Category Archives: Self-Study

Art, Professional Development, Self-Study, Upper School

Art for Art’s Sake & The Work of Obligation

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My Self-Study plan and goals were firmly entrenched in pushing myself to find the time, strength, intellectual curiosity and courage to produce – in my initial post I bolded and all-capsed for emphasis – A LOT of work. The plan was to work fearlessly and without concern for quality. Not only would I produce a bunch of work, but I would also share the results. The work would be without a specific purpose other than “art for art’s sake”. Finally, I swore to experiment with oil paint – a medium all around me that I have barely ever used.

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Arts & Humanities, Humanities, Professional Development, Self-Study, Upper School

In the Pit: On Writing and Revision

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The goal of my self study is to refocus my creative practice by completing work on two screenplay rewrites and to start production on a personal documentary film. While the rewrites have been going well, I won’t be able to do any work on the documentary due to unforeseen travel restrictions. 

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1st Post, Interdiciplinary, Lower School, Professional Development, Self-Study

The Role of Nature and Play in School

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As I begin my eighth year at LREI, I realize that I’ve been thinking a lot the past few years about play. Last year, I came across Global School Play Day. Elena encouraged me to share this event with the Lower School and we had several classes participate. It was a lovely day for my class. The children engaged in decision-making, turn-taking, sharing, compromise, and practiced social skills such as initiating play and joining play all day long. I’m excited to participate in Global School Play Day again this year and hope many of my colleagues across all three divisions do as well.  Continue reading The Role of Nature and Play in School →

1st Post, Interdiciplinary, Lower School, Professional Development, Self-Study

Portfolios as Windows and Mirror for Learning

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My focus for my self study will be to commit myself to a year long portfolio with my students. Sometimes they will choose work based on where they are in the process of their work. Sometimes it will be work that I have assigned them. There will be times where I challenge the students to think about specific ideas. (What was something challenging? Something I have improved in. Something I still need to work on.)  Continue reading Portfolios as Windows and Mirror for Learning →

1st Post, Middle School, Professional Development, Self-Study, World Languages

Mindfulness Mission

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Meaningful Homework Assignments and Beyond …

Through this project, I would like to explore how to make my assignments (homework and in the classroom) even more interactive and centered around listening comprehension and speaking in the target language in order to engage the students, reduce their anxiety (since it will not require a final product) and actually incorporate some mindfulness exercises. Reflections and discussions will take place in French. Continue reading Mindfulness Mission →

1st Post, Art, Professional Development, Self-Study, Upper School

Creative Practice

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For my self study, I’ve chosen to  refocus on my own creative practice. During the self-discovery phase, I explored my passion for endurance sports — swimming, running and cycling — specifically. What I’ve learned, and what I teach my students, is that writing and producing films requires the same training, diligence and most of all, persistence as running a marathon, or finishing a hundred mile bike race. In my self-study, I plan to complete a re-write on a feature screenplay and work on production on a short personal documentary film. I hope to complete both projects, but will, at the very least, complete one of them. Continue reading Creative Practice →

1st Post, Humanities, Professional Development, Self-Study, Upper School

Staying Relevant

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As a teacher with almost 30 years on the job, I worry that I will “fall behind”. I am concerned that my habits, practices, and perspectives are no longer relevant/effective. Students are now swimming in a different sea. Understandings of race, gender and privilege have all evolved and in some way been transformed. Social media has changed not only how students communicate, but also how they interact with the world. Since I’m not retiring soon, I have to find ways to avoid becoming the faculty dinosaur while at the same time preserving some of the reasons why I chose to become a teacher. Continue reading Staying Relevant →

1st Post, Athletics/PE, Professional Development, Self-Study, Upper School

Being Comfortable Being Uncomfortable

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The focus of my self-study will be to increase my physical fitness, put plainly “to get back in shape”, documenting my work with a training log in the style that I hope my students will use, and reflecting on the process with the self-study process. Healing and preparing my body for the next 10 years of teaching and coaching was the initial idea, but I think that branching out into sports or races that I have little experience in, and forcing myself to compete in them would be helpful to the empathy that I hope to build through this process.  Continue reading Being Comfortable Being Uncomfortable →

1st Post, Art, Professional Development, Self-Study, Upper School

Opening Up to Artistic Freedom

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Over the course of this self-study – and ideally beyond – I hope to push myself outside of my comfort zone and into areas of artistic practice and expression that have hitherto felt daunting or unattainable. I want to be able to apply the expectations I place on my students to myself with regards to my own practice as an artist. I want to generate work, A LOT of work and be open to and OK with the fact that much of it won’t be good, or polished or finished. I want to work fast and with less control. Continue reading Opening Up to Artistic Freedom →

Lower School, Professional Development, Reading, Self-Study

Opening a Door

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The questions that I explored  this year have been a part of conversations that I have had with teachers over the past few years. When discussing topics with Elena I explored several different possibilities,  but when I mentioned that I had been thinking about changing brain development, the role of technology, and the resulting impact on teaching and learning, she strongly encouraged me to look into this further.  I have been curious about whether other learning specialists have also observed changes, and if so, if they have made adjustments to their teaching, and how they have adapted their methods and materials.
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Middle School, Professional Development, Science, Self-Study

Finding the Process and Project

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Imagine a school where its teachers and staff members are regularly engaged in passion-based projects in areas of expertise or a new found hobby. How would that change the school culture? Imagine if students were also given the opportunity to explore their own personal project ideas and they were integrated as meaningful parts of their schoolwork and curriculum. What are the challenges to achieve this? Continue reading Finding the Process and Project →