At our board meeting last week, I invited Anne-Marie Kee, Executive Director of Canadian Accredited Independent Schools (CAIS), to identify the top ten questions CAIS boards should be considering (see below). It was a very engaging meeting with Anne-Marie challenging our board to be strategic and always focused on the future. Ten Strategic Questions CAIS Boards Should Consider: How can we contain future fee increases and expenses? How will we assess, cultivate and leverage our word of mouth perceived quality and value intentionally and effectively? How can we deepen the engagement of, and increase the support from, our current and future top donor prospects? Domestically and internationally? What are the drivers of strength and permanence? How will we become more intentional about delivering our character related curriculum? Is our learning program meeting the individual needs of our students (and their parents)? How can we more effectively assess and report on…
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Transforming boarding school blues in the dead of winter
I had one of those moments yesterday—clear and perfect. I was skiing down the fresh powdered snow of the slopes at Sir Sam’s watching students whizz by me, snow blowing in their eyes, big grins on their faces. In fact, the whole school was there with me—roughly 400 of us (students and faculty)—working on carving our turns, or snow board grabs (or even just trying to stay on our feet), stopping to enjoy an outdoor barbecue lunch with hot chocolate and hitting the slopes again—together, as a community. It was Ted Pope Day. My mind was refreshed, my body relaxed, I was happy. A fellow Head of School, Adam Pencier (Trafalgar Castle School), recently commented that “January is the toughest time for schools, particularly boarding schools.” He said this in reference to the challenges that come with winter. As the Head of a small, rural predominantly boarding school located in the heart…
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Cohorting with LCS Ninjas
Creative new PD opportunities for teachers “The original idea of the web was that it should be a collaborative space where you can communicate through sharing information. The idea was that by writing something together, and as people worked on it, they could iron out misunderstanding." ~ Tim Berners-Lee To think that in 2003, when Lee (inventor of the world wide web) made this comment, we were only at the cusp of experiencing some of the most fundamental changes in how we use web resources (changes most of our students now at LCS take for granted as a way of life). Today, teachers and students are working together in creative new ways with a whole new generation of web tools that allow participants to distribute, share, co-create and rework new ideas. Every new idea has its pioneers, early adopters curious to explore the possibilities. A perfect example of this are the individuals…