A school in May is like a two year old deprived of a nap. That’s how my colleague Liz describes it. Everyone is stressed out, too busy and cranky. The weather is unpredictable with storms and frost one moment and sunshine and blossoms the next. The calendar is stuffed with culminating events, showcases, performances, final … Read more
It’s not about the tools and the testing, it’s about the learning and the thinking. Digital literacy is an important entitlement for all young people in an increasingly digital culture. Every school should have an organized policy for language across the curriculum… Two documents, two eras. The first from FutureLab (UK) – a wonderful introduction … Read more
April 23rd 2010 – Shakespeare’s birthday and Poughkeepsie Day School begins live streaming Diary of a Scoundrel – Alexander Ostrovsky’s cynical play about hypocrisy and the trouble with literacy! You can see it here. Thank you David Held- for the live streaming and the videography. David assures me that it only takes half an hour … Read more
Math makes sense of the world: Here’s math teacher Dan Meyer speaking at the TEDxNYED conference in March.
If blogging is supposed to have an element of timeliness then I have given up on that ideal. After all – I am still writing about stuff from the NAIS annual conference in February. Fess Parker died in March and while my mind went instantly to the Davy Crockett craze of my childhood, it’s only … Read more
The ratio between success and failure remains pretty constant. To succeed means we must fail. And the more often we fail the more we succeed. The key is to fail frequently and fail fast. Then move on and try something else. That was the message of Tina Seelig who works at the entrepreneurship center at … Read more
Here’s an article to read by David Elkind in the NYTimes Playtime is Over It’s an important topic. It’s an interesting article. And it’s one well worth reading and talking about. There is one piece though, that I have to comment on right away: For children in past eras, participating in the culture of childhood … Read more
I’m more than a bit late with my NAIS annual conference round up but then …excuses, excuses…what with returning to Poughkeepsie with a rotten cold, the remaining effects of a mega storm that closed school for three days (ably dealt with by Steve Mallet and the division heads) and then all the catching up…. So … Read more
National Standards kindergarten through 12th grade are on their way. At PDS we are looking forward to taking a good look at all the standards and at where we converge, and diverge, in the choices we make. And also, at where we exceed and expand national (and international) expectations. As an accredited independent school we … Read more
It is quite possible that the assigning of grades to school children and college students as a kind of reward or punishment is useless or worse… I’ve discovered an absolute treasure trove of fascinating material: Popular Science has put its entire 137 year archive on line. The quotation above is from Examinations, Grades and Credits … Read more
Click for an UPDATED version of this experiment and with a great new video. It’s always great when a student or a teacher sends along a report, picture or a video of something cool going on in the classroom. Or, as in this case, a cool experiment during vacation. This is a first attempt at … Read more
The Art History class took off for Italy last week. It’s well over 4,000 miles from Poughkeepsie to Zurich and on to Florence but here’s the extra mile: Wayne created these books – in Florentine red – one for every student. It’s for notes,sketches and reference on the trip. The sleeve at the back has … Read more
It was Dean Kamen – the inventor of the Segway and a version of the artificial heart – who established F.I.R.S.T.* His vision was: “To transform our culture by creating a world where science and technology are celebrated and where young people dream of becoming science and technology heroes.” Last year we introduced lego robotics … Read more
By now you have probably been sent a link to, or have even read, Playing to Learn – Susan Engel’s oped in the NYTimes last week. In addition to the fluttering in my twittersphere, I received notice from a teacher, an alumna, and an administrator at PDS as well as the head of a neighboring … Read more
Teacher of the Year Anthony Mullen has another excellent Road Diary post today. At Kent State University, Ohio, he walks down a grassy slope looking back at the spot where, almost forty years ago, the National Guard stood in line to confront student war protesters. And then the fatal 13 seconds that left four students … Read more