Dana Foundation Blog: Who Am I? An Exploration of Self

The Dana Foundation has sponsored a speaker series on the question, "What is self?" In the middle school, our students begin asking themselves that on a daily basis. The parameters for their discussion centers around their friends, their strengths, their looks, and their society. The post below speaks to a combination of factors that could determine self. I find it interesting that some scientists are attempting to explain self in a purely scientific context. In its most basic form, middle school is the time when children first begin to answer this question.

Check it out:

Dana Foundation Blog: Who Am I? An Exploration of Self

Bin Laden News: Student Reaction

I just visited a 7th grade social studies classroom and I walked into the class debating the question:

Was the capture and killing of Osama Bin Laden justice or revenge?

It's a topic which garners passionate responses from those who have a context from which to approach it. 9/11 is the defining moment of the Millennial Generation. For us, we remember vividly where we were when the Towers were attacked. We remember the pictures and the people - seared into our personal and national conscience. Most of us would not hesitate to answer this question, to jump in and offer our perspective.

The 7th grade was in pre-school on 9/11 - younger than the students President Bush was reading to when he heard the news about the attacks and we all saw his face drop. Their world has always been colored by 9/11, yet they did not experience it. So their answers to the question above may offer some insights to how our culture has adapted since the war on terrorism began.

It is one of the strengths of an independent school that a teacher can spend a significant amount of their classroom time peeling the onion of tough current event topics like this one.

Webinar on Sleep and Stress for Parents and Students

http://sleepzine.com/

Every once awhile, something will fall into my lap that seems so easy I can't believe it. Today, I received two emails this afternoon from North Carolina Association of Independent Schools (NCAIS) and campus outreach services promoting two free webinars on the need for sleep to manage stress and socializing.

As some of my previous blogs have stated, sleep is crucial. These webinars are phenomenal resources from NCAIS with experts from Eastern Illinois University, St. Joseph University, UNC-Charlotte, and Harvard Medical School.

Check them out:

Healthy Sleep Strategies and Stress Reduction for Parents

Healthy Sleep Strategies and Stress Reduction for Students

Service: 6th Grade Leads the Way on Glasses Project

http://media.uxcell.com/

Our 6th graders took the lead on a drive to collect gently used eyewear over the last month. One of them, Chandler S., is the guest blogger today and provides a summary below:

“They will probably cry with joy when they put on those glasses because they have not been able to see in so long,” said Ms. Leslie Deaton, director of The Free Clinic of Rockingham County, founded in 1998 by a local church in Reidsville. The clinic is a non-government funded public clinic that provides medical, dental, and eye care to people who cannot afford it.


About a month and a half ago, Dr. Tara Jernejcic, who has a second grader at Canterbury, asked us to collect gently used eye glasses for the clinic so that they would be able to give them to people with eye problems. Mrs. Mintz held a meeting for volunteers to make posters, plan announcements, and come up with a name for the service project. A team of sixth graders decided the project name should be “Gee, I Wish I Could See” and decided that the school goal should be to collect 100 eyeglasses. Mr. Jones agreed that if we achieved this goal of 100 eyeglasses the whole school could have a casual dress day. One and a half months later the volunteers counted the glasses and achieved the goal with 123 glasses! As a reward, on April 20th the volunteers were invited to the clinic to learn more about what they did there and present the collected glasses to Ms. Deaton.

Heritage and Innovation

I found this article this morning and haven't heard the phrasing of heritage and innovation, although the idea of a tension between tradition and the new age in education is nothing new. I think every school is trying to balance the twin tensions of keeping tradition and those things that make the school what it is with the powerful movements towards 21st century education and what that looks like at the school.

http://www.leadershipnow.com/leadingblog/2011/03/heritage_and_innovation_findin.html

Improving Memory to Improve Academic Performance - Dana Foundation

I thought this was an interesting article that attempts to clarify some of the ways in which brain research, particularly fMRI research, and education can work together to meet students where they are, provide relevant and purposeful interventions if need be, and understand every child in our classrooms. I would recommend the second half of the article specifically.

Improving Memory to Improve Academic Performance - Dana Foundation