Some goals are phrased as action statements while others are structured in the form of a question. Citing the end product and consideration of how to get there—the steps in the process—are both kickstarters for a reflective, action-oriented process to improve, grow, build, and achieve in one’s work.
During Opening Convocation, our school leaders provided insight into the pursuit of personal and communal goals and urged students to be accomplished scholars, brave thinkers, and caring citizens.
Last Friday, I stood on the stage under the big top tent and congratulated the 35 graduates in the Class of 2024 as we launched them on a exploration mission of their own—to seek out bold new academic and social worlds in college and in the world.
My final individual Learning Walk of the school year had a different focus; most often, I visit a class to observe the teacher, but on these visits I went specifically to observe student thinking.
Here in New England at this time of year, we live the belief that, “if March comes in like a lion, it will go out like a lamb.” However, the reality is often that March provides considerable roaring at both ends of the month and if we’re lucky the lamb shows up sometime not too much later. Baaa…
Model UN is a successful enterprise, and Brimmer and May students are living proof of that. While the School has offered this activity for a few decades now, we have a stable of self-motivated, knowledgeable, and enthusiastic Model UN stalwarts in the Upper School, and this year the Middle School introduced Model UN to its students.
The NIH—what, the National Institute of Health offers insight on learning? Go figure (but be sure to choose one of the learning methods below. And yes, NIH does offer insights into the science of teaching…so here we go.
As a rule, when writing for Brimmer’s weekly Bulletin, I try to limit the number of “I”s present in the text. However, with this piece, I am going to break that rule in a brief discourse on my feelings about AI.
In a bit of timely coincidence the Independent School Management November “Ideas and Perspectives” newsletter hit my mailbox featuring a research report titled “What Matters to Parents.” Being a life-long educator and a parent of 3 Brimmer graduates, this caught my attention, so I dug into the article presented.
This past Saturday offered us another joyful Brimmer and May homecoming community experience (sans a couple of wins on the field we had all been rooting for—sigh—but there is season still to be, so Go Gators!)
The international world is offering us such sorrow now, and it’s hard to face it because to do so means to look squarely into the face of inhuman behavior. I have always thought that there is nothing we humans do that is unnatural because we are as much a part of nature as anything else on planet Earth.
Ms. Neely Mr. Iuliano attended a workshop at Harvard University Divinity School in pursuit of professional development for their teaching practice in Brimmer’s Upper School History Department.
Seeking to be an optimist (because that just feels so much better) and after observing the efforts of my summertime colleagues, I began thinking about the upcoming school year and how it will be better than the past few we’ve experienced—no jinx.
Seeking virtue and excellence where I know I have found it in the past, I went searching for that life-affirming, creative élan vital that every school has the capacity to bring forth and offer to its community, and I found it here on our hallway walls.
Too often these days, we argue amongst ourselves in ways that are neither compelling nor valid, and we seem to think that being vociferous, righteous, and adamant—sans reasonable evidence—is a valid appeal to share our perspectives.
It was my impulse to follow this because I am a life-long prep school educator, an instructor of International Relations, and a citizen of the world with an eye on pragmatism but a heart for diplomacy and equity. Let’s keep an eye on our nation and our world and work to make it a safe, healthy, just place for us to live and thrive in.
Back in the day, I had a wonderful history teacher in high school, Miss Simmons, who had taught all four of my older siblings and was a venerable fixture at the school. She was my teacher for three years, from ninth to eleventh grade, and I think we studied European, World, and US history.
“School is not just about the academic learning, it’s about the social and the emotional learning. It’s about understanding your place in society. It’s about learning to get along with others...”
It’s now time to close that social distance so that we can re-engage our minds, to reconnect them with big ideas, creative ideas, collaborative ideas as we look to re-connect to the habits of mind that make us all successful learners. So, close that distance and reconnect.
As an inclusive private school community, Brimmer welcomes students who will increase the diversity of our school. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, sex, gender, gender identity and expression, disability, sexual orientation, national origin, ancestry, or any other characteristic protected from discrimination under state or federal law, in the administration of our educational policies, admissions practices, financial aid decisions, and athletic and other school-administered programs.