The Gift of Failure: First Impressions

Good morning,

I've just completed the Introduction and Chapter 1 of The Gift of Failure by Jessica Lahey and my first impressions of what is to come are favorable. First and foremost, the author is not a lecturing, "How-could-you?" voice of condemnation. To the contrary, she employs a reassuring, "I'm-with-you" voice as she offers her own parenting approach up for us to understand the journey to raising self-sufficient children.

Ms. Lahey does a particularly masterful job of outlining the history of parenting in America from colonization through the present day in a manageable and entertaining 14 page first chapter. As a father of three, four and under (and a daughter who is 4 going on 16...), I was particularly drawn to her John Locke quotations. Here is one of those gems:

"Locke advises, 'crying is very often a striving for mastery and an open declaration of their insolence or obstinacy: when they have not the power to obtain their desire, they will by their clamor and sobbing maintain their title and right to it' (emphasis Locke's, and I can almost hear the derision dripping from those horrid, emotional words)."

Lahey goes on to outline the progression from parenting as a matter of survival to the helicopter/interventionist approach of today: "Today, parenting is less oxytocin-soaked rosy glow, more adrenaline-fueled oncoming headlight glare."

I recommend it heartily and if the above quotation offers anything, it should be an indication of the sensibility and humor with which Ms. Lahey approaches her subject matter.

Please enjoy!

Generations of Internet Users

I found this cool infographic at edudemic.com and wanted to pass it along. It's a pretty detailed look at how different generations use the Internet.

Mindset List

Every year Beloit College publishes a Mindset List for the incoming freshman class. It is a list of 100 ways the students in the class view the world. It was originally conceived as a list to help faculty gain perspective on the students they would be teaching. Since its inception it has been used in the corporate and government sectors as well.

What a fascinating idea! This is, technically, the same generation that our middle school students are a part of so it is worth the time to peruse the list and see what it says. Besides, it's a pretty entertaining list! A sample:

5. If they miss The Daily Show, they can always get their news on YouTube.

9. They have never seen an airplane ‘‘ticket.’’

18. Their folks have never gazed with pride on a new set of bound encyclopedias on the bookshelf.

67. Chronic fatigue syndrome has always been officially recognized with clinical guidelines.

73. Lou Gehrig’s record for most consecutive baseball games played has never stood in their lifetimes.

8th Grade: #yolo

Just to emphasize how much social media has seeped into the lives of our students, I've included this picture of our 8th grader's end of year rock painting. The moniker #yolo is a tribute to the Twitter generation's demand to take advantage of your time because You Only Live Once (YOLO). As one 8th grader said before I could think it, "Before yolo, did people think you lived twice?"

What We Have Here: A Failure to Communicate

Nelson Ching/Bloomberg via Getty Images

I just came across this article on NPR.org and thought it coalesced a lot of the thoughts I've had over the last few years. I know we've been discussing it as it relates to how we can reach kids, the many ways in which communication mediums have proliferated, and the erosion of personal communication skills.

Check it Out: What We Have Here: A Failure to Communicate

The Cost of Rewards

www.msnbc.msn.com

I came across this post on Edutopia this afternoon and thought it was an interesting look at the cost of rewards in school and in parenting. Check it out:

http://www.edutopia.org/blog/reward-fraud-richard-curwin

Big Ideas

One of the things that educators have been talking about for some time is how creative thinking can change the way we teach and learn. Engaging the right side of the brain in ways that allow us to think outside of the box as we develop lessons and units for our students.

I found this conference on the web and thought it hit exactly what we're trying to do when we put these ideas into action. The Big Ideas Fest is a place where teachers can meet and greet with like-minded educators and practice the kind of thinking that can foster Big Ideas from our students.

Check it out

Big Ideas Fest

A Quick Intro to the Brain for the ADHD Child

bufferingbrain.blogspot.com

I was perusing my Google Reader and came across this post, which is actually the last in a series by Jerome J. Schultz, a neuropsychologist at Harvard Medical School. These posts are quick reads and give a great introduction to the brain of the child with ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder) or LD (Learning Disabled). As I've said before, this is a matter of hardwiring gone a bit wrong and the strategies necessary to overcome that hardwiring.

Stress and the Brain: To Fight, Flee, or Freeze - That is the Question

The BIG Question: Failure

As I have said before, this year we are using some of our morning time to incorporate community building through a BIG Question. This BIG Question is often related to some theme we see in the middle school and allows us to have a conversation around it in a safe and comfortable environment.

