What I've been Reading

Over the course of a year, in addition to articles and blogs that I read and follow, I try to get in as much book reading as I can. Here are some of the books that I've enjoyed this year:

I was curious about the book, Leaders Make the Future, after hearing speakers reference it at the last Southern Association of Independent Schools (SAIS) conference. In this book, Bob Johanson, from the Institute for the Future, looks at what his institute believes are the five external forces that will make us rethink how we lead our organizations. Because we used a similar way to look at our strategic planning process at Greensboro Day School, I was engaged right from the start. Whether we acknowledge them or not, the external forces Johanson shares are causing schools to rethink how they teach, what they teach, and how they help students to become tomorrow’s leaders. You can learn more about the work of the IFTF at: http://www.iftf.org/home/

I was immediately attracted to The Connected Educator, Learning and Leading in a Digital Age, because we are a 1:1 laptop school, and being connected is a critical part of our 6-12 program. Helping our teachers learn how to safely utilize the internet and use personal learning networks and blogs to expand their professional learning communities parallels the kind of networks we expect our students to develop. The authors, Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach and Lani Ritter Hall go into great detail about the power of diverse learning environments, connected learning communities, and how to improve teacher professional growth and development.

If you are an independent school educator and you’ve not yet read the NAIS Trendbook, you’re missing out on building a context for the challenges independent schools are facing today and will be facing in the very near future. We used it as a platform for our last administrative retreat when we looked at the potential threats and opportunities we face in the attraction and retention of students.

The Vendee Globe race comes around every four years and challenges solo sailors to sail 60-foot boats non-stop and unaided around the world. While 3,000 mountaineers have climbed Mt. Everest, only 50 sailors have ever completed this race, and the dropout rate averages 50% due primarily to equipment failure from the skippers pushing the boats too hard. The race is currently underway and you can see how the sailors are doing here.  Note that seven have already had to drop out.

Rich Wilson, a competitor in the 2008 Vendee Globe recounts his harrowing experience in his book, Race, France to France, Leave Antarctica to Starboard. His story is one of true courage and heroism as he rounds both major capes, and sails the southern ocean where the International Space Station houses the next closest human. I have a particular love for this book, as I raced competitively on San Francisco Bay and have a deep respect for the extreme difficulty of accomplishing what these sailors attempt.

Our school is taking on a three year ethical development program with the Institute for Global Ethics and we are reading How Good People Make Tough Choices and Moral Courage by Rushworth Kidder. I have thoroughly enjoyed reading both of these books because they eloquently outline why it’s so frequently difficult to make choices about the right thing to do. Kidder points out that very few of the choices we make are right vs. wrong decisions, which are rather easy to make. The tough ones are the right vs. right choices we have to make almost daily. These choices include those that bring into conflict loyalty and truth, the rights and needs of the individual and the community, short-term and long-term consequences, justice and mercy. Both of these books make us examine our values and offer a method that we can learn and teach our students for making good choices. The writing is deep and thorough providing terrific guidance in decision making for all of us.

Michelle Bostian, our LS counselor, is heading up our work, and you can learn more about what we are doing by visiting our Bengal Talk blog.

As you can imagine, my bed stand is stacked high with more books to read!

How to Avoid the Artificial Maturity Trap

This posting is from from the Leading Blog: a blog that reviews recently published books.

 

Children today are overexposed to information far earlier than they are ready and underexposed to real-life experiences far later than they are ready producing a kind of artificial maturity. Tim Elmore writes in Artificial Maturity, that “it looks so real because kids know so much, but it’s virtual because they have experienced so little.” He continues:

Today, because information is so prevalent, our kids assume they have [experiential knowledge] when they only have [informational knowledge]. With an abundance of knowledge, their confidence can soar, but it’s based on a virtual foundation. Without experience, it’s easier for knowledge to produce judgmental attitudes, bullying, and arrogance.

