Come play the way we learn – it’s an invitation and it’s on a billboard right there on Hooker Avenue*. The invitation is to the big event we have coming up on Saturday – Fall Festival Reimagined. I love that invitation because it strikes right at the heart of the negative stereotype that I heard so much about when I…
As always, lots of good stuff in the latest edition of Independent School, the quarterly magazine from NAIS. And those who hold rather outdated notions of independent schools as universal staunch defenders of tradition and the home of the status quo might be surprised by the theme: Evolution or Revolution: the Pace of Change in Schools. Evolution or revolution? –…
That tweet from Gary Stager reminded me of this scene: Blotting your copybook used to be more than a figure of speech. It was, for some, a frightening everyday reality of life in school. This scene fromThe 400 Blows (Les Quatre Cents Coups, 1959), written and directed by Francois Truffaut, resonates with me. Antoine Doinel’s teacher – “Sourpuss” is a…
I’ve been reading about Cathy Davidson’s Now You See It: How the Brain Science of Attention Will Transform the Way We Live, Work, and Learn (Viking) so I was disappointed to find out I have to wait for the August publication date. This article and this interview have got me interested. (There’s a list of tips for dealing with distraction…
Probably the only two responses to constant change are to ignore it (shrink back, retrench, go off the grid, become irrelevant, turn inwards, stay put, get run over, and so on) or keep on keeping on with the learning life. But what happens if the mantra of: Keep moving, just try it, have a go, fail-fail-fail and then succeed and…
How long does this have to be? Should we teach to the text (message)? Forget about the five paragraph essay, what about the five (abbreviated) word text and the exquisite tweet? Lots of commentary about a recent article with follow-up here in the NYTimes about the importance of concise writing. Without a doubt it is an aspiration we need to…
I loved the addition of graphic artists at this year’s NAIS Annual Conference. It was a marvel to watch them work and then see the finished product – huge poster board representations of the words of the main speakers. Here are some examples drawn for Wendy Mogel’s talk. She is the clinical psychologist author of two “Blessings” books. The first…
Seth Godin started it and invited participation so here it is: Unreasonable It’s unreasonable to get out of bed on a snow day, when school has been canceled, and turn the downtime into time for learning. It’s unreasonable for teachers to go outside at lunchtime so children can go sledding. It’s unreasonable for children to expect to want to go…
Children: How will they ever know who they are? The question is the last line of “The Things we Steal from Children” by Dr. John Edwards. You can read the whole below. I found it via Leading and Learning – a blog and website from New Zealand that I have long found valuable. In a different time and context William …
Just before the break there was a message on the head’s listserve from Myra McGovern of NAIS. NPR journalist Tovia Smith was working on a story about what schools are doing to relieve the growing pressures and stresses on students and was looking for input. This happens to be a topic close to my heart. Growing up, being a teenager,…
So here – as promised – the Ned Hallowell five-step solution for happiness and all that ails us including schools and schooling. And as presented at Mohonk on Friday it was a welcome antidote to the one-size-fits-all formula of more of the same that has failed us for decades. It is always good to be skeptical of anyone who claims…
The NYSAIS heads conference is always valuable and 2010 was no exception. I usually hear NAIS president Pat Bassett in a mega ballroom with all the flashing lights and hoopla of the annual conference. It was good to hear him in the more intimate setting of the dining room at Mohonk. His talk – top trends to look out for…
Prior to the industrialization of education, the education model was centered around a single-room school house consisting of one teacher with many students throughout many grades. The teacher was a facilitator of an instructional design that had students teaching each other. The younger students benefited from the knowledge of the older students and the older students benefited by reinforcing what…
Part two of: The Age of Bricolage: School in the Change Blender: Technology is always disruptive: Think of the introduction of the printing press, or the combine harvester, or the typewriter. Think of the mechanical looms and the factory system of the industrial revolution that destroyed a way of life for cottage industry weavers. Some of them took to frame…
Advice (random and very incomplete) for new teachers: Please round out the list with your thoughts: Sign on to Twitter. Follow the smartest people you can find in your areas of interest. Build a great PLN – personal learning network – of the wisest and most helpful people you can find. Follow people with whom you agree and those who…