Typically, the Student Support Team will identify the theme or topic, I will present some data, a video, a podcast, a narrative, etc. that illustrates some aspect of that theme and then leave the group with a question to discuss in their advisories. The goal of the program is threefold:

1. Create a forum for the whole division to meet,
2. Introduce BIG ideas, current events, and/or school issues that warrant a common context for discussion, and
3. Provide an opportunity for common reflection during our Middle School Chapel one week later. 

As you may have seen from my post titled The BIG Question, our first topic was Honor, as we found ourselves discussing the Honor Code and its implications on how we live our lives at Canterbury and beyond.

Last week's topic was failure. We have been witnessing an increased fear of failure in schools which can lead to students becoming highly stressed. Last year we watched the Race to Nowhere (and see below), which chronicles the extremes of what can be our children's over-scheduled and highly pressurized lives. More and more students have very little idea how to deal with failure. They often refuse to try because they risk failure.

Our BIG Question addresses this issue head-on by asking:

How does failure define you?

We watched a clip of Steve Jobs commencement speech at Stanford in 2005 in which he describes being fired from the company he created and coming back to become CEO. We then broke off into our advisories and discussed the BIG Question together in the context of our own lives. Finally, Fr. Finnin will wrap up the conversation during his sermon at the Middle School Chapel tomorrow morning.

I think it is worth noting that we at Canterbury have taken a position on how believe students should view failure. It is clearly stated in the final skill for our Portfolio Program:

10. Respond to an experience of failure in a way that acknowledges that innovation involves small successes and frequent mistakes.

We want our students to acknowledge that they will fail many times in their lives, and that the key to growth is learning from those mistakes and moving forward. We want our students to engage in life.

High School Night on October 3 and High School Placement Program

Everybody knows the college selection process is very involved. In fact, it is something that has become a lightning rod of debate in recent years. Concurrently, many students across the country are transitioning from middle to high school and with the addition of IB and magnet programs, as well as the plethora of independent and boarding school options, the process is no longer as easy as crossing the street to the next  building. At Canterbury we want to help ease this transition as much as possible. Below are some of the programs we offer to that end.

High School Night

Canterbury's campus at 5400 Old Lake Jeanette Rd

All middle school families should have the opportunity to explore every option for high school and make an informed decision about what will best serve their child at the next level, whether it be a public, magnet, independent or boarding school. To that end, Canterbury has organized High School Night. Over 30 schools will be represented including those from the Greensboro area, as well as nationally recognized boarding schools. We encourage anyone from the community to join us on October 3 from 6:30 - 8:00 in Berry Hall (next to the chapel) on the Canterbury School campus for a meet and greet with admissions directors, officers, and student representatives who can answer all your questions about schools. There is no fee and this event is open to the public, so please invite your neighbors and friends.

High School Placement Program

At Canterbury, we are pleased to introduce a new High School Placement Program. This is, at its core, a one-on-one family approach to finding the right high school for each student at the school. We are uniquely positioned to offer this service because of two factors. First, as a small K-8 school, we know our students and families very well, allowing for a caring and informed perspective on all of the high school options out there. Second, as an academically challenging K-8 school, we have developed and continue to build strong relationships with prestigious public, magnet, independent, and boarding schools seeking students who reflect our Middle School Vision (see description on right hand column) and can demonstrate the ten skills of a Canterbury graduate.

The program has three main components: people, support, and events.

People

Each student will be assigned a high school placement coordinator. The coordinators will meet with each family at least twice over the course of their 7th and 8th grade years - once in the spring of 7th grade and once in the fall of 8th grade. Our three High School Coordinators are:

• Anna Taylor, School Counselor, taylora@canterburygso.org
• Kristen Lancaster, Middle School Academic Counselor, lancasterk@canterburygso.org
• David Skeen, Middle School Director, skeend@canterburygso.org

Support

The high school placement coordinators charge is to walk families through every step of the process from beginning (in 7th grade) to end (enrollment in the spring of 8th grade year). This person will be the point of contact for all issues relating to high school placement including:

• Investigating various types of schools
• Focusing the family's high school options based on their particular needs
• Providing a student-specific timeline for the admissions or registration process
• Working with students on application completion and interview practice
• Providing standardized testing resources (for the independent and/or boarding schools)
• Completing all required forms, including transcripts and teacher recommendations

In addition, the coordinators have developed the High School Placement Packet which outlines the entire process for families. This document includes timelines, admissions strategies, descriptions of IB/AP/Honors Programs, magnet school explanations, and much more. Parents and students can use this as a reference book as they explore their options. 