With all of this information kids think they are mature. And unfortunately, we do too. That’s part of the problem. How often have we seen a “smart” child and thought, “They are sure mature for their age.” Intelligence and maturity are not the same thing. (Of course, we see this same issue in “adults” too.) Elmore writes, “Except in rare cases, their knowledge has only entertained them. It has not produced anything real.”

Elmore provides reasons for why artificial maturity has become so widespread, but his real focus is what we can do about it. To transform artificial maturity into authentic maturity, we must concentrate on four areas says Elmore:

Emotional Intelligence. Mature, healthy people manage their emotions. This means developing self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, and relationship management.

Character and a Sense of Ethics. Mature, healthy people live by a set of values and principles. They don’t merely react to what is going on around them. They have self-discipline, emotional security, core values, and a clear sense of identity.

Strength Discovery. Mature, healthy people who become the best versions of themselves are one’s who’ve stopped trying to do everything and focused on what they do very well. This means developing their natural talents and gifts, knowledge base, heartfelt passions, and acquired skills.

Leadership Perspective. Mature, healthy people live lives that don’t just revolve around themselves. They invest their lives in something beyond themselves. A leadership perspective involves a personal vision, responsibility, compassion, and initiative.

Developing maturity is centered on four key areas:

• Provide autonomy and responsibility simultaneously
• Provide information and accountability simultaneously
• Provide experiences to accompany teens' technology-savvy lifestyles
• Provide community-service opportunities to balance self-service time

In addition, Elmore believes there are four debts we owe our kids: clarity (fosters focused direction), transparency (fosters validation and vulnerability), consistency (fosters trust and assurance), and boundaries (fosters security).

There is far too much information in this book to cover it here, but here are a few more ideas from Elmore:

• Start inserting age-appropriate responsibility into your children’s lives right away. Avoid indulging and overprotecting them and creating hyperinflated egos. We are doing a disservice to young people if we remove their chance to fail.

• Enable them to take control of their lives; to boss their calendars. Hold them accountable and responsible for the choices they’ve made and don’t bail them out. Let them see that failure isn’t final and poor judgment is not necessarily poor character.

• Connect them to people (adults) outside their peer group. This generation doesn’t need you for information (they can get that without you), but they do need you for interpretation. They need mentors to help them make sense of the information and the world around them.

• Communicate that there is meaning even in the small, mundane tasks. Give them a sense of the big picture and how all the little things they do fit into the big picture of history, or of the organization, or of their community.

Authentic maturity is a leadership issue. Elmore concludes, “Our kids have what it takes inside of them, if we’ll just take them seriously and equip them for the future. As they enter adolescence, we must begin to treat them as young adults and train them to be both autonomous and responsible. Then, I dare you to stand back and watch them amaze you.”

Artificial Maturity is an excellent book to help us understand maturity—what it is and how it is developed. Not only is it helpful for developing it in children but the issues raised are good to reflect on for our own development

Collaboration and Cooperation

Developing 21st century skills calls for a closer examination of the power of collaboration and the role of cooperation in the classroom.

In their book, The Connected Educator, Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach and Lani Ritter Hall speak to the importance of collaboration, cooperation and individual learning.

Collaboration is sometimes confused with cooperation. Cooperation is an individual approach to learning and the construction of individual knowledge done within a group. In this model everyone is expected to contribute something that anyone else in the group could have contributed. Each learner works individually on the same topic and then shares what he or she has learned in order to deepen the understanding of the group. Because the work is done individually, one learner’s failure to participate does not negatively affect the learning outcomes of the group.

In short, when in a cooperative situation, each individual’s contributions is replaceable; if a group member leaves, work doesn’t necessarily suffer; the group shares information that any member could have contributed; everyone works together on a common task; the group is structured.

Collaboration comes about when a learning group approaches a project or learning opportunity as connected learners, relying on one another’s knowledge, skills, talents and readiness to share. In this model, each participant shares his or her specific knowledge. Each brings some unique ability to the group’s project or task that helps to create success, and everyone works together to solve a problem.

In order for collaboration to be successful, each member of the group must invest in his or her personal knowledge-building before they have something to share. Personal knowledge is critical to creating a collaborative culture.

