“I want the bike,” “No. You can’t have it.” A problem negotiated and solved. Friendship maintained, feelings expressed and managed, resources shared, a compromise reached, peace maintained, fairness asserted, inequality addressed and crisis averted. All in less than thirty seconds. I saw all this happen yesterday in a thirty-second exchange on the playground. It’s the … Read more
In September we announced that we would be seeking a name for the PDS Sports teams (as well as for groups that compete in other challenges on behalf of the school). We asked for names and received well over 100 different name ideas from students, teachers, alumni, trustees and parents. We posted it on the PDS … Read more
The Poughkeepsie Eagle-News Saturday Morning July 14th 1934 NRA – We Do Our Part 3 cents a copy Here it is: July 14th 1934: the first media mention I can find of the beginning of PDS. Headline: Old Spaulding Home sought by New School. The new school was PDS and the Spaulding House was at Hooker … Read more
A great video of our local bridge – the newly opened Walkway across the Hudson.
The history of Nigeria and African colonialism is not Chinua Achebe and Things Fall Apart; the Holocaust is not Anne Frank and The Diary; Mumbai is not Slumdog Millionaire. Our lives, our cultures, are composed of many overlapping stories. Novelist Chimamanda Adichie tells the story of how she found her authentic cultural voice — and … Read more
The farmers’ market is full of strange squash and gourds and pumpkins of every color, shape, and size. Autumn – mists and melancholy, falling leaves and nostalgia – is a time for memories. Mists that burn off by mid-morning and skeins of geese and migrating birds. Dark evenings when you can still play outside exhilarated by … Read more
There’s never a shortage of advice for teachers. And because everyone went to school – everyone is an expert on education and ready to offload opinions – good, bad and indifferent. Handwringing about how much better things used to be is a popular pastime – completely ignoring the fact that – to use the tag … Read more
We asked the captain what course of action he proposed to take toward a beast so large, so terrifying, and unpredictable. He hesitated to answer, and then said judiciously, “I think I shall praise it.” Robert Haas. Epigraph to his second book of poems, Praise: 1979 If you work in a school you get two … Read more
Great essay by Daniel Roth in Wired magazine about “geeks” and school. Some extracts: “The driving force in the life of a child, starting much earlier than it used to be, is to be cool, to fit in,”….”And pretty universally, it’s cool to rebel.” …. “The best schools….are able to make learning cool, so the … Read more
Every year at the annual Eagle Society poetry reading a lower school student demonstrates that s/he has spent homework time memorizing Shel Silversteins’s twelve line epic that begins: Homework, oh homework I hate you, you stink. I wish I could wash you away in the sink. If only a bomb would explode you to bits, … Read more
PDS has had a longtime commitment to service learning and getting involved to make a difference. I was pleased to find these photos deep in the archives. The first one is from 1962-1963 and shows children and a rescued squirrel and the others show PDS volunteers involved in a horse rescue project in 1999. This … Read more
This just in from Costa Rica:Perla and Jimena are with a Spanish immersion trip.They seem to be having an amazing time. More pictures on Facebook and Flickr.
For those who enjoy lists: The top 100 tools for learning. This is the 3rd year learning professionals from all over the world have been invited to share their top 10 online tools for learning to help build the Top 100 list. Check out the emerging list and compare rankings. Here is Jane Hart’s SlideShare … Read more
Looking through old PDS school photos – pictures of children working with tools, wading waist deep in muddy ponds and handling a plank on a cabin roof – started me thinking about risk. Taking risks is an essential part of children’s play and overcoming fears and obstacles is how we all grow and learn. Here’s … Read more