Events

Canterbury will put on various events pertaining to High School Placement over the course of the year. This year they include:

• High School Night (Whole Community, 6:30 - 8:00, October 3, 2011 in Berry Hall): Over 30 high schools will send representatives to Canterbury to meet and answer questions about their schools, the admissions or registration process, and dialogue about the high school experience. Boarding, independent, public, and magnet schools from Greensboro and beyond are represented. 
• Fall Meetings, 8th Grade Families (October 12, 2011 and continuing throughout the Fall of 2011): We have assigned each 8th grade family to a high school placement coordinator who will be available during Middle School Conferences on October 12, 2011 to discuss high school options. Stay tuned for an introductory email. 
• Fall Meeting, 7th Grade Families (6:30 - 8:00, October 20, 2011 in Armfield Hall): We will introduce the placement process, our placement coordinators, and the resources we can offer to support you as you think about the next level. 

The BIG Question

This morning we launched the BIG Question during our morning meeting time. This program has three goals:

1. Create a forum for the whole division to meet,
2. Introduce BIG ideas, current events, and/or school issues that warrant a common context for discussion, and
3. Provide an opportunity for common reflection during our Middle School Chapel one week later. 

Today our topic was values and ethics, as we are in the midst of reviewing our Honor Code in anticipation of our Honor Chapel. During this service we all place our signed agreement sheets upon the altar in Phillips Chapel and agree to uphold the Honor Code in letter and in spirit. 

We began by meeting in the lobby of Armfield Hall, where I presented data from the the Josephson Institute of Ethics’ Report Card on American Youth’s Values and Actions which surveyed 43,000 High School Students in Public and Private Schools in 2009-2010. Here are the numbers I presented:

• 89% believe it is more important to be good than to be rich.
• 33% boys/25% girls admitted stealing from a store
• 21% admitted stealing from from a parent
• 18% admitted stealing from a friend
• 48% boys/35% girls said they lied to save money
• 80+% said they lied to their parents about something significant
• 59% admitted to cheating on a test in the last year
• 34% admitted to cheating on more than two tests in the last year
• 33% admitted to using the Internet to plagiarize
• 92% of students were satisfied with their personal ethics

I asked that the students return to their advisories and, using these numbers as a context, to discuss why it is that we have an Honor Code at Canterbury. What can it do for us as a community? What can it do for them as students? How do they feel about these numbers? 

When they returned to their advisories, they had the opportunity to read an analysis of the data (from the survey when it was taken in 2008) from a parent perspective in the NY Times column called Motherlode: Adventures in Parenting. The title of the column....Your Lying, Cheating, Stealing Teens. 

Advisors then guided a discussion on their reactions to the data and the parent perspective as outlined in this article. The ultimate goal was to bring the conversation back to the students' perspective on the purpose and need for an Honor Code. 

On Wednesday, September 28 Fr. Finnin will give a sermon on this topic in order to provide some resolution to this particular conversation, but the discourse will continue. I invite you to pick up this conversation with your child at home. I think you will be very impressed with the insight they will bring. 

While our Canterbury students may not have taken the survey, they will be working with the people who did in high school, college, and in the workforce. Our students, and those who took the survey, will be our congressmen and women, our senators, our business and community leaders, our mayors, our doctors, and our lawyers, our mechanics and plumbers, our financial advisors and bankers. They will build our country. 

It is our job to empower them to espouse the values of honesty, integrity, responsibility, and service. The BIG Question is one forum which we believe will allow them to hone their arguments in favor of these values and the Honor Code is the means to act it out. 

9-11 For Middle Schoolers

How do you engage a person in a memory of which they have no experience? How can you make a young person understand what 9-11 did to the American psyche? Our 8th graders were three when the planes hit the Twin Towers.

In a timely and poignant blog on Edutopia, Ben Johnson, begins this very conversation. For those of us in the Millenial Generation, 9-11 defines who we are, how we live, and the way the world operates. For those in generation that follows, it is something they've heard about and understand was a sad event.