Technology makes connecting, collaboration and personal learning easier than ever before in human history. Through technology we can connect with others across continents and time zones to build collaborative learning communities that were not possible in the not so distant past.

Collaborative models of problem solving are the wave of the future, and through the use of technologies anyone can find a project on which to work or problem to solve where his or her individual talents, skills and knowledge can make a difference.

In the 21st century, technology has transformed how people connect, interact and collaborate to create knowledge. It offers our students unprecedented opportunities to learn and, as our GDS Mission exhorts us “… to become constructive contributors to the world.”

iPads in the Third Grade

Greensboro Day School initiated a 1:1 laptop computer program over ten years ago, and we have been keeping up with the technology and integrating into our pedagogical practices ever since.

This year, we are piloting the use of iPads in three of our lower school classrooms, and I have been checking in to see how the program is coming along. The teachers tell me that they love having them, but that the learning curve is steeper than they had thought. They are finding that selecting the right programs to use and learning how to operate and manage them with students takes considerable preparation time and that their use is not always successful, which is one good reason why we pilot such programs before expanding them to more students.

Last week, I spent some time in Mark Potter's third grade classroom; one of the classrooms that is piloting the iPad program. I asked one of Mark's students how she was finding her experience with the iPads. She said that she was very excited about using them and showed me one of the math problems she had just done.

Using the iPad, she had taken a picture of a word problem that had been handed out in class. She then used a program to record her description of how she solved the problem, while underlining the critical components of the problem and writing an algorithm.

Mr. Potter told me that later in the day, when he reviewed her math work, the iPad allowed him to hear her voice and to see how she had worked through the problem. He shared that by listening and watching how students solved their problems it helped him learn how to modify his teaching in order to help them become better at math.

We love technology at GDS, and we understand that it is a tool to improve learning, not an end in itself or a way to just have fun. Our teachers are learning more everyday about how to use computers to make learning more accessible to our students and to help teachers more quickly understand how they can help their students to learn and then demonstrate what they know.

Here is the link to see how the student both thought about and solved the word problem she was given.



The Importance of Creativity

Sir Ken Robinson’s talk, Changing Education Paradigms, Animated. What do our schools need to teach and our students need to learn?  How important is creativity? With over 8,000,000 views, this is a very popular Youtube video.  Enjoy!

 

And, if you liked that... Here is the classic Sir Ken Youtube...

Positioning Our Educational Program for the Future

In our new world where communication is instantaneous and comes from everywhere and everyone, where the evolution of technology and biology is making it possible to grow human organs, where information is doubling every 18 months and the computers now found in toys are more powerful than those carried on the first man-on-the-moon missions, we are feeling the compression of time.  

Eras that once lasted ten or twenty years are being compressed into five and ten years, and soon one to two years. We are quickly moving from a knowledge and information society to becoming the innovative society. Understanding this shift is critical when we consider what is important for our students to learn and know.

Muhtar Kent, Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of The Coca-Cola Company made the following points in a talk regarding how his company is positioning itself for the future for the Consumer Analysts Group of New York.  The trends are summarized by Michael McKinney of the Leading Blog:

1. A powerful shift in the epicenter of global economic growth. By the year 2020, the world’s economic power will radiate from many nations and not just a few. Despite the current economic woes, we’re going to see 20 trillion dollars of global GDP growth created in the next 10 years. Most of this will be in the emerging and developing economies of the world. In the next 10 years, we’re going to see a billion new consumers rise to the middle class.
2. Rapid urbanization as people move to cities for opportunities. Today, the world’s cities are growing by 70 million people each year, and that will continue for at least the next decade. That’s the equivalent of adding a metropolitan area the size of Atlanta to the planet every 30 days for the next 10 years.
3. A world wrestling with energy and resource scarcity. In the coming years, as wealth grows and consumer demand increases, we are going to be faced with constant scarcities and cost pressures. Demand for fuel, food and other commodities will expand significantly. This will have long-term cost implications for all of us. In a world of constant cost pressures, it is essential that we achieve a low-cost structure and that productivity is embedded in everything we do.
4. A reset of consumer attitudes, values and expectations. Consumers worldwide are focused on value. They expect to engage with brands in a dialogue as opposed to a one-way monologue. They do not want to be told what to do. Today's consumers are dictating what they want... how they want it... when they want it... where they want it... and what price they are willing to pay. This is an important trend—and one that threatens to break the traditional distinction between buyer and seller that has been at the cornerstone of modern business and economics.
5. An emerging new era of innovation brought on by these first four trends and fueled by sustainability imperatives. Most new breakthrough innovations over the next decade will spring from a world radiating economic power from multiple sources... from a world with more empowered consumers... and from a world where natural resource scarcity is the norm. New ideas and innovations will originate well beyond the four walls of a company. Innovation will be just as likely to come from customers, suppliers, and consumers. Innovations will be truly global. They will no longer just trickle down from developed to lesser developed nations. They will just as likely originate in emerging nations as well.

The implications of Mr. Kent’s assertions for education are remarkable. Our children will soon be living in a world that is not only technologically and economically compressed, but a world where they will be interacting with a more diverse set of friends and co-workers in a world that is politically organized in ways that we’ve yet to imagine. How do we help our students to develop the intellectual, ethical and interpersonal foundations that they will need to become productive, engaged members of society in such a flat world?

Two years ago, a Program Development Committee under the leadership of David Gilbert, our Academic Dean, took on the challenge of examining not only our teaching methodology and curriculum, but looking to see how other schools around the country and the world were tackling these issues in order to begin a thoughtful review of our programs.

While we have not yet dramatically changed any portion of our program, we are looking at the work of such authors as Tony Wagner and his book, The Global Achievement Gap, which was read by the entire faculty. We have also begun to investigate teaching practices which integrate subject areas and provide learning opportunities that are more rigorous and relevant to our students.  One such program calls for groups of students working individually and together to analyze and solve problems.  We believe this approach, called Problem Based Learning or PBL, holds considerable promise for educating our students. It will provide them with the opportunity to tackle issues and problems that they will find engaging and challenging.While doing projects is not a novel idea at GDS, the new approach would drive learning deeper and attach it more rigorously to expected outcomes.

Greensboro Day has taken on what we believe to be several overarching concepts to address curricular and pedagogical practices that will be critical to the future success of our students.  One is a greater emphasis on global perspective. Our History Department is in the process of reviewing its program so that students are provided a greater world view and understanding of both the historical and present facts and trends that drive global relationships and economies. Another is a closer examination of how we teach and group our students. We have adopted Differentiated Instruction to ensure that our students are being challenged at an appropriate level. Assessing each student’s knowledge base and engaging them in work that stretches their understanding and peaks their interests is vital to developing the life-long learning skills that will support them as learners.

The importance of our students understanding sustainable practices cannot be underestimated. The planet simply will not have enough resources to sustain the type of human growth and development that is expected. This subject is addressed throughout the curriculum and is an important element of both the ethical and economical dimensions of our educational program.

Initiatives that we are currently examining include:

