I often get asked: What, exactly, do you do in the summer when all of the students and staff are gone? Well, besides getting home at a more reasonable hour during the summer weeks (my daughters don’t know what to do with me), occasionally wearing shorts to work, and enjoying longer and more thoughtful conversations with teachers, parents, and school committee members, summer provides the time for reading, reflecting, and preparing for a new school year.
This fall we will open High Rock, the district’s 8th school, and this has required the collective efforts of several folks, including the new principal. But much of my time this summer has been spent hiring teachers and new administrators. We are very fussy about our hiring process, and it consumes a lot of time: the recruitment, screening of hundreds of applications, lengthy interviews, reference checking, demonstration lessons, site visits, and final interviews in the central office all require the attention and time of principals and staff. But it is time well spent because the folks we hire will impact the education of our children in a big way and we need to get it right. Students don’t get a second chance at fifth grade if we aren’t choosy about whom we hire in the first place! Frankly, nothing is more important than hiring great people.
This summer I have also had the pleasure of observing our teachers in their summer coursework (summertime for good teachers always involves additional coursework, reading, and classroom organization), teaching in summer programs, and talking to me about their hopes and plans for next year and beyond. Indeed, the summer months are the time our teachers continue their learning and preparation for a fresh crop of students!
I have especially enjoyed connecting with individual School Committee members over a leisurely cup of coffee or lunch. Needham is fortunate to have seven School Committee members who are incredibly wise, talented, and hugely invested in and committed to the schools and their community. It’s always great to check in with them and learn about what is important to them as we work together to support teaching and learning.
I have not plowed through as many books as I would like (I never do), but I’ve finished a great little book edited by Houston, Blankstein, and Cole entitled Spirituality in Educational Leadership. No, it’s not a prayer book for superintendents (although that could sell well in my circles), but it is a series of articles from educators and researchers who posit that school administrators need to ensure schools are sanctuaries of learning and places where we encourage the development of good character and a sense of community. I’ve also managed to plow through a couple novels, including Grisham’s The Appeal, and am half way through Doris Kearns Goodwin’s Team of Rivals. I admire Lincoln and think he was the greatest President to serve our nation. He was a brooding leader with a broad vision who realized we could not be two nations: one free and one slave. Instead, he fought for one union without slavery and paid with his life.
It’s been a good summer so far. And there is still time to get to the beach and enjoy my family before September 1st, the opening of a new school, and the start of a school year. Maybe I’ll even get one more Grisham in…
Sunday, August 9, 2009
Thursday, June 11, 2009
Needham High School Graduation, 2009
Needham High School graduated 306 talented young men and women this past week in a ceremony marked by much ceremony, pomp, and circumstance. They were cheered on by a supportive community and excited parents who should all be immensely proud of their children and of themselves for achieving this milestone.
After being encouraged by some parents, I have decided to post the comments I shared with the members of the Needham High School Class of 2009:
Remember that your character matters.
Over the last 13 years you have been a student, immersed in academics, scholarship, and co-curricular activities. Today this community honors your academic success by awarding you a diploma signifying your preparation and growth. Indeed, this is the community’s annual celebration of student learning, excellence, and achievement.
While we celebrate your academic proficiency, I urge you to remember—your character matters. I believe, and I know I am not alone here, that while we have supported you and will continue to encourage the growth and development of your mind and body it has been critical to nurture your heart and spirit as well. Without character, it is unlikely you will use your mind and hands to expand your knowledge, enrich your learning, or serve others in a meaningful way. The good thing is I know you get this!
Each of you has wonderfully rich, personal gifts—good looks, intelligence, charm, and athletic and musical prowess. You have thus far demonstrated the ability to hit the books, tutor a kid, or score in overtime. To do so, you relied on teamwork, diligence, sportsmanship, personal responsibility—those attributes, that character, are the stuff of your success.
Can we engage in purposeful learning and be successful without character? Without a conscience? Can we master the technical details and use our accumulated knowledge and skills to advance? Well, sure. For a time. One only has to consider our current reality and understand that it was not a dearth of advanced degrees, technological savvy, or creative financing that resulted in the economic mess we now face; instead, at its root, laziness, imprudence, dishonesty, and greed drove planning and decision-making. It has been the absence of character, not a lack of knowledge, that has prevailed.
