Garden School » Headmaster’s Blog

Talk About Success

admin — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 17:02:42 +0000

The Middle School Debate Team had an incredibly productive Saturday morning, afternoon, and evening, as they laboriously debated four challenging topics against the steep competition that New York City has to offer. Topics included: Abolish standardized testing; The “Occupy Wall Street” protests cause more harm than good; Civics classes should require students to watch presidential and primary debates on TV; The United States should adopt a carbon emissions cap-and-trade system; and NATO’s recent campaigns in Libya are morally justified. After several weeks of practice and preparation, the debaters ended Saturday proudly, with one of their teams—Caitlin, Rory and Daphne —placing 9th out of about 35 teams and one of their peers—Rory—placing in the top 20 of over 100 students who participated. Possibly, the most important thing that came out of Saturday was the students’ acknowledgement that they are making great strides in progress, but there is much more work to be done. Congratulations to our debaters!!

Barnes and Noble Bookfair

admin — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 16:40:08 +0000

Barnes and Noble Bookfair On Saturday, November 19th, students, parents and teachers gathered together at Barnes and Noble bookstore in Bayside for a PTA fundraiser. Teachers and families shopped happily with proceeds benefiting Garden School.

The teachers of grades 1-3 led story hour. Ms Sarran read Caps for Sale while her mother interpreted the story into American Sign Language. Ms Ingravalla read aloud Miss Nelson is Missing as the students made predictions. Ms Renner set a purpose for reading the humorous Thanksgiving story The Ugly Duckling.

The day was a great showing of school spirit with many proudly wearing Garden School t-shirts. Thank you to the PTA for organizing a wonderful fundraiser. If you missed the event you can order online from Saturday, November 19 to Thursday, November 24th. Use the ID number 10560100 at Barnes and Noble Bookfairs and a portion of your purchase will benefit Garden School.

Lower Division Merit Exam

admin — Mon, 02 May 2011 01:20:36 +0000

On May 21, 2011 Garden School will introduce its first Lower Division Merit Scholarship exam, for students currently enrolled in Grades 1-4. The test will act as a complement to Garden’s Merit Scholarship Exam for students in Grades 5-9, which has been in place for more than a decade.

Awards can range from 25%-100% and students will keep their scholarships through the Fifth Grade, when they become eligible to sit for the November Merit Scholarship Exam. The Lower Division Merit Scholarship Exam will be offered on Saturday, May 21 and applications must be received by 5pm on Wednesday, May 18 in order to be considered.

Students and families are expected to arrive at Garden School at 8:30am for a brief orientation before the exam. Tours of the school will be available while students are testing and the day’s program is expected to end by noon. Results of the scholarship will be available by May 26th. Click here to download Lower Division Merit Exam Application

Thoughts for the Week – February 18, 2011

admin — Thu, 24 Feb 2011 19:21:21 +0000

A book that has recently stirred exciting thinking among independent school leaders as well as business leaders is Daniel Pink’s A Whole New Mind. Pink’s book has been the subject of discussion at three of the recent conferences I have attended. He has pushed the discussion about educational skills into a very unique direction and because of that has attracted both positive and negative responses. However his ideas touch the core of a number of our schools and their educational mission. Here is his opening: The last few decades have belonged to a certain kind of person with a certain kind of mind—computer programmers who could crank code, lawyers who could craft contracts, MBAs who could crunch numbers. But the keys to the kingdom are changing hands. The future belongs to a very different kind of person with a very different kind of mind—creators and empathizers, pattern recognizers, and meaning makers. These people—artists, inventors, designers, storytellers, caregivers, consolers, big picture thinkers—will now reap society’s richest rewards and share its greatest joys. Pink’s ideas have genuine relevance for schools like ours. As we think about what he suggests will be the successful mind of the function, or more, precisely, how that mind will function, we recognize so many characteristics of our own missions. We strive to develop the creative aspect of learning; we push toward inventions, narrative, empathy—these have been and will continue to be the cornerstones of our academic program in the fullest understanding of the meaning of academic. When schools talk about developing the ‘whole child,’ they mean precisely what Pink means. The chapter titles of Pink’s book make it very clear what pathways he intends to follow as he unpacks his idea for the twenty -first century mind. He begins by talking about the “Six Senses,” which he defines as “Design,” “Story,” “Symphony,” “Empathy,” “Play,” and “Meaning.” These are precisely at the center of much of what transpires in our schools. We design curriculum not just for content but for experience; we tell the ‘story’ not just for the narrative but for the inherent beauty and truthfulness of that story; we engage in ‘symphony’ by guiding our learners to learn together and to cooperate in the thought process; we use ‘empathy’ as the pathway to understanding and cherishing others; our ‘play’ enlarges our understanding and our ability to extract joy from learning; and finally our quest in school for ‘meaning’ leads us to examine our lives, our assumptions and to pursue goals that go far beyond the material. All of these qualities and aspirations bring us closer and closer to achieving our mission to educate our students to both understand their world and to reshape it as a reflection of their own vision.

