Monday Musings
from The Kravis Center
May 20, 2019
Dear Colleagues,
My apologies for a random horse-related tangent, but I hope you'll hear me out. This year we unfortunately will not be seeing a Triple Crown winner after Country Horse––the controversial winner of the Kentucky Derby––pulled out of the Preakness well before the race this past weekend. While that was certainly a disappointment, Saturday's jockeyless horse kept things entertaining by completing the race and not finishing last! The Kentucky Derby, As Told by the Horses was published in The New Yorker just before the Preakness, and so I have to wonder what Bodexpress was thinking and saying to the other horses around him…
Random? Perhaps. But hopefully that short article also gave you a moment to chuckle, during what is a busy and often stressful time of year. Departmental awards are finishing, senior project presentations are Tuesday evening, and various graduation-week traditions and festivities are ramping up. Everybody is incredibly busy and students are gradually starting to see the finish line in their sights. Over the last couple weeks, I've found it very necessary to have several brain-break ideas in my back pocket when the energy in the classroom has hit a lull. Here's where Bodexpress might come into play this week –– perhaps my students can take two minutes to come up with a line for Bodexpress that should have been included in the article!
Back to serious talk: Last Thursday, The New York Times reported that the College Board would be adding an 'adversity score' for every student taking the SAT. You might also have read Friday's opinion piece, The SAT's Bogus 'Adversity Score'. In short, the College Board is "appending an adversity index" to aptitude scores – essentially a handicap to standardize "privilege." It remains unclear to what extent this will impact students through the College Admissions process, and yet this will certainly not be the last we'll hear about this issue.
If any of you were intrigued in learning more about flipped classrooms after Hannah presented her inquiry project last week, we would invite you to join us on Thursday May 23 during the PD time in the Kravis Center (see notes from our meeting on May 9). During this session, LC's flipped classroom veterans will help you create your own video. Additionally, if anyone is still interested in giving a SET to one or several of your classes before the end of the year, please email me, Sara, or Rachel.
Let's give the Class of 2019 a great send-off this week!
Harrison, on behalf of the Kravis Center
Professional Growth Opportunities
If you are looking for more ideas, please remember that the Loomis Chaffee PD doc has many exciting opportunities to offer. If interested, talk with your Assistant Department Head or anyone in the Kravis Center.
An invitation: Athena is looking for excellent, passionate, and diverse high school humanities teachers for a limited number of Summer Fellowships. Ideal candidates are English, History, Humanities, or Religion/Philosophy teachers hungry to find and join communities of educators with shared interests, teachers eager to share their best and favorite assignments, classroom activities and discussion questions, teachers excited to offer feedback to help others.
Only 1-2 more spaces available! Take a deep dive into the neuroscience of learning with the authors of Neuroteach, Glenn Whitman and Ian Kelleher. Read more about the Science of Teaching and Leadership Academy at The Center for Transformative Teaching and Learning (CTTL) from July 21 - 25. Sara Deveaux attended last summer and would be happy to chat with anyone interested. Rachel Nisselson and Lena Sadowitz are signed up for July, 2019. 1-2 more spaces available.
Interested in learning more about project and problem-based learning? Read about an online opportunity from Amy Baeder. Read more about the Buck institute which is considered the gold standard in PBL training.
July 29-31 (College Park, MD): An entire conference dedicated to formative assessments. Formative Assessment Conference with Dylan Wiliam, Tom Guskey, Susan Brookhart and Jay McTighe (Understanding by Design). What an array of experts! Become the LC expert!
CAIS Conferences: The Connecticut Association of Independent Schools is offering a number of conferences in April and over the summer
Please fill out this form for suggestions for Thursday morning PD opps.
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