Bookmark the following sites…
NAISAC11
Follow-up links from the 2011 Annual Conference
It is our hope that you will take a moment to explore and reflect on the various artifacts that were created as a result of our time at this year’s Annual Conference. Write a blog post on some of this content, send a tweet tagged #naisac11, start a discussion thread in your community and share the link with this community, post reflections on lists where you participate and engage others in a broader conversation.
Graphic Recordings
Workshop handouts/presentations
Articles about general session and featured workshop speakers
Videos:
COMMUNITY BLOGGERS
Mark Crotty
Post-race commentary- Take #2
In “Post-Race Commentary—Take #1” I focused on some overall impressions of Race to Nowhere and the subsequent discussion. The piece has a rather typical essay-like framework. For this post, I’m going to take a different approach: bullets, fired almost in scattershot fashion. Each will be some point that struck me as telling or worth some thought, and each…[MORE]
Poughkeepsie Day School
How not to do it
Forget about the five paragraph essay, what about the five word text and the exquisite tweet? Lots of commentary about a recent article with follow-up here in the NYTimes about the importance of concise writing. Without a doubt it is an aspiration we need to teach and a skill we need to practice. Charles Dickens was paid by the word but…[MORE]
Troy Roddy
Phases of professional development
The phases and reflections below are solely based on my own journey as a professional educator. I welcome your feedback and your own perceptions about the different phases and outcomes of professional development…[MORE]
Lorri Carroll
I can’t find Blaise Pascal’s friends…
My FakeWall/ Diigo project was due this past week and, while the website’s instability proved to be a bit of a challenge, I am excited about what the students…[MORE]
Teresa DeFlitch
Open badges and learner memory
Students everywhere are capitalizing on educational opportunities outside of the traditional schooling framework. Twenty-four hour access, virtual worlds, grassroots community centers, peer networks, and a student-centered Edupunk movement (in all its incarnations) have prompted the need for a new kind of accreditation framework that…[MORE]
Gary Stager
Teachers: watch this and try not to cry- Then do something
60 Minutes just aired a two-part story that stands in their grand tradition of breathtaking journalism. The report tells the story of Gospel for Teens, a non-profit arts organization created in Harlem, NYC by the radio broadcaster, publisher and theatre producer, Vy Higginsen. Her original goals were modest; teach kids to sing gospel music so that this important…[MORE]
Plenning
Launching TLC
There have been some exciting developments in my world lately. The entire K-12 faculty has started a collective professional development focus on learning and the brain; our summer program, SOS, will be piloting the ipad 2; and we have officially launched our TLC program…[MORE]
OTHER EDUCATIONAL BLOGS
Tom Vander Ark
10 dimensions of school-as-a-service
Software is moving to the cloud and so is school. Cloud-based computing makes applications available anywhere, anytime, across multiple devices. Software-as-a-service allows us to tailor what we use and how much we buy—take your pick of five versions of Turbo Tax depending on your needs; build your own playlist of music; build your own virtual desktop with your favorite…[MORE]
Mathew Needleman
Mythbusters: Education edition
Here are two must-see items for teachers before going in to your next staff meeting. The first is an article from researcher, Will Thalheimer, that suggests that the pyramid that claims we remember 90% of what we teach others and only 10% of what we read is fabricated. ..[MORE]
Austin Kleon
How to steal like an artist (and 9 other things nobody told me)
It’s one of my theories that when people give you advice, they’re really just talking to themselves in the past. This list is me talking to a previous version of myself. Your mileage may vary…[MORE
NAISAC11
NAISAC11 Looking for Feedback
NAISAC11 would like your feedback on this year’s Daily Find and invites general comments about this year’s NAISAC11 online community. If you participated via twitter, blog posts, and comments or followed from a distance through The Daily Find, please take a moment to let us know your thoughts. You can answer this short 4 question survey at: https://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?formkey=dE90dG1UNHQ3SlZjU3VLUGVwU0k4SEE6MQ
COMMUNITY BLOGGERS
Poughkeepsie Day School
Outcomes and results matter: But what’s with all the testing?