A high SAT score, a big win on the field, or the number of community service hours racked up may get us through the college gate but by themselves they cannot be the goal. In fact, these achievements are meaningless if, in the end, we do not have the strength of character to do the right thing, the just thing, the courageous thing, when called upon. I know your teachers have challenged you in the classroom, and I hope in the process they have encouraged respect, fairness, and honesty.
Because your character matters. And your parents and your teachers know this to be true.
Haim Ginot, a Holocaust survivor, wrote a chilling letter to teachers after he survived the horrors of the Nazis. He wrote:
“Dear Teacher… I am a survivor of a concentration camp. My eyes saw what no man should witness. Gas chambers built by learned engineers. Children poisoned by educated physicians. Infants killed by trained nurses. Women and babies shot by university graduates.
So I am suspicious of education. My request is this: Help your students become human. Your efforts must never produce learned monsters, skilled psychopaths, educated Eichmanns.”
He concludes: “Reading, writing, and arithmetic are only important if they serve to make our children more humane.”
I would add that AP courses, varsity athletic letters, scholarships, first violin in the orchestra are all important, but only if they strengthen your understanding of yourself, of others, and provide you with the tools needed to make this a better world. It is hard work, patience, tolerance, integrity, caring, sacrifice, and for many of you your faith—in short, it is your character that will enable your continued growth and success.
Use your beautiful head to get the right answer. But draw on your character to do the right thing.
When things get tough, and they inevitably will, when you are all alone, and you most certainly will be, it is your inner strength, your depth of character that will allow you to accept fear with courage, defeat with grace, and success with humility.
Congratulations for demonstrating a commitment to learning. You would not be here this evening if you were unable to prove your worthiness in the classroom and within the school community. Remember it is your humanity, your character, that will sustain you and enrich a world that desperately needs your scholarship, service, and leadership.
After being encouraged by some parents, I have decided to post the comments I shared with the members of the Needham High School Class of 2009:
Remember that your character matters.
Over the last 13 years you have been a student, immersed in academics, scholarship, and co-curricular activities. Today this community honors your academic success by awarding you a diploma signifying your preparation and growth. Indeed, this is the community’s annual celebration of student learning, excellence, and achievement.
While we celebrate your academic proficiency, I urge you to remember—your character matters. I believe, and I know I am not alone here, that while we have supported you and will continue to encourage the growth and development of your mind and body it has been critical to nurture your heart and spirit as well. Without character, it is unlikely you will use your mind and hands to expand your knowledge, enrich your learning, or serve others in a meaningful way. The good thing is I know you get this!
Each of you has wonderfully rich, personal gifts—good looks, intelligence, charm, and athletic and musical prowess. You have thus far demonstrated the ability to hit the books, tutor a kid, or score in overtime. To do so, you relied on teamwork, diligence, sportsmanship, personal responsibility—those attributes, that character, are the stuff of your success.
Can we engage in purposeful learning and be successful without character? Without a conscience? Can we master the technical details and use our accumulated knowledge and skills to advance? Well, sure. For a time. One only has to consider our current reality and understand that it was not a dearth of advanced degrees, technological savvy, or creative financing that resulted in the economic mess we now face; instead, at its root, laziness, imprudence, dishonesty, and greed drove planning and decision-making. It has been the absence of character, not a lack of knowledge, that has prevailed.
A high SAT score, a big win on the field, or the number of community service hours racked up may get us through the college gate but by themselves they cannot be the goal. In fact, these achievements are meaningless if, in the end, we do not have the strength of character to do the right thing, the just thing, the courageous thing, when called upon. I know your teachers have challenged you in the classroom, and I hope in the process they have encouraged respect, fairness, and honesty.
Because your character matters. And your parents and your teachers know this to be true.
Haim Ginot, a Holocaust survivor, wrote a chilling letter to teachers after he survived the horrors of the Nazis. He wrote:
“Dear Teacher… I am a survivor of a concentration camp. My eyes saw what no man should witness. Gas chambers built by learned engineers. Children poisoned by educated physicians. Infants killed by trained nurses. Women and babies shot by university graduates.
