From the orphans of Flanders to the students of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School – four photographs with an uncanny and chilling similarity. Keep your eyes forward, your hands on the shoulders of the person in front of you and keep quiet. – instructions during a high school shooter drill. We’ve come to accept that the only thing we can…
Education thought leader takes a deep dive into learner agency and direct instruction. Image: Banker by Jason de Caires Taylor
We had just evacuated all the students to the playground, lined them up and done a head count. It wasn’t a fire drill but a bomb threat. We didn’t take it very seriously although bombs were regularly going off all over London. I think this must have been November 1973 because I seem to recall there had been a recent…
It was Robert C. Parker Day at Robert C. Parker School in Rensselaer County, NY – just across the Hudson from downtown Albany. If you don’t know Parker, it’s one of those schools that legendary educator Tom Little lauded in his book Loving Learning as “schools for the ages”. Parker is a school in that long – and very American – tradition…
Looks like The Failure Toy is coming soon from the good folks at 21Toys. The Empathy Toy worked and the The Failure Toy has lots of promise. This should be fun. And this is what they say about it: The Failure Toy It’s really hard to talk about failure. Failure is an ugly word, but studies show that “kids fail less…
If we had some bacon we could have bacon and eggs but we’ve got no eggs. That First World War catch phrase came to mind as I was contemplating an idle wish to make blackberry and apple crumble. I imagine a Bruce Bairnsfather cartoon with Old Bill and Alf or Bert grousing about the food while the whizz bangs fly…
New teacher orientation; playground supervision; transfixed with horror; a hard time unplugging; curriculum mapping. More Life in School Cartoons Life in School 1-6 More Life in School Life in School: Buildings and Grounds
When it comes to school improvement – or the fine art of problem finding and solution seeking – it’s always best to try and get everyone involved in the process. It’s a way to develop co-ownership of the culture and collectively seeking solutions that have a chance of actually being effective. As Margaret Wheatley says: “There is no problem to…
The Manumit School was an experimental Christian socialist boarding school in Pawling, NY. and later Bristol, Pennsylvania. Manumit means freedom and release from slavery and this was a school with a clear mission. It was racially integrated, religiously tolerant and worked “toward a world order based upon justice and co-operation, in which the individual may find freedom.” It was founded in…
Those of us who were heads of school in 2008-9 probably remember all too well the pain of school downsizing and some may still bear the scars to show for it. It was a tough time all around. And that’s what made it easier. The whole world was struggling and any particular school or enterprise or person was not alone.…
It’s becoming harder and harder for independent schools to stand out from the crowd. Unless a school is truly a place that is clearly defined by a unique mission – and has the program and lived values to bolster the claim – it risks sinking. Either a facilities arms race will outpower it or lower price alternatives will undercut the…
If you’re thinking about branding and how to market your school (and who isn’t these days?) then it’s good to have a strong agreed upon sense of who you are, how you show who you are and what people actually think. Where are you? So try this quick test with your board, your admin team and the faculty. You can…
No one was surprised. The kindergarten discovered. Quite electrifying. The end of the year party.
The English Department was in uproar. The head of school found it helpful. The faculty was concerned. An experiment in interdisciplinary learning. Miss Greenaway knew better. The faculty luncheon got a little out of hand.