In a recent post at Raining Acorns, a Pennsylvania parent records what happens in March school testing season. She outlines the impact on the school schedule and the disruption to learning. Is it all worth it? Why all this time on test? Yong Zhao argues that this…[MORE]
Lorri Carroll
Digital media: New learners of the 21st century
Recently, the Technology Committee at Hamden Hall watched and discussed the PBS special: Digital Media: New Learners of the 21st Century. This committee is comprised of faculty, staff and admin from all divisions….Here are a few things that resonated with me in this video “Digital Media: New Learners of the 21st Century”:..[MORE]
Mark Crotty
Post-Race Commentary #1
This past Friday we hosted a screening of Race to Nowhere, followed by some discussion. I’m still trying to crystallize the essence of all I saw and heard. In most ways, it affirmed my thoughts in a pre-viewing post. The film provokes quite a visceral effect. When slapped in the face…[MORE]
Pat Bassett
Is Being a “Great School” Public Purpose Enough?
In the opening scene of The Social Network, the character of the young Harvard undergrad Mark Zuckerberg (founder of Facebook) has an exchange with his girlfriend that is so exasperating to her, she breaks off the relationship on the spot, telling him, “…you’re going to go through life thinking that girls don’t like you because you’re a nerd. And I want you to know…[MORE]
Chris Bigenho
Twitter turns 5 today- A retrospective
5 years ago today…Twitter was born…Consider the following:
Rick Campbell/Stephanie Oberle- Tech.Enews
Bits and bytes to avoid computer chaos
The Scenario: You are in your classroom. You have found a great video either on the web (YouTube) or on a DVD. You want to show it, but it has ads or some inappropriate parts or it’s in a format that your classroom computers or even your computer cannot…[MORE]
OTHER EDUCATION BLOGS
Education Week
21st century pet rock
I just returned from COSN (Consortium of School Networks) and I also have been reading several Instructional technology magazines recently. The new “Pet Rock” seems to be adding avatars to instructional software. Just so we have a common definition, an avatar is…[MORE]
Pamela Moran
Are we ready to stop labeling ourselves digital immigrants?
The story: I had to see a new orthopedist this past week for an old knee injury. He pulled up my records from the referring physician and looked at them with me on his very large computer screen. Then, I was sent to imaging since he wanted to…[MORE]
Tom Vander Ark=
10 Reports on the Near Future of Learning
After you read Digital Learning Now, if you want to learn more about the future of learning, here’s a list of the ten most important reports for you to read…[MORE]
Tom Vander Ark
Open High School
Imagine “one-on-one tutoring for every student in every subject” and you get a picture of Open High School, a virtual charter school serving 250 Utah students in ninth and tenth grade expanding to up to 1500 students 9-12 next year…[MORE]
NPR
Behind the Scenes: How do you get into Amherst?
Admissions committees at selective colleges sometimes have to plow through thousands of applications to choose the members of next year’s freshman class. The committee at Amhest College in Mass., will accept only 1,000 of the more than 8,000 students who applied…[MORE]
NAISAC11
Back from spring break and catching up on blogs and events from the community. The Daily Find is a feature of the NAIS Annual Conference Online Community which serves to support conversations related to the purpose of independent schools and focuses on events and topics surrounding messages and topics raised in the 2011 conference. At this time, The Daily Find will be shifting to a Weekly Find as conversations continue to broaden beyond the scope of the conference and migrate back to communities from which this community was formed. Remember that all of the online activity related to this year’s annual conference is archived in the community site located here at: https://naisac11.wordpress.com/. You can also continue to follow this powerful list of independent school bloggers by exploring the extensive blogroll at: https://naisac11.wordpress.com/independent-school-bloggers/blogs-alphabetical-listing/.
