For new parents and early years educators, there’s a wealth of guidance and support for how to understand what’s happening for our babies and toddlers, but when it comes to the stories we tell about adolescence, an equally important period of significant change, sometimes it’s more just get your head down and get through it! As millions of young people make the big transition to Middle School, I was very curious to learn from one of the real experts, not only of the patterns of change and development at this time, but also of how to create educational environments that really take these young people seriously!

Chris Balme is an education leader, writer, and school founder, passionate about helping young people discover more of their human potential. He is the author of Finding the Magic in Middle School: Tapping Into the Power and Potential of the Middle School Years, which was published in 2022.

Chris currently serves as Founding Principal at Hakuba International School. He is also the Founder & Director of Argonaut, an online advisory program for middle schoolers around the world. Prior to this, Chris co-founded and served as Head of School at Millennium School, a highly successful lab school in San Francisco.

Chris has received the Ashoka Fellowship as a leading changemaker in education, and regularly speaks, trains, and writes for parents and teachers around the world. For more, see Chris’s newsletter, Growing Wiser.

Social Links

LinkedIn: @chris-balme - https://www.linkedin.com/in/chrisbalme/

Instagram: @chrisbalme - https://www.instagram.com/chrisbalme/

Taking adolescents seriously - A Conversation with Chris Balme

Future Learning Design Podcast