Back in the 60’s, Dr. Rita Smilkstein found herself in a situation where she needed to take a job as a substitute teacher. And as we all know the substitute is on the bottom of the academic heap. What she didn’t know was that this would be the beginning of a journey that she’s been traveling ever since. Through her career as a teacher, Rita discovered that we are all natural born learners and that when given the opportunity, everybody can learn using the Natural Human Learning Process. In fact she discovered that in reality, NHLP was something that we all do everyday in our regular lives. The only place where it seems to be missing is - in school. This is the first of many pieces that I’ll be sharing showing you how the Natural Human Learning Process (NHLP) works, and could be the future of education in America.
Speak Dog, Speak!
I've been working on our original website Oyate Ta Olowan.We've been working on adding digital downloads to the site, but it's still a challenge. Oyate is a public radio series that we did on traditional Native American music. We did 52 half hour shows and traveled over 100,000 miles collecting music from all over the Americas. It was a while ago, but people still seem to love it, so we keep offering the shows for sale. It's all a part of our little press Many Kites Press. Life is so amazing, and so full, but we keep on trucking. I hope things are going well for all of you, and that continue to create wonderful things. Later, Milt Lee
Rita is that special kind of teacher that demonstrates her love of learning and of students and anyone who has heard her speak knows this. I am a fan from years ago and in fact wrote the foreword to her book, “We’re Born to Learn!” I was browsing the web, looking for a current e-mail address for Rita when I stumbled on this website. Love it! Thank you.
I teach middle school math, and had Dr. Smilkstein as an instructor at WWU. Her theory had an unbelievable impact on my teaching, and will forever be an inspiration to me.