Headmaster's Blog

Consistent with our theme this year, the aesthetic , and within the context of our 5th phase of the Curriculum Initiative , we are working with the Positive Coaching Alliance to provide critical evaluative feedback about aspects of our athletic program.  We have a strong and robust program; but we don't rest on our laurels.  Today, the fist of several visits scheduled for this school-year is underway.  The Alliance will be observing not only all of our coaches at work; but each of our myriad programs in progress.  Critical professional development feedback directly related to coaching methods and strategies, followed by a series of tailored professional development workshops will define this year's professional activity in the Athletic Department.  If interested in a good related read start with The Double Goal Coach , by Jim Thompson. This professional development is, in part, made possible though the Albert H. Gordon Professio...

From 400 feet above sea level, floating on a gentle breeze at sunrise, Saint David’s administrators experienced the world from a completely new perspective this summer. Accompanied by a little nervousness, a mild dose of trepidation, and surrounded by the moist, chilly, pre-dawn air of a late summer’s day, each prepared a 90,000 cubic foot hot air balloon for flight. It wasn’t easy, but sometimes to really see something, to fully recognize and appreciate the world about us, we have to change our “usual” perspective. This year, our school and each of our sons will also take a “flight” of sorts. For our sons, it will be a flight on which they learn to see more and differently ; for our school it will be a very special, anniversary flight. In opening the doors of Saint David’s School this year, we will do so in celebration of her 60th year. This important milestone will be recognized with customary fanfare and ritual, not least of which will be the 60th Anniversary Mass at St. Ignatiu...

As our boys become men, they will do so at a time when actions and events in one part of the globe are instantaneously felt everywhere. Like our parents and grandparents, our sons will be citizens of their native lands but, unlike them, they will also be citizens of the world. In order to thrive, they will need a sound foundation in their own history, culture, values, and beliefs, and will need to possess qualities of mind that enable them to embrace, understand, and appreciate difference in all of its manifestations. Our sons will compete on the global stage across all professions and fields of study. No matter their chosen career, they will communicate, travel, interact, and work with people from "worlds" that differ greatly from theirs. The “new essentials” of the future will require the ability to access, organize, synthesize, and legitimize information efficiently and effectively. Our boys will have to think creatively, present coherently in both verbal and graphic forms...

Each summer Saint David's faculty are asked to read and reflect upon a book that explores one of the themes being developed at the school.  Recently, Gardner's Five Minds for the Future and Hallowell's Childhood Roots of Adult Happiness , and David Perkins' Smart Schools: From Training Memories to Educating Minds have served as summer reads.  This summer's reading assignment was not a book; instead “summer reading” was a “summer watching.”  The assignment aimed to explore one of our ongoing curricular sub themes: “Education for a New Era.”   For the past several years at Saint David's , as one component of our major Curriculum Initiative , we have been critically examining potential implications of the changing socio-economic-cultural landscape at the dawn of this new century.  What may need to change within our curriculum to meet the demands of a new era? What should not? have been two of our essential questions. Ken Robinson is an internationally kno...

Saint David's faculty were asked to read Howard Gardner's book Five Minds for the Future two summers ago. In it, Gardner identifies the five minds (habits of mind/ways of thinking) he sees as essential for success in the future. As I watched Jane McGonigal's TED Talk below, I couldn't help but reflect on Gardner's work. Gaming taps into all of these minds--the disciplined, creative, synthesizing, respectful and ethical--and it ads yet another dimension. Gaming takes content that we have traditionally viewed in linear structures, two dimensional perspectives, to 3-D. Our older boys are already playing World of Warcraft and other games like it. Gaming just may be at the forefront of the development of life-like virtual worlds. The third generation of the web will probably embed us all in a three dimensional virtual world transforming social interaction online from what we understand it to be today--lineal--to fully engaged, three dimensional, dynamic social settings...

In light of the classical roots of our Saint David's curriculum, I enjoyed reading this April 2010 article in Time Magazine  about the teaching of empathy.  The author, Maia Szalavitz, makes the point that empathy can and needs to be taught.  She cites the ancient Greeks comparing the ways of Sparta with the ways of Athens when it came to child-rearing and education--Athens obviously, being the better choice. She argues that empathy starts with teaching young children to understand their own feelings and behaviors thereby giving them the tools to understand the feelings and behaviors of others.  This resonates at Saint David's where we make reference to another classical ideal--one found etched in the forecourt of the Temple of Apollo at Delphi--"Know Thyself."  We lean toward the Athenians.

... has never been so great.  The world is changing, rapidly.  Clay Shirky makes a strong argument here regarding the power of information, technology and collective, collaborative work, but his more important embedded message is our changing culture and the importance of "sense of community" and "social pacts or constraints," as opposed to contracts.  There is an inherent generosity in the human spirit.  Emerging technologies tap and celebrate this generosity--what Shirky refers to as communal value.  This is fascinating.  For schools we have to tap into social media technologies more than we do.