Headmaster's Blog

In addition to celebrating milestones and achievements, anniversaries are most importantly times to stop and reflect on one's purpose for being.  Given that this is Saint David's 60th year, the school has a unique opportunity to do just that.  In an effort to not only celebrate this milestone in the school's history, we have made it a priority to give back--to contribute to the greater good in a meaningful and substantial way. Saint David's wanted its focus to be on "helping children" and "education."  What better way to celebrate the mission of our school than to reach out and help build another.  Sixty years ago this February, a small group of determined families and educators, against incredible odds, founded Saint David's School.  In this anniversary year, we have committed to do the same. Under the direction of the Student Council, the Class of 2011 has chosen to lead this effort and build a school in Ethiopia.  This past Tuesday, Januar...

This is what 15 inches looks like on 89th Street early in the morning.  Happy Snow Day.

Saint David's Winter Festival of Art and Music is well under way.  Given our school-wide theme this year, The Aesthetic ,  the festival takes on an extra special meaning.  In addition to many musical and performance events, the festival also celebrates boys creativity in the visual arts.  Hung throughout and around the school, boys work is on display. Walking though the school today I snapped a couple of pictures with my cell phone.  One of the five component skills of drawing is the perceiving and rendering of the (negative) spaces in between and around objects.  This first piece by Christopher W., 8th Grade, explores this component in bicycles. After examining reproductions of tribal art of Ghana and Australia aboriginals, first grade boys worked with ink, watercolor, and tempera to create their own works with patterned backgrounds.  Here Luke D., inspired by his two cats, has created a patterned background of white interlocking lines with the c...

Speaking to Saint David's parents on Thursday night, January 20, 2011, Hara Marano, author of A Nation of Wimps asked those present a central parenting question: "All parents want their kids to do well in school. But is that all you want? Success in life has a lot to do with curiosity, empathy, and confidence. Just because kids register competence on SATS doesn't mean they feel competent.  Just how much of a whole person are you willing to sacrifice to engineer academic success?" Coming on the heels of Amy Chua's controversial piece Why Chinese Mothers are Superior in the Wall Street Journal January 8th, Ms. Marano's visit could not have been better timed.  Her interest in issues associated with American parenting began some years ago when she was asked to work on a story for Psychology Today examining why so many college students were experiencing emotional fragilit y on college campuses.  Her findings concluded that current American parenting practices...

The boys have been purposefully moving about the building happy to be back at school.  I know that may sound a little strange; but they really do look happy.  Teachers too, are right back at work, preparing lessons, imparting knowledge and wisdom, helping our sons find their voice, their strengths, their passions. Monday last, while the boys were enjoying the last day of their vacation, our faculty were participating in a full day of professional development activities.  Joining us for the day was Doug Lemov, author of the book Teach Like A Champion , and director of Uncommon Schools.  Doug conducted an engaging workshop with the faculty on three specific strategies common to great teaching.  His research has identified several significant attributes of great teaching and great teachers.  We focused on three most relevant to us here at Saint David's.  Having addressed the What, When and Why questions over the last several years, our school-wide curri...