Report from National Conference
Last week I travelled to Boston to attend the National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS) annual conference. Here are seven takeaways from the experience:
1. I go to the NAIS conference every few years or so. These giant conferences provide networking opportunities and some inspiration in a major urban setting. After all the people interaction and helpful workshops, the motivation to get back into the trenches is always strong. Nothing better than actually applying what we learn and working with kids!
2. That said, it was certainly encouraging to see what is happening nationwide; the conference focus was Design the Revolution: Blending Learning, Leading, and Innovation. There were countless numbers of workshops centered on bringing pedagogical and educational practice deeper into the 21st century. Clearly, one of the advantages of independent schools is that they can be incredibly nimble and adaptive in their responses.
4. When John Chubb was appointed the new head of NAIS in early 2013, there was a fair amount of concern and outright hostility. He was following a popular outgoing leader, Patrick Bassett, and some of his views on promoting teacher improvement and in support of No Child Left Behind concerned some independent school leaders. To me, he seems genuine and enthusiastic about education, passionate about the good work independent schools are doing across the country, and was clearly emotional at times when speaking about programs that were helping underprivileged students succeed.
5. Boston had a lot of snow. Piles and piles of it! Eight-foot drifts on the side of the road were quite common, as was the sight of cars on side streets that had been buried, never to see the light of day until mid-April.
6. Keynote speaker John Maeda, former president of RISD, had many interesting and somewhat random things to say about educational leadership. Among my favorite notions was that colleges and universities actually move very slowly when it comes to educational innovation. He praised independent schools for their willingness to be leaders in this regard.
7. At the center of our work in schools is still the positive relationships forged between teachers and students. This has been and will remain best practice. No amount of innovation will ever replace that core value!
1. I go to the NAIS conference every few years or so. These giant conferences provide networking opportunities and some inspiration in a major urban setting. After all the people interaction and helpful workshops, the motivation to get back into the trenches is always strong. Nothing better than actually applying what we learn and working with kids!
2. That said, it was certainly encouraging to see what is happening nationwide; the conference focus was Design the Revolution: Blending Learning, Leading, and Innovation. There were countless numbers of workshops centered on bringing pedagogical and educational practice deeper into the 21st century. Clearly, one of the advantages of independent schools is that they can be incredibly nimble and adaptive in their responses.
3. Design thinking as a means to unleash creativity and encourage more innovative classroom practice was once quite new; now it has reached countless independent schools. CA has been at the forefront, as indicated by the fact that two of our teachers, Paul Kim and Tom Thorpe, were there presenting their practices to a crowd of about 100 attendees.
4. When John Chubb was appointed the new head of NAIS in early 2013, there was a fair amount of concern and outright hostility. He was following a popular outgoing leader, Patrick Bassett, and some of his views on promoting teacher improvement and in support of No Child Left Behind concerned some independent school leaders. To me, he seems genuine and enthusiastic about education, passionate about the good work independent schools are doing across the country, and was clearly emotional at times when speaking about programs that were helping underprivileged students succeed.
5. Boston had a lot of snow. Piles and piles of it! Eight-foot drifts on the side of the road were quite common, as was the sight of cars on side streets that had been buried, never to see the light of day until mid-April.
6. Keynote speaker John Maeda, former president of RISD, had many interesting and somewhat random things to say about educational leadership. Among my favorite notions was that colleges and universities actually move very slowly when it comes to educational innovation. He praised independent schools for their willingness to be leaders in this regard.
7. At the center of our work in schools is still the positive relationships forged between teachers and students. This has been and will remain best practice. No amount of innovation will ever replace that core value!
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