NAISAC11 Looking for Feedback
NAISAC11 would like your feedback on this year’s Daily Find and invites general comments about this year’s NAISAC11 online community. If you participated via twitter, blog posts, and comments or followed from a distance through The Daily Find, please take a moment to let us know your thoughts. You can answer this short 4 question survey at: https://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?formkey=dE90dG1UNHQ3SlZjU3VLUGVwU0k4SEE6MQ
COMMUNTIY BLOGGERS
Brett Jacobsen
Anti-Establishment
Recently, I attended the National Association of Independent Schools annual conference in Washington, DC. It was confirmation to me that the discussions taking place at Mount Vernon reflected every general session and workshop I attended. Whether it was leading through change, global education, 21st century skills, reverse instruction, CWRA, service programs, or skills over content, MVPS is right on target as we proceed through our next strategic planning process…[MORE]
Curt Lieneck
The New Normal Part Two: School Culture
Last time, we covered two ideas about what the “new normal” looks like in school technology: the first, that IT has become a strategic asset that pervades all areas of school life, and, second, the emergence of the IT leader as an education leader properly positioned to function as a strategic partner in school decision-making. Today we move on to two additional evolutions in school culture that I see as part of the “new normal…[MORE]
Lorri Carroll
Another NYC Adventure…TEDxNYed
[Comment: This post by Lorri reflects topics from the TEDxNYed event that echoes many themes also heard at NAISAC11.] Last Saturday, Sarah Ludwig (@sarah_ludwig) and I went on another professional development adventure to NYC– TEDxNYed. We got off the subway and made our way to 7 World Trade, all the while talking about what we were doing and where we were on…[MORE]
Mark Crotty
Mixed Media, Mixed Messages
At first I was disoriented, and I couldn’t make any sense of the two media streams. I had taken my daughter for a haircut, and a television was playing in the waiting area. Only after several seconds did I realize that the sound was off and I was actually hearing…[MORE]
Chris Bigenho
Touched by the Earthquake in Japan 2011
Again, I have been touched by world events that have occurred far from my home in Texas. Having lived through two of our largest earthquakes in Los Angeles and being an EMT and ham radio operator, I again feel helpless in regards to…[MORE]
Poughkeepsie Day School
Japan
On Tuesday the day broke with bright sunshine. The grass was rimed with sparkling frost and the air was sharp and fresh. It was a perfect morning in early spring. And the contrast was stark with the devastation and horror that was unfolding across the world in Japan. While we as adults attempt to make sense and cope with the scenes presented so dramatically and graphically our minds also turn to our children. As we cope with our shock and disbelief, we also…[MORE]
Jonathan Martin
Let’s use video to reinvent education: Salman Khan’s NAIS talk (now on TED)
In recent months I have written almost half a dozen posts about Khan Academy and how it can and will influence changes in the way teaching and learning happens in our school. In my NAIS recap last week, I wrote about the excitement created by Salman Khan’s TED-style talk, which was clearly for me and many, many others a major highlight of the conference…[MORE]
Jonathan Martin
Students, Parents, Educators Respond to Race to Nowhere
Last Thursday night we hosted a screening of the new film, Race to Nowhere, and a panel afterwards. I have already shared my own reactions to the film; here I want to share those of our panelists and from our students…[MORE]
Chris Bigenho
Twitter turns 5 today- A retrospective
5 years ago today…Twitter was born…Consider the following: The very first tweet: “inviting coworkers by Jack Dorsey- 4:02 PM March 21st 2006…2007, Twitter averaged 5000 tweets per day…Today, Twitter averages 140 million tweets per…[MORE]
Mark Crotty
The Curse of Too Much Knowledge—Version 2.0
