Peter Gow, Trying to Further Education and Educators

Archive for the teaching Category

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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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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My Father’s School—for Me

On June 15, 2014   /   Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, Chapman's Homer, David Gow, Father's Day, fathers, NotYourFathersSchool, teaching, The Gow School  

For a long time after my father died two and a half years ago, I would occasionally have dreams in which he was present in the world of the dream but not present in my direct experience in the dream. He was there, but not right there. […]

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In Which I Confess to Lacking Grit, Apparently, and Blame It on Family

On February 2, 2014   /   Chris Lehman, disadvantaged students, grit, Ira Socol, Josie Holford, Laura Deisley, NotYourFathersSchool, persistence, school success, teaching  

The most exciting place I knew growing up was the “everyday” living room of my grandparents’ house. It was just across the street, so I could go there whenever I wanted.   The room also served as the main reading room of the “library” that was their house, […]

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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.