From the FREEP

Letter from Carlye

Dear Parents,

Winter has finally paid us a visit. My office has the enviable view of the playing fields – all now covered in snow and ice. It is with great satisfaction that I watch the children sled down the hill as they make the most out of such a little incline. Sledding by the sheep pen on a cold winter's day is a memory they'll cherish for years to come.

Teachers have spent the past month talking, assessing and thinking deeply about each child as they write their narrative progress reports. These reports will arrive any day and will provide points of conversation for your upcoming conferences in March. The insight and depth of knowledge contained in these reflective summaries is just one of the many advantages of our small, intimate classes. SRV teachers really know their students both as learners and as people.

I, too, have had the opportunity for reflection during my recent Klingenstein Visiting Fellowship at Columbia University. It was an amazing, once in a life time opportunity to work with renowned professors and experienced heads from around the world. It was all the things that I had hoped for – challenging, rigorous, and engaging. It was both the most demanding and the most rewarding professional development experience I have ever had. There was a fair amount of grumbling and exhaustion expressed in our group as we burned the midnight oil night after night reading, researching, and preparing for our seminars, papers, and presentations. (My jump drive and eye drops became my most prized companions!) At the end of the two weeks, when all the work was turned in, we could all reflect back on how the intensity of the experience was part of its effectiveness. It's good to be pushed that way occasionally, as it clears out any cobwebs and opens the door to new ways of thinking about things.

The program had 3 distinct components: a seminar on moral leadership, a course and project on academic research, and a seminar on current issues which included case study discussions with graduate students and visits to a variety of New York City schools. These distinct elements blended together to create a rich context for thinking and discourse about the role and challenges of independent schools in today's educational landscape. Having heads from other countries added a global dimension to those conversations that was both inspiring and eye opening. This summer when I go to China I will visit one of the international schools that was represented.

The Klingenstein experience gave me new insights into both what I know and what I don't know. That is both an energizing and humbling place to be. I am now more convinced than ever that small schools have enormous power and potential, that social skill education should be a piece of every child's ongoing education, and that a constructivist approach to learning has growing relevancy in today's world. I also have a new found appreciation of John Dewey, the father of progressive education. I am excited to bring some of those deeper understandings forward to the staff as a way to challenge our assumptions and inspire our thinking. Most importantly, however, I return having had the time to dig in deep, to research and think about all the things that have happened in the past ten years to change the world and learning for our children. With a clearer view of the complexities about how the world has changed, we can begin to make wiser decisions about what is important for students to know, be able to do, and how as a school we can most effectively support that.

I did a lot of investigating and reading about advancements in the field of brain research, development in technology, about the profound changes in family life, and the impact of globalization on our children. Not only has the world around them changed, but our students themselves have changed radically. They are no longer the people our education system was designed to teach. Their brains are more malleable, they have a greater ability and need to jump across disciplines, they require more reflection, greater flexibility in teaching approaches, and additional real life experiences to apply what they are learning. This requires us as educators to continually question our approaches, make data driven decisions, and refine and develop relevant curricula and experiences for our new millennium learners.

I encourage you to read Tough Choices or Tough Times – the report of the New Commission on the Skills of the American Workforce and also Making the Grade by Tony Wagner. They are both provocative, must reads for every educator and concerned parent. They provide fodder for interesting and thought provoking conversations about what changes need to happen in schools today.

I am proud to say SRV has so many of the right ingredients in place already. But we can always do better. My Klingenstein experience has provided me with a richer, better informed lens to offer SRV as we continue to make strategic decisions about our program, practices and what it means to be an educated person in the 21st century. I look forward to challenge. Our children are counting on us.

In partnership,
Carlye

Google

20 School Lane : Rose Valley, PA 19063 : 610.566.1088 : office@theschoolinrosevalley.org