As educator, institutional leader, and occasional workshop presenter, I try to remain acutely aware of the curse of too much knowledge. That is when you know a topic well enough that you forget your audience may remain below a certain assumed baseline of familiarity and understanding. For example, let’s pretend that I’m giving a lesson on…[MORE]
Colin Fredericks- Hyde Schools
Education with an End in Mind
Begin with the end in mind” is an often-repeated mantra in leadership seminars and courses, but also appears in many other fields. We give it as advice to students in physics and mathematics courses – what should your answer look like? Are you expecting a number, several numbers, or an expression? Authors bring it up when discussing the show Lost and its writers’…[MORE]
Richard Kassissieh
The Greatest Benefit of Online Schooling
Teachers are experimenting with online learning in a way that will lead to improved, blended learning environments in schools. Resulting improvements in on-campus education are likely to outshine the benefits of purely…[MORE]
Steve Taffee
Educational Environments 4: A Review
Roger Yee’s Educational Environments 4 (Amazon citation) is a beautiful coffee-table style book, replete with photographs from leading architectural firms showing their most recent and best work in the K 16 educational marketplace. As someone who is involved with…[MORE]
NAISAC11
Disrupting the Old Discourse- Final Installment
The first formal blended session at the NAIS Annual Conference will present the final segment of their program Thursday March 10th starting at 8pm EST. This interactive online session will be facilitated by Larry Kahn, Susan Davis and Chris Bigenho and will focus on the use of Blogs and Blogging as a fundamental aspect of your Personal Learning Network. They will also briefly explore the use of RSS to manage the volume of information you might follow as part of your PLN. You can learn more about this session as well as listen to podcasts and screen recordings from prior sessions at the link below. So join us for this final session. You can get your access information and more at…[MORE] or follow the link below at 8pm EST.
Session Location: http://www.wiziq.com/online-class/490152-disrupting-the-old-discourse-online-session-2-blogs-and-rss-for-pln
COMMUNITY BLOGGERS
Jonathan Martin
Salman Khan, Transformer
Ten days ago I had the extraordinary good fortune to see and hear Salman Khan speak to an audience of 3000; I will say it was genuinely a “heartthrob” moments in the field of education, as if seeing the Beatles at the Ed Sullivan show…[MORE]
Troy Roddy
Thoughts about knowing how to teach
There are good teachers who distinguish themselves by their methods of teaching. I have also met a number of good teachers who stand out due to their level of content knowledge. But, the truly outstanding teachers are those who typically have…[MORE]
Jonathan Martin
Race to Nowhere: A Response
Thursday evening, our school hosted a screening of the documentary film Race to Nowhere and a panel discussion afterwards. Here I am offering my own first reactions to the film; in subsequent posts I intend to share some of our panelists’ responses and…[MORE]
Steve Taffee
Should schools require teachers to have web sites?
A debate is occurring in some schools concerning whether or not all faculty should be required to have a web site. In a few years, this question will seem as vacuous as whether or not faculty should have a syllabus…[MORE]
Don’t forget about the Daily Twitter Papers that come out of this community
@JonathanEMartin
Salman Khan’s #NAISAC11 “Ted-talk” (a near-exact duplicate) now available: http://on.ted.com/8z4Y #isedchat. You really want to see this.
@ElemSchHeads
Graphic by @mattscully for blogging heads session, #naisac11: http://bit.ly/hvFo9N Thx @jonathanemartin for sharing. @lorriej, check it out!
@Sheena_Iyengar
Spoke at #naisac11 & at #briteconf recently. Speaking at #taom today. I’m learning a lot from giving these talks and meeting attendees.
@arvind
@sheena_iyengar your talk at #naisac11 was excellent. I’ve been talking about it often since, and picked up your Kindle book. Thanks, much!
