Found in the Chapman room…

…the Interdivisional Mathematics Station. Have you left your comment yet?

Thanksgiving Time

When the night winds whistle through the trees and blow the crisp brown leaves a-crackling down,
When the autumn moon is big and yellow-orange and round,
When old Jack Frost is sparkling on the ground,
It’s Thanksgiving Time!

- from Thanksgiving Time by Langston Hughes

I hope your holiday is wonderful.

Stone Soup and a New Partnership

Becoming a global citizen has to begin close to home. For students it begins with how they treat each other and with their classroom. As they grow the circles become wider.

Here is Diane Reeder at last week’s lower school assembly that was also attended by a cross section of older students. Diane is the executive director of Queens Galley in Kingston. She told the wonderful story of the hungry stranger who made the miraculous stone soup that fed the town. Last month Queens Galley served over 7,000 meals.

At our traditional holiday celebration this afternoon students made table decorations for the Thanksgiving feast at the Galley. Upper School students will be delivering them later this afternoon. It marks the start of a new partnership.

Accident or design?

There’s a great new exhibit of student work on the walls. It emphasizes the role of accident in design. It made me think of the serendipity in scientific discovery: X-rays, silly putty, penicillin, smallpox vaccination and rayon come to mind. Serendipity or accident played a role in the discovery of all of them.

Of course this kind of “accident” is no accident. It provides the leap of understanding or the unanticipated creation of something new. The painstaking groundwork had been done. Careful planned preparation leads to the apparent random nature of the breakthrough Eureka moment in science as in art. But the trick is to be ready to see that unexpected result as having merit for its own sake. Mistakes will happen but when you’ve done the homework they can sometimes be groundbreaking. (Think Newton and apples.) Anyone with any good examples of this?

There is no alternative to hard work and perseverance when it comes to the route to discovery and unique creativity.

Any relevance for education?

“We used to fool ourselves…We used to think our content was perfect just exactly as it was. We expected our business would remain blissfully unaffected even as the world of interactivity, constant connection and file sharing was exploding. And of course we were wrong. How were we wrong? By standing still or moving at a glacial pace, we inadvertently went to war with consumers by denying them what they wanted and could otherwise find and as a result of course, consumers won.”
A candid statement about which industry?

Take another picture

Year two of the lower school Take One Picture project* and the picture is (drumroll please):
Fantasy Castle with Men on Zebras by Squire Vickers.

Vickers was the Chief Designing Architect of the New York subway system from 1906 to 1942 and an avid painter. Engineering fascinated him and he saw the massive structures of modern cities as feats of the imagination. Skyscrapers and suspension bridges were the marvels of his era. Of the latter he wrote, “one could not…gaze at the graceful arches, the mighty spans and the soaring pylons without a deep and abiding respect and admiration for these accomplishments.”

If you’ve ever been in the New York subway you will have seen impact of his work because Vickers was responsible for designing, or overseeing the design of, the decorative tiles and mosaics found in many subway stations.

As an artist he strove to promote an idealistic and optimistic view of the American century. His work married themes and techniques of modern art with the “noble monuments” of contemporary technology and construction. Robert and Elizabeth Kashey, in their essay on Vickers, claim that he “painted fantasy towns with blazing roofs and men riding on zebras as an answer to the functional world he had to deal with most of his life.” Vickers wanted to connect construction and art, the engineers and the designers, for “if the combination of strength and beauty may only be had as the joint product of [engineering and architecture], then it is time for us to discard our prejudices and our narrow views, for it is only the beautiful structures that remain as noble monuments.”

Vickers painted in Fantasy Castle with Men on Zebras in1923 and you can see it right in the neighborhood at the Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center at Vassar College. (Update 11/13: Mary Ellen informs me that the picture is currently in storage and unavailable to the public. Our students will be able to see it in private viewing.)

I am looking forward to what our students will make of it, and make with it in mind. Last year it was the peasants and medieval agriculture of Breugel’s Spring. Vicker’s painting is a real contrast. Perhaps we will see some skyscrapers and feats of engineering.

* The Take One Picture project is originates with the National Gallery in London. Take a look at some of the great work it has engendered.

"Get out of my Face(book)"

Here’s an interesting (but not surprising) twist on the ubiquitous social networking and web 2.0. Students in the UK are telling universities to leave them alone and keep out of sites like MySpace and Facebook. Stay out of MySpace. Seems like they are objecting to social networking being co-opted for academic content and communication.