Thoughts for the Week – February 11, 2011

admin — Thu, 24 Feb 2011 19:18:47 +0000

One of the central documents for any independent school is the Mission Statement, which usually has emerged out of the school’s awareness of its own culture and an attempt to clarify its role in relation to students. When these statements are first formulated, they generally reflect input from the stakeholders in the community and the school’s historical purpose. Garden’s Mission Statement emerged in its current form from the preparations for the Middle States visit back in school year 2000. It reads as follows: Garden School, in the Independent tradition, affirms the primacy of learning. We empower every student in our educationally diverse community to meet responsibly the challenges of everyday life by promoting academic achievement, personal development and social involvement. We further believe that by recognizing each student’s individual identity, Garden School fosters the self-worth necessary to succeed. This statement reflects our mission and our beliefs and forms the basis for all of our daily and long-term activities. In essence, the Mission Statement functions as the guiding principle from which all activity in the school flows, from the atmosphere in the hallways to the planning of curriculum. Each and every undertaking within the school should reflect and embody the essence of the mission to the fullest extent. For example, our sports program holds as its basic principle the idea of an open participation on a team; i.e. any student who wants to be on a team becomes a member of that team. The second principle of our sports program is that a gymnasium and a playing field are first and foremost classrooms. By embodying the policy, we have adhered to the ‘primacy of learning’ clause in the mission statement as well as responding to and endorsing the individual student’s identity and providing an opportunity for self-testing that may lead to a greater sense of self-worth. Sports is just one example of how the functioning of the school needs to embody the expressed mission. An academic program that builds on student strengths by providing both collective and individual opportunities is another. Making leadership roles available to a large number of students is another way of ‘living the mission.’ Schools need to reflect on the essence of the Mission Statement on a regular basis; it is the standard against which to measure and evaluate decision making, classroom activities, curriculum development and extra-curricular activities. The more the daily operations of the school adhere to the Mission Statement, the more successful and authentic the educational experience will be.

Thoughts for the Week – February 4, 2011

admin — Thu, 24 Feb 2011 19:13:54 +0000

Beginning on Sunday and ending Tuesday night, I was in attendance at the conference of French Schools of North America. I was invited to present a workshop on language instruction in our school. But most of the conference gave me an opportunity to explore the teaching of languages with bi-lingual schools where this kind of teaching is performed at the highest level. There were many other relevant issues under discussion, particularly those concerning sustainability, pricing of private education, marketing and professional development. The discussion about professional development contained some very important insights into the need for growth among all members of an educational community and the important role that professional development plays in slowly changing the mindset of an institution to facilitate adjusting to educational challenges that either have arisen or are anticipated to arise in the near future. You can imagine the discussion about technology. As we discussed how teachers and administrators can enlarge their sensibilities to account for and deal with social and educational trends, we encountered some rather extraordinary and disturbing numbers: by twenty-one years old, the average American will have watched 20,000 hours of television, spent 10,000 hours on a computer, 10,000 hours on a cell phone, and sent or received 250,000text messages! Clearly we need a huge amount of professional development to understand the impact that this, as one head called it, “technological tyranny” that reaches into our schools and intellectual life. There are many forms of professional development available: workshops sponsored by NYSIAS, meetings and conferences sponsored by professional organizations, serving on an accreditation committee—all of these offer wonderful opportunities to listen, share and gather insights and information. What always is most striking about these meetings is the recognition that independent schools frequently share the same experiences and the same issues. We all talk about affordability, the ratio of financial aid to budgets, the role of technology, the family that is new to independent schools, how to present one’s school to the public. All independents encounter these issues and approach them within the context of their own cultures. And that is where our individual cultures and stories enter into the discussion. Each school develops its own particular culture over time; each school has its own ‘story’ to tell; each school faces a changing educational landscape in its own way. What is common resides in the independent school commitment to accessible education, to meaningful relationships between families and schools, to knowing and understanding each student, to developing the whole learner and to fostering a life-long love of learning. All of these occur within the culture of each school; this is where the story of each school becomes important: what do we believe and what do we want for our children? What is our mission and how do we ensure that the goals of that mission touch each child? There is something sacred about the mission of an independent school; we are the inheritors of a tradition nurtured by those who come before us; we have a responsibility to those who come after. But more than anything else is our responsibility to those children and young adults who now are the primary focus of our story. Those children are the heart and soul of our school.