• The Use of Time - We believe that extending the time of our classes will allow students to focus and engage in more depth.  This will result in an Upper and Middle School rotation that will limit the number of classes a student has each day, which will decrease the number of times students have shift their thinking from one subject to the next. We are also exploring two days of "late" starts which research indicates will provide students with an important increase in the amount of sleep they get, which will lead to greater attention in class.
• Foreign Languages - WE are in the process of exploring the adoption of Chinese starting in the fall of 2013. This will be our first shift from a Romance Language since we opened in 1970. 
• Backward Design (UbD) – As a school, clarifying specific outcomes that we expect our students to be able to demonstrate, not just on a quiz or summative pencil and paper test, but through presentation, cross questioning and demonstration is critical to what is taught and learned in class each day. Knowing our intended outcomes for students will lead to more specific and targeted instruction.
• Differentiated Instruction (DI) – One size does not fit all. Because of different individual and family experiences, ways of learning and natural ability, our students enter our school each year with different amounts of knowledge. Teaching all students the same material in the same way creates a class that can be both extremely boring for some and quite exciting for other students. Clarity of outcomes and understanding what our students know and don’t know is critical to our success in teaching and inspiring them.
• Ethical and Character Education - With a greater knowledge and access to information, it is critical that our students have a firm grasp on what is ethical and how ethical decisions can be made in the face of more and more opportunities to act unethically. We are developing programing through our counseling department to address this important area.
• Technology – It is both a tremendous advantage and brings with it many challenges. We have initiated a team of counselors, administrators, teachers and technology leaders to examine our expectations of students in the area of technology. What began as an extension of the teaching process and the teaching of a new skill has exploded into a social networking universe that has no boundaries. Providing a “safe” networking platform for our students was a great advantage, in the very near future the majority of our MS and US students will have internet access that we cannot control through their handheld devices . What is our role in teaching students what is appropriate and inappropriate to say and do in the cyber world, and how can we control and monitor their explorations? How can parents?

In addition, technology offers very powerful learning opportunities ranging from the organizing of information on a laptop to cross-cultural experiences, research, polling for opinions, and additional learning opportunities through virtual classrooms.

The world is changing faster than ever, and it is critical that education keep up or our students will not be prepared for the world into which we send them after their senior year. Our intention is to move purposefully into the future so that there is an alignment of our program and teaching methods with what students will need to know.

Why Choose Greensboro Day School?

Greensboro Day School is one of over 2,000 independent schools from across the United States who are members of the National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS). In all, these schools provide a high-quality of education to over 700,000 students from preschool through high school. Each of the NAIS schools has its own mission and purpose and is held accountable by a board of trustees and high accreditation standards. They are called “independent” because they do not receive government support and are supported by tuition, donations and endowments.

Research indicates that independent schools are successful because they provide:

• High-quality and committed teachers
• Close-knit communities 
• Hands-on learning opportunities
• Educational experiences beyond the classroom
• Actively engaged parents
• Supportive learning environments
• Provide a high degree of safety
• Individualized attention for students

Recent studies, and those from a 2004 NAIS report, indicate that families chose independent schools because of these reasons along with small classes, excellent teachers and high academic standards. Overall, families believe that independent schools will provide high-quality, well-rounded experiences for their children. Along with high academic standards families report that their children also prosper from opportunities to extend their learning in core subject areas, electives, athletics, fine and performing arts and later,  in life.

The U.S. Department of Education, through its conducting of the National Educational Longitudinal Study (NELS), came to the conclusion that independent school students enroll in more advanced courses than their counterparts in pubic, parochial and other private schools.  They also found that independent school students:

·  Do twice as much homework as their counterparts

·  Watch only two-thirds as much television

·  Are significantly more likely to participate in varsity or intramural sports

·  Are more likely to agree that students and teachers get along well, discipline is fair and teaching is good.

While all independent schools set high standards and emphasize values, each provides a unique educational program based on its mission and theory of educational practice.

Recent reports indicate a slight drop in enrollment at many independent schools. We are thrilled to report that Greensboro Day School remains strong in both enrollment and financial stability. Our number one priority is to remain constant in our academic and extracurricular offerings. While many local private and public schools are cutting resources and programs, we continue to offer the most challenging academic program in the area, balanced with an award winning arts program and competitive athletics. 

If you would like to learn more about the value of an independent school education, you might enjoy some of these links:

• http://www.nais.org/files/PDFs/NELSReport_2-3-04_FINAL.pdf
• http://www.metrokids.com/MetroKids/November-2011/7-Myths-About-Independent-Schools/
• http://www.fcis.org/uploaded/Accreditation/New_Docs_2/Why_Choose_an_Independent_School.pdf

If you would like to learn more about Greensboro Day School, click here.

The Critical Skills that our Students will Need

A new Towers Watson study "Global Talent 2021" is based on information from a recent global survey of 352 human resource professionals. The report outlines four skill areas that will be in demand over the next 10 years and makes me reflect on the educational curriculum that will need to be in place to support our students in developing these skills.

