In a funny scene in Act II of The Tragedy of Macbeth, a drunken porter responds to a repeated “knock, knock, knock” at the door to the castle imagining that he is greeting sinners at the gates of hell. I visited a ninth-grade English class earlier this week where students were acting out that scene […]
A friend who is a long-time head of school told me years ago that the most important part of leading a school is putting the right teachers in the classroom. She was right. The magic happens in the classroom, in the studio, in the theater, on the court, and wherever students find themselves with caring, inspiring adult […]
One of our long-time teachers recently asked me why I visit classes. My practice is to pop in for 10-15-minute observations of each teacher at least once per quarter, followed by a short sit-down for me to get more context, offer praise, and ask questions; our Associate Head of School, Dr. White, follows the same […]
It’s time to rethink the student participation grade. Every three weeks, our teachers gather after classes for professional learning meetings — a chance for us to share ideas, learn from one another, and improve our practice, all in the interest of serving our students better. The topic for this week’s meeting was student participation. What […]