We have the great privilege today of Chris Hughes‘ visit to Andover. Chris graduated from Phillips Academy in 2002. He returns today to teach a master-class with me, to give the All School Meeting address, and to meet with various groups on campus. The master class takes as its starting point a text: Hannah Arendt’s … Read more
I am glad to see you all back here, safe and sound, in Cochran Chapel so that we can look ahead, look to the kind of community that we want to build. We come together today to celebrate both community and diversity, the pillars of what sets Phillips Academy apart – a school proudly built … Read more
I am teaching a winter-term seminar course at Phillips Academy to ten seniors entitled “Hacking: A Course in Experiments.” I had a great time teaching it last year as well with ten students (I miss them!), and now have the privilege of repeating it for a new group of students. We are starting today. The … Read more
These are my live-blogging notes from morning sessions — especially Sal Khan’s keynote — at the New York Times Schools Conference on September 17, 2013 at the Times Center. Here are some high-points from Sal Khan’s keynote, which expand on the basics about reach that you may already know (reaches 200 countries, 8 million registered … Read more
In each of the last two academic years, I’ve made short lists of books I’ve liked, related mostly (but not exclusively) to secondary education and the digital world, to share with the faculty of Phillips Academy. We buy a stack of each of the books, placed on the shelf outside my office, and share them … Read more
I thought I would share on this blog a copy of what I said, more or less, to the assembled 1,129 students and to hundreds of faculty of Phillips Academy this morning to open our school year. The All School Meeting, held in Cochran Chapel, started with a procession of 58 flags representing the countries … Read more
Sal Khan and his traveling team of six teachers and developers from Khan Academy are on campus at Phillips Academy this morning. We are delighted to welcome them to a special faculty meeting. We are pleased to welcome friends from the Andover public schools ( Superintendent Marinel McGrath and AHS Principal Christopher Lord), the Lawrence … Read more
Tonight at the Phillips Academy faculty meeting, we are talking with Dr. Gerard Gioia of the Children’s National Medical Center in Washington, DC. The purpose of this discussion is to ensure that we are adopting best practices to protect our students from traumatic brain injury (TBI), or concussions, and that we have sound policies and … Read more
Book page for Claude Steele, Whistling Vivaldi
Tonight in the faculty meeting at Phillips Academy, we will discuss Claude Steele’s Whistling Vivaldi. It’s an exceptionally good book on many levels. The social science is deep and revealing; the personal narratives are compelling; and the ideas for concrete action at schools are constructive.
It seems fitting to be having this conversation tonight, on the 50th anniversary of James Meredith’s registration at Ole Miss. Yesterday’s lead story in the New York Times (by Adam Liptak) also highlighted the important new challenge to affirmative action that the United States Supreme Court will hear this term. (From the story: “On Oct. 10, the court will hear Fisher v. University of Texas, No. 11-345, a major challenge to affirmative action in higher education.”) It’s unfortunate that we are still struggling at the level of admissions of diverse communities; the discussion should be much further along than it is today.
The conversation about what schools should do once we have highly diverse communities is at the top of our access agenda. It’s not enough to admit students from a broad range of backgrounds; it’s essential that we are intentional and effective about how we enable all students to succeed and enjoy their time at schools, including Andover.
This morning, Prof. Mizuko (Mimi) Ito is at Phillips Academy, Andover, to lead us, as a faculty, in a community conversation to start off the year. Mimi is setting forth the core data and arguments behind Connected Learning, which is our professional development theme at Andover for the year. She has us all on an … Read more