How do you plan on commemorating 9-11 ten years later?

Here is the article: Ben Johnson: Why Students Have No Memory of September 11

Fitness and the Brain

Flickr/Sculptures by Jurriaan van Hall, photo by Bart van Damme

At the end of last school year, our Head of School, Burns Jones, gave us the book Spark by Dr. John Ratey with Eric Hagerman, to read over the summer. One of its many points is that exercise keeps the brain healthy and working at maximum efficiency. I do recommend reading it.

In a related study out of Australia, researchers found that obesity can affect cognitive ability and while obesity may have been the cause of reduced cognitive function, reduced cognitive function can lead to obesity. A vicious downward cycle. Something to be aware of certainly.

For me, it reinforces the need for children to be out and running around. At Canterbury it means breaks and recess, PE and athletics. I am proud to say that last year, over 90% of middle school students participated in one sport over the three seasons.

Here is the article: Study Links Obesity with Poor Cognitive Performance

Google + Redux: Another Insight into the New Social Network

A few weeks ago I posted about social networking and its influence at school and home. I was prompted to do so by some reading I've been doing about Google +, the new social network from Google. As the article below discusses, one goal of Google + is to provide more privacy through the creation of social circles and therefore the ability to control content distribution.

The last post explored the (perhaps) unintended ramifications of the social circles as a digital means of exclusion. This article explores how the jury is still out on the privacy claims of Google as it relates to Google +. As always, if your child is on a social network, it should be something you are attuned to and watching on a regular basis. Make sure the computer is in a common area, and if your child has a smartphone, make sure you are managing their access via this tool as well.

Here is the article: Google + and Privacy: Better for Educators?

What Can the Battle of Gettysburg Tell Us About the Battle over Video Games?

thejacehallshow.com

Sometimes getting children off the TV or computer while they're playing video games feels like a pitched battle. I'm not talking about the surgical strikes of modern warfare. I'm talking about a full frontal assault, the likes of which hasn't been seen since the Battle of Gettysburg.

Our 8th grade is reading The Killer Angels by Michael Shaara this summer for their social studies class, and the book may lend a nice guide to how the "Battle of Videoburg" often plays out.

Gettysburg, Day 1: The Union Cavalry sets up by the Seminary and dismounts, hoping to delay the Confederate advance so reinforcements can arrive. The Confederates rout the Federals, pushing them back through the town. However, the Union is able to dig in on the high ground, ultimately setting up the defeat of Lee after Pickett's Charge.

Videoburg, Minute 1: The Parents set up chores outside, hoping to get their child outdoors and in the fresh air. The Children entrench themselves on the couch, ignoring and steamrolling all parental attempts to dislodge them through the cunning and aggravating tactic of increasing the volume or putting earphones on.

Gettysburg, Day 2: In seemingly senseless carnage from Devil's Den to the Peach Orchard to Little Round Top, both sides exhaust themselves in bloody warfare. Lee is convinced his strategy of going hard at the flanks means the center will be weak on Day 3. He's wrong.

Videoburg, Minute 2: The Parents toss volley after volley of privileges to be revoked and extra chores to be added with only minor reaction from the Children. When screen time is revoked there is a grimace, which Parents perceive as a chink in the armour. In fact, it's a grin.

Gettysburg, Day 3: Lee has decided a full frontal assault at the Union center will break the Federals once and for all. If he is able to break the Union line, he will have defeated the North in its own backyard and demoralized its citizens. What he finds is a reinforced Union center, which cuts down Lee's troops with merciless efficiency. It is the High Water Mark of the Confederacy and the beginning of the end.

Videoburg, Minute 3: The Parents, perceiving weakness in the grimace, decide to come at the Children with all they've got. They make a move for the power button, knowing this means they are all in - inviting an onslaught of screams and tantrums rivaled only by the Tasmanian devil. What the Parents find is a stubborn and recalcitrant child who slams the console down and storms off to their room, leaving the outside and chores unexplored.

Why do we seem so far apart on the role of video games in the lives of our children? Are they so bad, that we are willing to have these intense 3-minute battles which get us nowhere? If video games are such an integral part of our child's life (and frankly, they are integral to many of us who grew up on Nintendo and the greatest game ever created - Super Tecmo Bowl), can we find a way to use their positive aspects to teach our children?