@arvind
Cellphones in schools are the new cigarettes, social taboo. Crowd outside door to use ’em – @jamiebritto at #NAISAC11 #tedxnyed
@Drjillbrown
Excellent read fm Jones@ Holton-Arms- tech integration, Blended Learning http://tinyurl.com/4dzbnql & http://tinyurl.com/45suhdj #NAISAC11
NAISAC11
Disrupting the Old Discourse Continues…
The first formal blended session in an NAIS Annual Conference continues online- Disrupting the Discourse. The first interactive online session was held last Thursday where Larry Kahn, Susan Davis and Chris Bigenho looked at different aspects of using Twitter as part of your personal learning network. If you missed the face to face session at the conference or the first online session, you can experience a podcast of the face-to-face session and view a recording of the online session through the NAISAC11 online community. The final installment for this blended session will occur this Thursday at 8pm EST and will look at the power of blogs, blogging and RSS as part of your personal learning network. For the podcasts, session recordings, slides and schedule…[MORE]
NAIS
Graphic Recordings
This year, NAIS brought in a new way of recording the moment that was created during the general sessions and featured speaker sessions—Graphic Recordings. These drawings captured the major elements of each presentations as well as the flow of thought throughout the presentation. You can view the graphic recording of these speakers by following the links below.
General Session Speakers
Featured Workshop Speakers
Workshop Resources
You can start to find resources for workshops and presentations from this year’s Annual Conference. These will continue to be updated as new resources are submitted by the presenters. You can find these resources posted along with their listing on the following pages of the NAIS Website
3 Hour Workshops
NAIS Conference Reporters
The following links will take you to stories about each speaker and reflects the experiences and what each shared with us last week at the NAIS 2011 Annual Conference.
Albert Adams:
2011 NAIS Diversity Leadership Award Honoree
James K. Scott:
2011 NAIS Diversity Leadership Award Honoree- Acceptance Speech
COMMUNITY BLOGGERS
Mark Crotty
Robot Love
Imagine that you could have a life partner who completely understands you. Not only understands you, but knows exactly how to respond to whatever you’re feeling, thinking, needing. At the same time, this partner needs little in return, perhaps just some…[MORE]
Richard Kassissieh
MathCasting
I am sitting in Toby Beck’s NCCE session about MathCasting. He has students create screencasts in which they explain solutions to math problems. Teachers also create …[MORE]
Curt Lieneck
My Own “Horizon Report”: The New Normal in Education Technology
It was my pleasure last week to co-present a three-hour workshop entitled “Rethinking Technology Leadership” with my good friends Denise Musselwhite (Trinity Prep, FL), Jill Brown (Albuquerque Academy, NM), and Howard Levin (Urban School, CA). We’ve presented together three different times now. Not only are they extraordinarily astute practitioners, but the joy they share in…[MORE]
NAISAC11
Disrupting the Discourse- Online Follow-up Session 2 Tonight
Join us tonight for part two of Disrupt the Discourse. This started in D.C. with a one hour workshop and continues online tonight for part 2 of 3 with an interactive session using Twitter to help grow your personal learning network. Listen to the podcast of the face to face workshop and learn more about the two interactive online sessions…[MORE]
CONFERENCE REPORTERS
The following links will take you to stories about each speaker and reflects the experiences and what each shared with us last week at the NAIS 2011 Annual Conference.