“Students really do want to keep their lives separate. They don’t want to be always available to their lecturers or bombarded with academic information.” This from Jisc (Joint Information Systems Committee) that researched how online spaces are blurring boundaries.

Becoming citizens of the world

NAIS is working on a PGP (Principles of Good Practice) for Global Citizenship.

Here is a draft. They are seeking feedback, questions and responses as they work toward a final version to be added to their other PGPs.

Twenty-first century independent schools shape student experiences in ways that encourage global awareness and instill a compassionate, respectful understanding of other peoples and cultures. NAIS encourages all schools to adopt the following principles:

1. The school presents a view of the world that invites curiosity about the richness and diversity of human societies and encourages respect for the humanity of all peoples.

2. The school develops curriculum at all age levels to help students understand the similarities linking societies, while gaining an awareness of the contrasts of life experiences, culture, and history that can lead to different, but not necessarily less valid, views and values than their own.

3. The school assesses programming towards the end of enriching global understanding via a multiplicity of perspectives and resources that leap national and cultural boundaries, especially in the teaching of foreign languages and culture, geography, world history, the arts and media literacy.

4. The school’s staff and students model respect for other peoples and cultures and address any words or actions that express bias, disdain, or hatred toward other nationalities, religions, or cultures.

5. The school will seek out partnerships and networks that can aid them in developing global awareness for both students and faculty.

6. The school will incorporate parents in the support of school initiatives that encourage global understanding and a respect for all people.

It’s the teachers….

“It’s the teachers….” I refrain from adding the usual last word to that phrase because it seems unnecessarily rude but, surprise, surprise: Top quality teachers are the key factor in making a difference to quality education and top performing schools worldwide.

This is according to this recent and extensive report (pdf) on education systems worldwide and the factors that make the difference. The report is written by Sir Michael Barber and Mona Mourshed of McKinsey & Co., a consulting firm based in London.

We are lucky indeed to have such dedicated and talented teachers at PDS. They are ones who make the biggest impact on the quality of the learning experience for our students. Attracting, hiring, retaining and recognizing quality faculty together with on-going professional development are among the top priorities of our strategic plan.

Everyone a planner now: no more status quo

Ten Trends: educating children for tomorrow’s world

An article in the Journal of School Improvement a while back examined ten major trends and looked at the challenges they present for schools. The author, Gary Marx, begins with this ringing statement:

The status quo is a ticket to obsolescence. Why? Because the world around us is in motion, changing at dizzying speed. That’s why schools need to prepare students for a profoundly different future.

Here are those ten trends – the social seismic shifts – as identified by the author. If we want to help ready children for this changing world we need to prepare them not for the world we have known, not for the past, but for something we cannot predict and do not know.

We have an obligation to consider the changing circumstances of our world and be thoughtful about their implications for schooling and the children who will live in, and help lead and shape, that future. How is it possible to do that? What does it mean for our classrooms if we want to prepare children to thrive and succeed in that wider world that is changing fast and in unpredictable ways?

First, let’s take a look at the trends. Do they resonate with you? Do you see others out there that you would consider for the top ten list? In the article the author provides more information, explanation, examples and opens discussion of the implications for schools.

• Trend 1: For the First Time in history, the old will outnumber the young.
• Trend 2: The United States will become a nation of minorities.
• Trend 3: Social and intellectual capital will become the primary economic value in society.
  (from the Industrial Age to the Global Knowledge/Information Age)
• Trend 4: Education will shift from averages to individuals. (from Standardization to Personalization)
• Trend 5: The millennial generation will insist on solutions to accumulated problems and injustices.
• Trend 6: Continuous improvement and collaboration will replace quick fixes and defense of the status quo. (from Quick Fixes and Status Quo to Continuous Improvement)
• Trend 7: Technology will increase the speed of communication and the pace of advancement or decline.
• Trend 8: Knowledge creation and breakthrough thinking will stir a new era of enlightenment. (from Information Acquisition to Knowledge Creation)
• Trend 9: Scientific discoveries and societal realities will force difficult ethical choices (from the Pragmatic to the Ethical)
• Trend 10: Competition will increase as industries and professions intensify their efforts to attract and keep talented people.

Next up: Dealing with the Trends and What does it all mean for Poughkeepsie Day School?

And, in all this continuous improvement and change, what stays the same? Are there any anchors – sandbags on the balloons of the Macy’s parade of change – and if so what are they?