Digital Skills: Highly skilled technical workers will be needed in a rapidly growing digital economy. Social media already places an emphasis on employing those who have the ability to work in newly developing forms of digital expression and who have marketing literacy. 50.6 percent of the HR professionals who responded to the survey indicated that digital skills would be critical for future workers and 44.9 percent indicated that the ability to work virtually was critical.

Agile Thinking Skills: In an era of ongoing economic and political variability, agile thinking and the ability to design multiple scenarios is going to be vital. Innovative thinking, the ability to deal with complexity and manage what appear to be paradoxical situations, will be critical skills to have in the very near future.

Interpersonal and Communication Skills: The HR professionals believed that co-creativity and brainstorming skills, along with customer relationship building and virtual teaming skills, will be in great demand. They believe that corporations will continue to move from a command-and-control style of management to a more collaborative model. With a wide variety of geographies and cultures represented in stakeholders from around the world, the capacity to align strategic goals, build consensus and build collaboration will be critical needs for corporations.

Global Operating Skills: The ability to work in worldwide markets and manage a diverse set of employees is seen by the HR professionals as the most important operating skill. The ability to understand diverse cultures, their language and customs will be critical in a future where commerce will flow ever more freely across the world.

The report concludes by saying that employees who do not possess these valuable skills will be at a serious competitive disadvantage, and those who do will be the leaders of tomorrow.



Play is the work of Children

I thoroughly enjoyed Tara Parker Pope's article in last week's New York Times article entitled Simon Says Don't Use Flashcards . My favorite quote from the article is, “We tend to equate learning with the content of learning, with what information children have, rather than the how of learning.”

She goes on to explain that children need to develop their executive function skills, which include vitally important abilities such as planning, anticipating, organizing, strategizing and the ability to focus. Without these skills we are not able to put information to good use. Flashcards are excellent for rote memorization, and there are certain things that do need to be memorized, but research shows that learning how to learn through focus and self-control early in our lives is critical in helping us to have better academic success over time.

So, when our Lower School Division Director, Gillian Goodman, says to parents that play is childrens work, she is exactly right.  Through play they are learning skills that will help them to become better students and at the same time develop their interpersonal skills with other youngsters.

Parker Pope's article goes on to recommend how to increase the intricacies of play in order to help children improve their ability to plan, strategize and organize themselves to do important learning.

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When to stop for a School Bus

Since my first test for a driver's licence in North Carolina was over five years ago, I have often wondered if I correctly remembered the law for stopping when a school bus is loading or unloading students.

The local public schools began their first day of classes today, so it's a good time to review the rules for stopping. This video and article should help all of us to better remember the details about this important law.

(Thanks to my FB buddies for posting this!)

School Bus Laws: When to Stop (click here)

What's the purpose of a College Degree?

I recently read an article by Katrin Park in the Christian Science Monitor's on-line edition and was intrigued by her observations on the value of a college degree in the humanities.

While I agree with the earlier points that are made in the article, my favorite quote, and one that has my full endorsement, is the one about the purpose of college being to develop responsible citizens and good people.

 Below are some excerpts from the article.

My Gloriously Useless Degrees in the Humanities

"Many insist the US needs more engineers and scientists to revive the economy. The hard truth is no degree guarantees a secure trajectory anymore. While I may not remember all I absorbed studying the humanities, I learned to think for myself. That has been invaluable in the workplace."

"A foreign language works like a passport. Critical thinking helps put complex situations into perspective. Emotional acuity serves as a compass when navigating office politics. And these are skills that training in the humanities can enhance."

"Higher education is more than a vocational or technical training. The essential purpose of it has never been primarily about “usefulness” in a narrow sense of acquiring a specific, practical tool to make oneself marketable."
 
"In the words of my late college professor – of philosophy – the purpose of higher education is to become broadly acquainted with cultural traditions and deeply appreciate them, so that it may help us become responsible citizens and good people in general."