Sheena Iyengar
The Art of Choosing
Dan Heath
Switch: How to Change things when Change is Hard
Elizabeth Coleman, Salman Khan, Anya Kamenetz
Independent Matters
Sugata Mitra
The Hole in the Wall Experiment
Wendy Mogel
The Blessing of a B Minus
Emily Pilloton
Design, Build, Transform
Seth Goldman
Leadership with a Difference
COMMUNITY BLOGGERS
Mark Crotty
2011 NAIS Takeaways
From Wednesday-Friday, February 23-25, I attended the National Association of Independent School Annual Conference in National Harbor, Maryland (just outside D.C.) I’m a bit behind the curve here, as I know that many attendees already have shared their takeaways. So for some of you this may be old news. Sorry. But I never really know what those true takeaways will be until I reflect on an experience and see what still resonates a few days later. I also want to share this with any readers who may not have read anyone else’s thoughts on the conference. Plus it’s nice for people at St. John’s to know why the Head of School vanished for three days…[MORE]
NAISAC11
Join us for the Online Session: Disrupting the Discourse
Welcome to an NAIS first. This year, one session at the 2011 NAIS conference was scheduled as a BLENDED SESSION. This means that the workshop started in D.C. with a 1 hour workshop that set the context for two follow-up sessions in the online environment. Join us for these sessions (the first one is Thursday March 3 at 8pm EST) and learn how you can…[MORE]
CONFERENCE BLOGGERS
Martha Haakmat
A Closing to Remember
“It’s our personal responsibility as citizens of this country to do something about educating all children.” Geoffrey Canada began with this statement early on in his talk. Yes, we’ve all…[MORE]
COMMUNITY BLOGGERS
Teresa DeFlitch
NAIS Conference Reflections” PLN’s, Speed, Exposure, and Choices
No Weekly Roundup this week. We didn’t have school on Monday (President’s Day) or Tuesday (snow day!), and on Wednesday I traveled to National Harbor, MD to attend the National Association of Independent Schools conference. I attended several workshops, general sessions, and did my best to stay on top of…[MORE]
The Graphic Advice of Wendy Mogel
I loved the addition of graphic artists at this year’s NAIS Annual Conference. It was a marvel to watch them work and then see the finished product – huge poster board representations of the…[MORE]
@jsvoorhees
“Themes and Thoughts from the NAIS 2011 Annual Conference” My thoughts and selected tweets http://bit.ly/dN671r #naisac11 #isedchat…[MORE]
@aspeyer
10 things I learned at NAIS 2011 annual conference #naisac11 #edchat http://tumblr.com/xmk1mo56xg
@mattscully
Posted 7 take aways from #naisac11 with notes. Topics = design thinking, active learning, art of choosing, leadership – http://bit.ly/9dIzXb
Demetri Orlando
My NAIS AC 2011 Take-Aways
Given the cost and energy in going to a conference, I believe it’s important to have some kind of formal process of reflecting upon the learning that was experienced and so here are my “take-aways” from the 2011 NAIS conference in National Harbor, Maryland…[MORE]
Jonathan Martin
13 Thoughts about NAIS AC 2011
Back now from the stimulating, fascinating, and exhausting frenetic whirlwind that was three days at NAIS Annual Conference 2011. Time for some observations and take-aways…[MORE]
Welcome to an NAIS first. This year, one session at the 2011 NAIS conference was scheduled as a BLENDED SESSION. This means that the workshop started in D.C. with a 1 hour workshop that set the context for two follow-up sessions in the online environment. Join us for these sessions and learn how you can disrupt the discourse by leveraging personal learning communities. Don’t worry if you missed the face to face session as you can listen to the podcast and view the slide stack prior to joining us online. These two follow up sessions are interactive and will help you understand how to get started with Twitter, Blogs and RSS feeds as a way to participate in and manage your personal learning network.
PROGRAM DESCRIPTION
Research shows that interest in collaborating in Personal Learning Networks (PLNs) is on the rise. Take home concrete ideas that can help you disrupt the usual discourse about education by collaborating online with experts and thinkers in your field. This introduction will continue online through the NAIS AC Online Community after the conference.
PRESENTERS: Larry Kahn, The Kinkaid School (TX); Chris Bigenho, Greenhill School (TX); Susan Davis, The Chinquapin School (TX)
ONLINE SCHEDULE
Session 1: All things Twitter
Date: Thursday, March 3
Session time: 8pm EST
Location: http://www.wiziq.com/online-class/486082-disrupt-the-old-discourse-online-session-1-all-things-twitter
ONLINE SESSION1 RECORDING: All Things Twitter
Preparation: Please set up a Twitter account in advance of this session so you will be able to use it during the online workshop. This Youtube video will help you get your Twitter Account up and running http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RO2o7pCaw4o.
Description: During this session, you will quickly see different ways to work with Twitter. You will then learn about the use of hashtags and get suggestions of people to follow as a way of starting your own PLN. If you are a veteran at Twitter, please encourage your peers to check out this session as a springboard into the world of Twitter in PLN’s.
