Peter Gow, Trying to Further Education and Educators

Archive for the students Category

CODING IS JUST THE NEW SURVEYING

On November 23, 2014   /   NotYourFathersSchool, students, Thomas Steele-Maley  

A tip from a wise friend, Thomas Steele-Maley, brought me back to some old school reading the other day: Theodore Sizer’s The Age of the Academies, from 1964. A look at the roots and fruits of the pre-Civil War “academy movement” in the United States, the little […]

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The Original Disruptor: A Cautionary Reflection on DEAD POETS SOCIETY

On August 12, 2014   /   Blackboard Jungle, charisma, Dead Poets Society, disruptive change, disruptive innovation, innovation, NotYourFathersSchool, Robin Williams, students, teachers, teaching, To Sir With Love  

The tragic death of Robin Williams has moved us all, no matter what our special memories of his oeuvre might be: Mork, Adrian Cronauer, Peter Pan, or even John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt in one of my favorite films, To Wong Foo Thanks for Everything, Julie Newmar. For […]

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Twitter as the New Sampler, and Reflections on Tweets of Wisdom

On August 6, 2014   /   Benjamin Franklin, historic homes, NotYourFathersSchool, respect, samplers, Sean Junkins, students, Teacher Tom, Teacher Tom blog, teachers, Twitter, wisdom  
Twitter as the New Sampler, and Reflections on Tweets of Wisdom

In some ways my summer Twitter feed is an extension of the visits to historic sites that my antiquarian family (first with my parents, later with my children) has been making all of my life. On some wall of every Colonial or 19th-century or early 20th-century house […]

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Strategic Thinking and—School Therapy?

On July 31, 2014   /   Crane MetaMarketing, Grant Lichtman, independent schools, NotYourFathersSchool, school accreditation, school marketing, strategic planning, strategic thinking, students, Tiffany Hendryx, zero-based strategic thinking  

Over the past few years I have found myself moving in circles that involve school advancement as much as the teaching-and-learning side of the house. Here I have been made privy to both the anxieties of independent school leaders on matters like enrollment and fiscal sustainability and […]

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A Letter to New Teachers

On July 21, 2014   /   disruptive change, new teachers, NotYourFathersSchool, professional culture, professional learning, professionalism, school culture, school missions, students, teacher orientation, teachers, teaching  

Note: This post originally appeared here in July of 2011. It has proved to be both popular and durable, and as the 2014-15 2015-16 school year approaches, it seems appropriate to re-post it—PG If it hasn’t already, within a very few weeks school will be starting, and […]

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Paying It Forward: Further Thoughts on Why We (or at least some of us may) Teach

On July 20, 2014   /   David G. Strachan, Harold Bloom, James Boulger, John Kasson, Leo Strauss, Marlea Brock, Merold Westphal, Nichols School, Norman Holmes Pearson, NotYourFathersSchool, Robert Loewenberg, Stephen Gurney, students, teachers, teaching  

In my last post I suggested that a powerful motivation for some teachers seems to have been a desire to “correct” the teaching that they themselves experienced. I probably implied, without meaning to, that this is a sole impetus for those “restitutional” teachers, as if they were […]

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Restitutional Teaching: Another Thought On Why We (or at least some of us may) Teach

On July 16, 2014   /   arts education, Beaver Country Day School, Dolores Umbridge, NotYourFathersSchool, restitutional teaching, Severus Snape, student engagement, student-centered teaching, students, teaching, The Intentional Teacher  

I have had some wonderful teachers in my life—a solid bunch in my public elementary school and another group in my independent junior high–high school. They shaped and influenced my life in ways I wish I could still tell them about; I’ve managed to get to the […]

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A Whole-Child Education for Every Child: The Grand Unifying Theory of Education

On March 17, 2014   /   Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, Chris Thinnes, ideals, NotYourFathersSchool, schools, strategic directions, students, whole-child learning  

I am not a huge fan of posts that start with a number and proceed to a command: “83 Things You Must Do To Be The Teacher You Want to Be”; “Thirteen C’s Your School Can’t Survive Without.” In general I find these overwhelming, dispiriting, and ultimately […]

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Getting Something Out of Snow Days (and not the way you think)

On February 13, 2014   /   learning, Mount Vernon Presbyterian School, NotYourFathersSchool, school closings, schools, snow days, students, summer reading  

The phone rang at 5:22 this morning, and she would have slept through it. But I answered and handed it to my spouse so that she could receive the news that she could go back to sleep. School was closed. This has been a common scenario this […]

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Profit and Profiteering in Education

On December 17, 2013   /   business investment, educational technology, entrepreneurship, for-profit schools, independent schools, NotYourFathersSchool, public schools, schools, standardized testing, students, textbooks  

Lately I was gently (and privately) chided for expressing skepticism about the role of business enterprises—the people who sell us our computers, our textbooks, our desks, our apps, our standardized tests, our paper towels, and our trays of ravioli—in schools. Can’t live without ’em. Gotta have ’em. […]

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ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF TRADITIONAL LANDS

I here affirm that the offices from which I work are situated on lands that have a very long and continuing history as a locus of residence, livelihood, traditional expression, and exchange by the Massachusett, Wampanoag, Abenaki, Mohawk, Wabanaki, Hohokam, O’odam, Salt River Pima, and Maricopa people. The servers for this website are situated on Ute and Goshute land. We make this acknowledgment to remind ourselves, our educational partners, and our friends of our shared obligation to acknowledge and work toward righting the inequities and injustices that have alienated indigenous peoples from the full occupation and utilization of these spaces.