In a compelling article for SharpBrains, Marshall Weinstein, a senior at Johns Hopkins, has outlined the reasoning for a balanced approach to video games in education. (On a side note, what a great example of 21st Century learning: a senior majoring in Neuroscience with a minor in Entrepreneurship is able to have an article published on an industry website and earn a virtual internship in the process. Check it out here.)

While I am not endorsing the use of video games for educational purposes just yet, I do see some of the positive characteristics these games can develop in students such as collaboration, leadership, and feelings of accomplishment. I encourage you to check out Marshall's article on SharpBrains at the link below:

Learning with Video Games: A Revolution in Education and Training?

Social Networking and Words of Caution

focus.com

In a timely and thoughtful post on Edutopia, Ira Socol outlines the pitfalls of social networking in general and specifically the pitfalls it can hold for schools. While we have no plans to incorporate social networks like Facebook or Twitter into our classes, it would be naive for us not to realize the huge role they play in our students' lives. Additionally, it would be ridiculous for us not to realize how blurred the line between home and school becomes as a result of these new social networks.

It is scary to think how the pervasive connectedness of this age exacerbates the trials and tribulations of social navigation in adolescence. For us, the bad day ended when we got home. Few bullies were bold enough to call the house to continue the bullying. However, as Ira Socol points out, with the advent of social networks (not to mention texting, IM, etc.) there simply is no escape.

The parent-school partnership thus must be strong to be able to outline and enforce certain boundaries and standards of operation as it relates to how our students interact with each other digitally. As I've mentioned before, the number one thing we can still instill in our students and that cross personal and digital boundaries are our values.

Social networking will not go away. In fact, the work life our students are preparing for will probably be based largely on digital networking. We should not shun it. We should use it and prepare students for it, but with a healthy dose of caution. As with any advance in life, the role of the adults in providing structure is pivotal in creating responsible, ethical, and respectful citizens whether it be face-to-face or screen-to-screen.

Check out the post here:

Google +: The Dark Side of the Circle

One Final Legacy

http://www.homeroomteacher.com/

Summer cleaning is in full swing here in Armfield. Lockers take the longest to clean. Each summer, they are individually washed and sanitized, so they are ready for their new occupant in August. As I'm sure you can imagine, when they are cleaned out in the spring, you can find some very interesting items. For example, this year we found all varieties of food and drink, stuffed tests and quizzes, handouts needing signatures, winter coats and boots, old lunch boxes, family pictures - the works.

I remember one year when I was teaching 4th grade, I had a student who left eight coats in his locker over the year, and didn't realize it until the end of the year. He wasn't sure how he would carry all of them home, as they were too puffy for a trash bag. So together, we came up with the solution. He put one coat on, then another, then another....until he walked out to carpool looking like the Goodyear Man.

This morning, I walked into the building and heard that despite our best efforts this spring, something had made it through to the summer cleaning. Apparently, an inventive 8th grader chose to leave a final marker of their time here at Canterbury. This student found a way to affix a magnet to a donut and then place it underneath the top shelf of the locker. I'm not sure if they hoped it would fossilize over time so they could come back during their ten year reunion and claim it (an odd time capsule, I'd say) or if they merely placed it there during the year in order to keep it safe from notorious middle school moochers and forgot about it.

Regardless, it is one of the most creative and interesting remnants of a locker I've ever encountered. Intentional or not, I tip my hat to this student for laying claim to that title. What's the most interesting/disgusting/funny thing you've ever seen/heard of being left in a locker?

Brain Books: Summer Reading

The Dana Alliance published a post on summer reading for those of us interested in brain research. It has a nice mix of science and anecdote, mostly written for us laypeople. There is one book which focuses on ALS, which is particularly important to our community.

Check it out here.

Dan Pink: Emotionally Intelligent Sign for Parents

Check out this sign for parents at a Little League game. Makes sense, I'd say:

Dan Pink Blog: Little League

Generation iY: Another Look at the Millenials

savetheirfuturenow.com

I ran across an article this afternoon reviewing the book Generation iY by Tim Elmore. In it he coins the phrase Generation iY to cover those later Millenials (born post 1990) defined by i-everything (pods, pads, tunes, mac....) The reviewer summarizes his main points, which, I think, resonate with what educators are seeing today and why we are taking a look at what 21st century education looks like at Canterbury.

Please check out both the article at LeadershipNow and Elmore's book.