IDEO and Design Thinking at RCS
[ November 02, 2009 ]
The world-renowned design company IDEO was with a group of teachers and administrators on Thursday and Friday of last week taking us through the design thinking process in order to help us think about both adult problem solving and how thinking might be differently defined in our classrooms. This work has been in development for the last two years and was prompted by an article by Tim Brown the IDEO CEO who has a great weblog on design thinking. Tim has also written a great book on design thinking and how it can change organizations entitled Change by Design. The group from IDEO: Kate Lydon, Sandy Speicher, Hailey Brewer and Annette Diefenthaler were amazing, and we learned how ...
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Football Game Against Fieldston
[ November 02, 2009 ]
The football game against Fieldston yesterday was incredible. It was amazing to watch. Being biased, I was sad to see the Riverdale team unable to score the two points at the end in order to win the game; however, both sides fought valiantly to the very last second of the game. It was great to see the new field in use, and we are also looking forward to hosting a field hockey tournament game this week on it. Kris and I were honored to meet Flo Bertino for the first time, along with other members of the Bertino clan. Flo is the wife of Frank J. Bertino, a mythical Riverdale faculty member and coach who was one of the winningest coaches ...
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Sustainability at RCS
[ September 30, 2009 ]
Just attended the Upper School meeting where Stephen Moch and Michael Volpert, seniors in the Upper School, talked about their independent study they are doing with our Director of Plant and Sustainability. They are examining our carbon footprint and developing good ideas to reduce our carbon use and emissions in the years ahead. I found the presentation excellent, and these young men modeled the type of wisdom that we need so sorely in the world right now. What an inspiring way to begin the day! It is also good to see the mission of the school manifest in these great students.
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Parent’s Weekend Speech-September 2009
[ September 13, 2009 ]
Welcome. It is great to see you all here. I hope that you have had a wonderful summer and a good start to the new school year. I tried to do my best with the weather. I am sorry. On the other hand, it ends up not being a bad day to be inside. This was an eventful summer for us and there are many updates to give you, a few of which I tried to convey in my letter sent out via e-mail to everyone this week. I shall continue to send out updates throughout the school year and also post to my blog on the website. As you all know, we are prepared and concerned about the H1N1 situation. ...
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Senior Night Speech 2009
[ June 11, 2009 ]
This speech was given in various forms to the various graduating classes (12th grade, 8th grade, and 5th grade). This is the version given to the Seniors prior to graduation. Welcome! I welcome the faculty, the staff, the trustees, the alumni, the parents, grandparents and family members attending this evening. Tonight I wish to give a special welcome to the members of the Class of 2009 and address these words primarily to them. Welcome to the members of the Great Class of 2009! As you now are almost alumni of this school, I would first like to thank you, both personally and institutionally for your leadership in my second year at the school. In my estimation, every one of you has ...
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New Parents’ Evening Speech
[ May 10, 2009 ]
I thought people might find this speech I gave the other night interesting... I consider myself a walking paradox of progressivism and tradition. I like wearing a tie, but I also like wearing a t-shirt. I enjoy reading musty tomes and my kindle. I enjoy writing on my computer and in my leather-bound journal. I like the tension between the future and the past. Tonight I want to talk to you briefly about some older values that are informed by forward-thinking research. I have talked about this topic before, so those of you that know me, please daydream, create to do lists or think about something else, if you already know what I am going to say, but I think ...
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Letter to the Community
[ March 30, 2009 ]
March 12, 2009 Dear members of the Riverdale community, As I did in September, I think that it is time that I send an update on School life and what we are thinking about as an educational community. It has been an exciting autumn and winter at the School, and we are in the midst of planning for the next academic year. It has been a busy admissions season with very robust demand for the school on both campuses. We look forward to having a very strong contingent of students joining us in September. Much of the work that has occupied the administrative team, the Board of Trustees and me this winter has involved financial planning for next year and the future. Because ...
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NOLA & POCC
[ December 07, 2008 ]
I went for a day and a half with Kris to New Orleans to participate in the People of Color Conference organized by National Association of Independent Schools and the Student Diversity Leadership Conference. This is the fourth time I have gone to this conference and it always provokes thoughts and ideas about schools and how inclusive or not they are as communities. The keynote address by Sidney Poitier was especially poignant that kicked off the conference and got people to think about success, perseverance, and believing in principles. His comments framed the conference discussions nicely. I feel strongly about our community's commitment to becoming more and more diverse as our world and nation is becoming, but I also feel ...
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Three Book Suggestions
[ December 07, 2008 ]
Outliers, the new book by Malcolm Gladwell, is directly related to some of the work we are doing with the University of Pennsylvania's Positive Psychology Center and the KIPP NYC schools (in fact, the final chapter looks at the KIPP schools and, Riverdale alumnus, Dave Levin on of the KIPP founders. Gladwell looks at people who are successful and provides a significantly different view of success--that it is more due to hard work and perseverence than innate ability and that our society is prone to view success as something beyond one's personal control. I have always believed this and hope that we will, with the aid of some outside researchers, become more intentional in developing these ...
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Becoming an 11th Grader…
[ December 07, 2008 ]
I became an 11th grader for two days in November. It was a fascinating experience. I went to a Trigonometry class, a Spanish class, an "Introduction to Theater" class, a "Constructing America" class, and AP Chemistry class and a PE Class. I managed to keep up with the homework to some degree, although it was astonishing how much I had forgotten, especially in math and in chemistry. For example, in chemistry I could not remember Avogadro's number. This is what A.N. Whitehead, the noted philosopher, called this "inert knowledge"--knowledge that you have somewhere in the head but is impossible to apply to an actual situation. I had several reactions to the day: - I think that I am becoming more and more ...