Session 2: Getting started with blogs and RSS for personal growth and reflection
Date: Thursday, March 10
Session time: 8pm EST
Location: http://www.wiziq.com/online-class/490152-disrupting-the-old-discourse-online-session-2-blogs-and-rss-for-pln
Preparation: Please set up a blog account and a Google account as you will be working with both of these during this session. While you can set up a blog in the environment of your choice, we recommend one of the two as a great place to start. Blogger (www.blogger.com) or WordPress (www.wordpress.com).
How to set up a Blogger Account (this will also create a Google account as Blogger is owned by Google): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BnploFsS_tY
How to set up a WordPress account: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cGuLgfaeXjM
SESSION RESOURCES
NAISAC11
The speakers are finished, the workshops are done. Now is the time to reflect on the past three days. What were the Big Ideas that will move your school forward? The following is a Challenge to the Online Community. The challenge is to have as many individuals post a reflection to a single space that records a summary of their experience with a commitment to action. If you have your own blog, we still ask that you post a reflection on this common document as a collection of collective reflections. Here is a little background and THE CHALLENGE.
NAISAC REPORTERS
The following is an article written by this year’s Conference Reporters. Other articles will be featured as they are posted. This first article looks at the ideas shared by Sheena Iyengar in this year’s opening keynote address.
Sheena Iyengar: Leading By Choice
“Your leadership today is critical because you’re the ones who are making the leaders of tomorrow.” This is how Sheena Iyengar, the inaugural S.T. Lee Professor of Business at Columbia Business School, greeted the crowd of more than 4,000 independent school leaders gathered at the 2011 NAIS Annual Conference in National Harbor, MD. She spent the next hour illuminating the audience about the relationship between leadership and choice because as…[MORE]
Live Blogs- Jason Ramsden
CONFERENCE BLOGGERS
Marty Jones
The School Without Walls- aka Reggio Emilia on Crack
Between Pat Bassett challenging us to ‘Reinvent Schools,’ and Sheena Iyengar’s amazing talk on ‘The Art of Choosing,’ – I was transported back in time – to 1971. 99% of my K-12 education was in really good public schools. The other 1% I’ve joked about for years – my year of private school. All my friends and family love hear my ‘School Without Walls’ stories…[MORE]
Martha Haakmat
What Am I Doing to Serve a Public Purpose?
This workshop, led by independent school leaders, focused on responding with a public purpose beyond financial aid. I sat and listened to the four speakers outline the…[MORE]
Jill Brown
Prove it to me!
This was a great question, related to integrating technology, that came up in our workshop and I was so thrilled with Curt Lieneck’s answer I asked him to email it to me. The attendee was asking, how do you respond when a faculty member says, “Prove it to me”…[MORE]
Jill Brown
Khan- Wow! Wow! Wow!
Ok, so now I have been inspired, along with many, who listened to Salman Kahn this morning! I hope there is a YouTube or TED video of him explaining exactly what he did this morning! The resources…[MORE]
Martha Haakmat
Can we talk about the whiteness and maleness of the AC?
Oh no. I told myself I would keep these feelings to myself and only share them with the independent school educators who have become part of my extended family through NAIS connections. Anyone who knows me though, understands that I cannot hold back when there is something I feel is important to say out loud…[MORE]
Martha Haakmat
WOW!