So I am suspicious of education. My request is this: Help your students become human. Your efforts must never produce learned monsters, skilled psychopaths, educated Eichmanns.”
He concludes: “Reading, writing, and arithmetic are only important if they serve to make our children more humane.”
I would add that AP courses, varsity athletic letters, scholarships, first violin in the orchestra are all important, but only if they strengthen your understanding of yourself, of others, and provide you with the tools needed to make this a better world. It is hard work, patience, tolerance, integrity, caring, sacrifice, and for many of you your faith—in short, it is your character that will enable your continued growth and success.
Use your beautiful head to get the right answer. But draw on your character to do the right thing.
When things get tough, and they inevitably will, when you are all alone, and you most certainly will be, it is your inner strength, your depth of character that will allow you to accept fear with courage, defeat with grace, and success with humility.
Congratulations for demonstrating a commitment to learning. You would not be here this evening if you were unable to prove your worthiness in the classroom and within the school community. Remember it is your humanity, your character, that will sustain you and enrich a world that desperately needs your scholarship, service, and leadership.
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
21st Century Learning
There has been a lot of talk in education circles these days about so-called 21st Century Skills. These skills have been described in various ways but common themes emerge: Promoting creativity, critical thinking and communication, developing social and emotional competence, supporting local and global awareness and citizenship, and increasing technological and media literacy. Although the tag “21st Century” suggests innovation, the reality is these skills and areas for learning and discovery have been around for a generation. Could it be, however, they are even more meaningful and essential today? As educators, we must consider a number of questions.
So what is forward thinking and new?
In 2009 we are more explicit and purposeful about what we believe is truly important for students to know and to be able to do. We are asking students to demonstrate proficiency rather than accumulate credit. When I attended high school in the 1970s it was sufficient to complete three years of a foreign language (in my case, German) and check that off the list of requirements. It did not matter as much that I had little facility for the language at the conclusion of my experience, despite the best efforts of Herr Grove.
In today’s classroom we recognize the importance of language fluency and that the development of linguistic, cultural, and social competence are critical skills for the language learner, especially in earlier grades when children are at the right developmental stage for acquiring these skills. And there seems to be an increasing awareness that having facility with different languages; understanding contemporary geo-politics, including religious traditions, economic issues, and security concerns; and learning about history, literature, music, and art from a variety of perspectives and cultures are as critical to the success of the individual learner as they are to our nation's future.
Additionally, educators today, including in the Needham Public Schools, are focused on ensuring all students, not just those in certain schools, classes, or on the honors track, can demonstrate their proficiency in these and other skills. It is crucial, for example, that all students learn how to write and communicate effectively and with purpose. In the good old days of the 20th Century it was not a given that we would prepare all children for continued and lifelong learning.
Skills or content: What is more important?
What has gotten confusing, at least to me, about the discussion around 21st Century Skills is whether or not skills or content are more important to a student’s success. Some argue that skills must be taught at the expense of deep academic content because the skills will endure and, besides, information is ever changing. Just google it if you need to know! Others worry that without rich curriculum students may appear engaged but have little understanding of the world around them. How can one be a critical thinker if one does not have some thing to think or talk about?
I believe skills without content (or content without skills) do little to inform, enrich, and enliven the educational experience of a young person and, in fact, put the student at a disadvantage in an ever-connected and global community where knowledge, information, and context are essential. For example, how could students studying wetlands ecosystems present a worthwhile written and oral report to a science class or the community’s Conservation Commission (skill) without knowing key biology concepts such as pH, acidic and basic compounds, and light sources (content)? In this case, content is the substance of the skills demonstrated, and the demonstration of these skills in this setting assists in the understanding and meaning of the content.
How can skills and content be balanced in a way that strengthens student learning?