"I have long forgotten the details of what I absorbed in classrooms and libraries. I did, however, learn how to think for myself, and that is invaluable in the workplace and outside of it."

Best Quote from the Second Day of School

Best quote from the second day of school... a kindergartener, when asked by his parents if he was ready for school to start, replied, "I'm psyched!"

Our Bitty Bengals arrived today and did a terrific job of settling in as their parents slowly withdrew and joined Gillian Goodman and me in the Lower School Media Center for a welcome and music by our young Suzuki violinists. While most of my welcome talks center on our rigorous educational program, the importance we place on learning to become ethical thinkers and developing each student's interpersonal skills, it seemed a little out of place when welcoming the anxious parents of our new four-year-olds.

Instead, I shared my 19 years of experience with preschool programs in California and how pleased I was that we were able to extend the GDS experience to include preschool aged children.  I also spoke about the important learning that takes place at this age. As Gillian Goodman, our Lower School Director pointed out, the work of this age group is play. While playing, these young children learn to interact with each other in positive and supportive ways, and they develop a sense of self-efficacy through using their words to solve problems and make choices. We are so excited to have our new Bitty Bengals on campus!

Each of our divisions has settled in nicely today, and we are "psyched!" for our first full day and all-school welcoming tomorrow!

Second Day of School

Today was filled with greeting the Middle and Upper School students as they walked from the Dillard Circle and up to the campus.  There were lots of vacation conversations, new shoes, dresses, shorts and exuberant high fives, smiles and hugs between students as they piled out of cars.

It was great having everyone back on campus.  We missed their energy, good humor and the zest they bring to our community each day.

I enjoyed greeting the students in their assemblies and then heading up to the Lower School to visit each class. It was hard to believe that the kids had grown so much over the summer and they, unlike our Middle Schoolers, seemed to enjoy the fact that someone noticed how big they'd gotten.

Meeting the new Lower School families is always fun. You can almost feel the anxiety in the air from our new kindergarten parents! But, it doesn't take long for smiles to appear as they feel comfortable with their child's new school. Sharing the stories of raising our own children usually brings a reassurance that we just might be able to come to value and enjoy their children as much as they do.

Tomorrow brings another half day of school as the students and teachers rebuild their stamina in preparation for a full day on Friday! I can't wait!

New Student and Parent Orientation

It was great seeing all of the new students and their parents today during our new student orientations in the Middle and Upper Schools. Most impressive were our student ambassadors who did an amazing job of introducing themselves to all the new students and taking the time to get to know them before taking them around the school.

One parent commented that her child told her that GDS "is the friendliest school she's ever been too." I'm sure that warmed her heart.  As a parent, it always made me feel great when my child reported that they enjoyed themselves at school.

When I spoke to the new Upper School parents I shared the story of one of our graduates who joined us as a sophomore. When I first met her in the hallway of the administration building during her tour of the school three years ago, I asked her if she was ready to study hard.  She replied that she was, and I commented that if that were the case she would do well at GDS. Over the next two years she applied herself, and many of our faculty reached out to support her in becoming a stronger student. I watched as her grades steadily improved and enjoyed seeing her play basketball. 

But, in the fall of her junior year, she tore her ACL and it took her out of basketball for the season.  Being an eager learner and not wanting to sit still, she become heavily involved in several of our clubs and non-athletic activities to the extent of becoming a student leader. The most amazing thing was that she tried out for the spring drama production and landed a key role in To Kill a Mockingbird. When I went to the opening night's performance I could not have been more amazed!  Here was our star basketball player acting on stage as if she was born to it.

I was so impressed that this young lady had taken advantage of so many of the wonderful things that our school has to offer. Her senior year found her back playing basketball, but courting a greater scene of herself and her ability both on and off the court. In fact, she landed one of the lead roles in our fall musical, Hairspray. I'm sure that if she had not injured her leg, we might never have heard her wonderful voice and enjoyed her spectacular acting.

Her story is just one of the many that our faculty and staff could share about our students.