Kindergarten collectors

It was part of a math number and counting project and then both kindergarten classes brought in their personal collections to share. Glass beads, shells, coins, cards, model cars, photos of India, quarters and stamps. And the stamps included this one honoring the teachers of America issued on July 1st 1957. I had this one in my childhood collection too. I still do.

In 2004 Education Secretary Rod Paige calls the NEA a “terrorist organization”.

The Effort Effect: the Audacity of High Hopes.

The effort effect on display at Buttercup Farm Nature Reserve, near Poughkeepsie. See below for a photo of the dam.

Intelligence is not fixed. It is it is learnable and teachable. It can be changed. The way we approach learning and thinking makes all the difference. It is our ‘mindset” that keeps us back. If we believe, and if we teach that intellgence is a fixed entity then we limit our abilites. If we say we can’t do that or are just no good at it then indeed we won’t be. If we think we can improve, if we believe that hard work, effort make the difference then we will get better at the ask we have set in our sights.

That is the basic premise of Carol Dweck’s Mindsets: The New Psychology of Success.
It’s a useful book and one that is having an impact in the world of education where it is appearing on teachers summer reading lists.
This article is a good introduction to her work:
The Effort Effect: According to a Stanford psychologist, you’ll reach new heights if you learn to embrace the occasional tumble.

Sports fans and athletes may enjoy the anecdote about her work with players on the Blackburn Rovers premier league football team.

When Dweck was working at Columbia University she conducted some interesting research in NYC schools on the inverse power of praise. Here is the story as reported by New York magazine: How not to talk to your kids

Basic idea: Praise the effort not the intelligence. Praising kids for being smart saps motivation.

I’ve posted about Carol Dweck’s work before Stop Praising Students.

And the end result of all the audacious high hopes? Here’s that beaver dam:

American Life

The final project for the eleventh grade drama class was the stage presentation- directed by Laura Hicks – of American Life – scenes from the plays of David Auburn, Eugene O’Neill, Jane Martin and Wendy Wasserstein.

High School madness

Too Busy to Eat, Students Get a New Required Course: Lunch
Did you read this article from today’s New York Times? It’s about high school students and their overpacked schedules?
What were your reactions?

Worth keeping in mind when you get a chance to review the new high school schedule for PDS students. Time is the coin of the realm in schools and a day and a week only have so many hours. How to pack everything in? What is the right balance between and amongst academics, the arts, exercise, eating and all the rest of it? Not to mention – dare we say it – discretionary time and down time. Let’s not forget athletics, community service, clubs, community building, friendship and fun. And what about choice, flexibility and test prep?

How does a school go about the process of making the choices about the overall quality of life for its students? What are the compromises and what principles should drive the decisions?

If you start with our vision of a PDS graduate – how do we use time to accomplish that mission?

The Medieval Festival

Color

Seeing red, going green, in a purple haze , once in a blue moon.

Pictures from the first and second grade.

Never too late

Photo courtesy of Mimika Hyman

It’s never too late to post a great photo of the cast of the middle school 5th/6th grade production of Arabian Nights seen on the stage of the JEJ Theater this spring. Congratulations everyone!.

The New Progressivism

Read Peter Gow’s Education Week article The New Progressivism is Here.

Commenting on the 2008 NAIS annual conference held in New York City last winter Gow identifies independent schools as being at the forefront of contemporary thinking about education. The elements he identifies in particular include:

• Assessment against high standards
• Professional development
• Real-world connections
• Multiculturalism as a process, not a program
• Character and creativity
• Civic engagement
• Technology as a tool

His conclusion:

With educators filling Radio City Musical Hall to hear messages of radical change from Sir Ken Robinson and Daniel Pink*, and the conference program knee-deep in sessions focused on sustainability, service, global education, diversity, and emerging technologies, it was clear that the ideals of the New Progressivism have taken root.

One does not have to believe that his or her students are “the leaders of tomorrow” to buy in to a philosophy of education that prepares them to enter higher education, the workforce, and civil society as innovative, flexible, and resourceful citizens and thinkers. Nor are independent schools the only places where such thinking prevails—many public schools and public school teachers are achieving extraordinary things with these same techniques. Together, these institutions’ successes should convince educational and political leaders to consider what the New Progressivism might mean for all schools, and all children.

*for a contrarian point of view on Daniel Pink’s ideas here is Gary Stager reviewing what he calls The Worst Book of the 21st Century.

"I see the future"

Fantasy Castle in the Sky

This show had it all.
A cast of thousands.
A three-ring circus with gorillas, clowns, trapeze artists, acrobats, strongmen, sword swallowers, a lion, a lion tamer and miniature ponies.
A trip to the zoo, with a tiger, ducks, monkeys, penguins, elephants, rabbits, deer and snakes.
And lots of food.

But where are the zebras? The zebras are missing. They must be found.

A celestial castle with imperious queens, spoiled princesses, jaded princes, sleepy kings and… auditioning robots.
The robots cannot compute fun and feeling. The magical color people must come to the rescue. And they do and all ends happily ever after.

The children of the lower school created this magical story from the richness of their imagination and it all began here.

The pH rises…Science Symposium 08

The pH rises

and the bubbles stream out; pop,

From the misty stream.

The water running

and the fish swimming wildly

from the broken dam

A single river

peacefully and calmly

Over the rock’s rage

Bubbling test tubes

Images of science class

A beautiful sight!

Elements make up

Things around the universe

They are what makes us !

Water is awesome!

Solid, liquid, gas, always-

Water. It’s a gift.