[googlemaps http://maps.google.com/maps?client=safari&q=grove+avenue+richmond+virginia&oe=UTF-8&hl=en&safe=on&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Grove+Ave,+Richmond,+Virginia&t=p&vpsrc=6&ll=37.578596,-77.513008&spn=0.065301,0.109863&z=13&output=embed&w=640&h=480] When there was time in the summer, and there was always time, I would ride my slick rear tired red Schwinn dirt bike down Malvern, across Cary Street and into Windsor Farms, and when I would get to the remnants of the Civil War trench works, I would gather as much speed as […]
Preparing Our Students to be Community Leaders: An Initial Brainstorming
If we want to prepare students to be community leaders with qualities such as humility, decisiveness, passion, vision, and empathy, what should schools do to place their work developing those skills in greater relief? If successful leaders need skills such as the ability to take an unpopular stand, mobilize support for a shared goal, and […]
Thinking About Process Change (Part One): Contextualizing Technology Use in a Progress Culture
From Wednesday to Friday I attended, along with three other Westminster folks, the AASA Leadership Symposium in Boston, led by Alan November, and since we finished, I have been thinking about the cosmetic changes schools traditionally undertake versus the possibility of what November called process change. The conversation we had overlays my ongoing reflection on […]
Finding the Right School Words for Everyone
“Words, Words, Words.” – Hamlet What language will best communicate to a school’s various constituents? What is the Venn Diagram between the appropriately nuanced language of educators and the language equipped to speak compellingly to a smart, discerning and demanding larger community? How do we use language to bring these two […]
Good Conversation and Chick-fil-A: Class of 2012 Lunches with the Principal
Besides simply a desire to get know Westminster’s Class of 2012 better, I want our seniors to help us see the way forward in our school. Good conversation and Chick-fil-A seem like the way to go! Next week I will host eight to ten seniors in my office for the first of a series of […]
“Aligning Schedule with Mission”: The Chance to do a Presentation on the Hawken Schedule
Excited enough that I am writing with my elbows pinched to my sides and my laptop angled awkwardly and wedged on my knees, I am flying back to Atlanta from Chicago where I had a great experience this morning speaking at the MSBP Heads Meeting about the Hawken Upper School Schedule—its genesis and its initial […]