This general session was jam-packed with inspirational speakers who each directly spoke to the conference theme of advancing our public purpose. Liz Coleman nearly laid me flat with her comments because they were so incredibly smart and forward-reaching…[MORE]
Jill Brown
Never Overlook the Personal
A world of information is now available at your finger tips, however the content is only part of the picture. The richest experiences I had at the conference weren’t necessarily the speakers and sessions, although everything I participated in was very high quality. I have made notes in my program on particular speakers and…[MORE]
Martha Haakmat
Women in Leadership
Although the presenters’ focus was on sharing advice as experienced school heads, some of the questions from the women in the audience helped to outline the larger issues of the under-representation of women in the NAIS heads’ circle. We skirted the discussion of the double standard and…[MORE]
Marty Jones
Oscar Predictions
The Academy Awards will be televised this Sunday, but the real Oscars should have been given out today right here at NAIS. Here’s how the awards should be distributed…[MORE]
Martha Haakmat
Lessons on Leadership
So I figured that Pat Bassett’s workshop on “Leading from the Middle,” would be a sure hit, and I was right…[MORE]
Jill Brown
Defining the Dilemma
Another model, complimentary to Speed Innovating, is one that we used in our workshop on Wednesday. While in groups one person speaks about a key dilemma they are facing for 2 minutes, the listeners clarify their dilemma with questions for 2 minutes, listeners then…[MORE]
Martha Haakmat
Sheena Iyengar
Okay. I have spent the whole day in various conversations about Ms. Iyengar’s remarks in the the first general session trying to figure out how what she spoke about tied into the theme of advancing our public purpose. While I personally liked what…[MORE]
Jill Brown
Share Your Bright Spots. How do you Support your Faculty?
Dan Heath is a very polished presenter. Any afternoon keynote that keeps the attention of tired attendees is fabulous. After listening to his analogy of…[MORE]
COMMUNITY BLOGGERS
Cynthia Weldon and Liebert Cassidy Whitmore
From NBOA to NAIS Conference- LCW’s Update from the East Coast
Thank you to the organizers and attendees of the annual NBOA Symposium which ended Wednesday, February 23, in Washington D.C. It was gratifying to see so many schools represented from across the country come…[MORE]
Jonathan Martin
Blogging Heads: The NAIS Session Live Blog Transcript
Yesterday I was very fortunate to be joined by two terrific fellow school-leaders, Josie Holford and Michael Ebeling, to discuss blogging as Heads at the NAIS Annual Conference; our session was excellently moderated by Sarah Hanawald, Dean of Academics at Cannon School (NC). Jason Ramsden was kind enough to live-blog the panel, which I provide below…[MORE]
Lorri Carroll
Top Ten Tweets from #NAISAC11
These are my top 10 take aways from the NAIS Annual Conference. In the spirit of David Letterman: (insert drum roll here…[MORE]
Lorri Carroll
My Tweets from NAIS Annual Conference 2011
Note: This is my twitter feed (edited a bit) with some additional links and resources. Just registered at #naisac11 Let the fun begin!!…[MORE]
Sarah Thomas
NAIS reflections, short version
I can’t possibly calm my mind enough yet to truly process the last 36ish hours. Six meetings, three workshops, and one keynote later…so much to think about from this years NAIS/LINK conference…[MORE]
So….Here is another challenge. During my last visit to Washington D.C., I took the family through the Holocaust Museum. At the end of what I can only describe as a sobering emotional experience, participants are asked to make a commitment to one thing they will do to reduce the amount of hate in the world. The part that caught my attention is that there was an ACTION associated with this commitment. Now it may not seem like much but it involved simply writing your commitment on a card and dropping it into a box. The catch was, they wanted you to write the idea with a LiveScribe Pen. For the uninitiated, this records your commitment digitally. I notices that most walked past this challenge. I was on my way out when I stopped in my tracks and thought- How can I simply walk past personal action moment after I just experienced the most tragic human story I know? I turned around and made my commitment and the simple act of recording that commitment has made me bolder in standing up in the face of hate. So here is YOUR CHALLENGE. After this incredible experience…
What have been your big takeaways this year? How will you change your practice or implement change in your school? What ideas and approaches to teaching and learning will really make a difference for you? What steps will you take to increase your public purpose in this national debate? What are the things that you do which will really make a difference? What is the one Big Idea you want to leave for the community that you think will be transformative for your practice and community? Follow This Link to leave your response on this public document. Let’s see how many ideas we can share then commit to explore.
NAIS AC 2011 Twitter Feed
NAIS Annual Conference 2011 Community 