Ensuring our students have multiple opportunities to learn about our country’s history, for example, through classroom discussion and readings is critical to their development of vocabulary and historical meaning. Then, asking students to interview veterans about their experience or great grandparents about the Depression promotes communication, listening, and social skills while it also fills in the blank spaces or enriches what could otherwise be a staid classroom learning experience. Indeed, the classroom/teacher talk/content supports the interview/conversation/probing in this learning paradigm. One complements the other and both enrich the learning of the student and (bonus here!) the senior citizen.
Even better: Student chronicles the interviews in a journal to be exhibited in the town’s library or broadcasts them online. The student even presents his research at a meeting of the Council on Aging. More skill building here and the learning is shared with the local and global community using 21st Century technology tools.
The Needham Public Schools are committed to working towards the development of 21st Century skills and content for all students. And we will base our work on the district’s four core values: Scholarship (Learning), Community (Working together), Citizenship (Contributing), and Personal Growth (Acting courageously). I welcome your comments and suggestions as we move forward together to provide an exceptional educational experience for the best students around.
So what is forward thinking and new?
In 2009 we are more explicit and purposeful about what we believe is truly important for students to know and to be able to do. We are asking students to demonstrate proficiency rather than accumulate credit. When I attended high school in the 1970s it was sufficient to complete three years of a foreign language (in my case, German) and check that off the list of requirements. It did not matter as much that I had little facility for the language at the conclusion of my experience, despite the best efforts of Herr Grove.
In today’s classroom we recognize the importance of language fluency and that the development of linguistic, cultural, and social competence are critical skills for the language learner, especially in earlier grades when children are at the right developmental stage for acquiring these skills. And there seems to be an increasing awareness that having facility with different languages; understanding contemporary geo-politics, including religious traditions, economic issues, and security concerns; and learning about history, literature, music, and art from a variety of perspectives and cultures are as critical to the success of the individual learner as they are to our nation's future.
Additionally, educators today, including in the Needham Public Schools, are focused on ensuring all students, not just those in certain schools, classes, or on the honors track, can demonstrate their proficiency in these and other skills. It is crucial, for example, that all students learn how to write and communicate effectively and with purpose. In the good old days of the 20th Century it was not a given that we would prepare all children for continued and lifelong learning.
Skills or content: What is more important?
What has gotten confusing, at least to me, about the discussion around 21st Century Skills is whether or not skills or content are more important to a student’s success. Some argue that skills must be taught at the expense of deep academic content because the skills will endure and, besides, information is ever changing. Just google it if you need to know! Others worry that without rich curriculum students may appear engaged but have little understanding of the world around them. How can one be a critical thinker if one does not have some thing to think or talk about?
I believe skills without content (or content without skills) do little to inform, enrich, and enliven the educational experience of a young person and, in fact, put the student at a disadvantage in an ever-connected and global community where knowledge, information, and context are essential. For example, how could students studying wetlands ecosystems present a worthwhile written and oral report to a science class or the community’s Conservation Commission (skill) without knowing key biology concepts such as pH, acidic and basic compounds, and light sources (content)? In this case, content is the substance of the skills demonstrated, and the demonstration of these skills in this setting assists in the understanding and meaning of the content.
How can skills and content be balanced in a way that strengthens student learning?
Ensuring our students have multiple opportunities to learn about our country’s history, for example, through classroom discussion and readings is critical to their development of vocabulary and historical meaning. Then, asking students to interview veterans about their experience or great grandparents about the Depression promotes communication, listening, and social skills while it also fills in the blank spaces or enriches what could otherwise be a staid classroom learning experience. Indeed, the classroom/teacher talk/content supports the interview/conversation/probing in this learning paradigm. One complements the other and both enrich the learning of the student and (bonus here!) the senior citizen.
Even better: Student chronicles the interviews in a journal to be exhibited in the town’s library or broadcasts them online. The student even presents his research at a meeting of the Council on Aging. More skill building here and the learning is shared with the local and global community using 21st Century technology tools.
The Needham Public Schools are committed to working towards the development of 21st Century skills and content for all students. And we will base our work on the district’s four core values: Scholarship (Learning), Community (Working together), Citizenship (Contributing), and Personal Growth (Acting courageously). I welcome your comments and suggestions as we move forward together to provide an exceptional educational experience for the best students around.
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