsibility of our education system to create good citizens–how nature is a component
• Nature & creative stimulation, particularly poetry and other literary arts

Since the age of four, Adora Svitak has been exploring what she can do with the written word: everything from championing literacy and youth voice to raising awareness about world hunger. Hoping to instill her love of learning in other children, she taught her first class at a local elementary school the year her first book, Flying Fingers, debuted; since then, she has spoken at hundreds of schools, classrooms and conferences around the world.

She co-authored her second book, Dancing Fingers—a collection of poetry—with her older sister Adrianna in 2009. At 12, she delivered the speech "What Adults Can Learn from Kids" at the prestigious TED conference. That video received over one million views and has been translated into over 40 different languages.

Now a senior in high school, Adora is active in Speech and Debate and Model UN, has spoken widely on youth voice and feminism, and will be on a panel about self-directed learning at the South by Southwest Education conference in Austin this March.