admin — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 18:46:21 +0000

Headmaster’s Blog Richard Marotta, Ph.D. December 4, 2009

One of the most often used terms in the world of education is ‘academic excellence.’ No matter what school you look at, public, private or independent, this is the phrase that more than any other emerges from the literature—academic excellence. But what exactly does that mean?<\p>

All schools teach the major academic disciplines. Almost all schools use tests, papers, quizzes, oral exams etc. to assess the performance of their students. Yet the question that remains is just exactly what is academic excellence.<\p>

I do not think that there is a single definition of this term; it probably has a different meaning depending on the school, the student population, the mission and the philosophy of the school. Is academic excellence the fact that a school offers all the areas of academic study? Is it the result of requiring significant amounts of homework? Is it the complexity of the materials being covered? Is it the level of difficulty in the assessment of student progress or, what is sometimes, called mastery of the subject? Is it the frequency and the difficulty of tests? Is one school more academically excellent than another because it assigns two chapters in biology per week as opposed to the school that assigns one chapter?<\p>

The more I think about this subject, the more potential answers and definitions begin to emerge. If I had to offer a single definition, I would suggest that a school’s academic excellence depends upon the level of expected discourse found within the academic area. I think that this level of discourse, i.e. the conversation that takes place between student and teacher, individuals and material, acts as a marker of a school’s excellence. And in order for this to be so, the school must provide an atmosphere which supports, encourages and elevates thinking, not only for students but for all members of the community—faculty, administrators, parents and trustees.<\p>

Critical thinking raises the level of discourse and raising the level of discourse, in my view, raises the academic quality of a school. What matters most is not that the teacher assigns those two chapters per week—that is weight not work; what matter most emerges from the thoughtful discourse with which the community of learners discusses those chapters. The hill upon which Plato taught, asked questions and engaged in the highest conversation with his students should be our model; coincidentally, the word academic comes from a root word meaning hill or garden. How fitting it is for us at Garden to try to recreate the level of discourse from that ancient Greek garden.<\p>

A school achieves academic excellence when its students and teachers are intellectually enhanced by the level of critical thinking and discourse that forms that basis for all academic activity within the community.<\p>

Headmaster’s Blog

admin — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 18:29:26 +0000

Headmaster’s Blog Richard Marotta, PH.D. November 19, 2009

During the first week of November, I attended the annual Heads of School Conference held at the Mohonk Mountain House in New Paltz. More the 114 Heads of independent schools in New York attended for our annual discussion of issues pertaining to independent schools. This year’s conference clearly focused on the current state of education in the face of a not yet fully recovered economy and how financial changes affect our schools. Part of the program included some study results undertaken by ISM (Independent School Management) and presented by Director, Terry L. Moore.

Among the many questions and answers in several parent surveys about reasons for choosing an independent school, one struck me as very appropriate for discussion. Parents look for independent schools in which their child will be safe—physically, socially, intellectually and academically. This is a complex parental response, since all of these levels of ‘safety’ clearly intermingle with each other.

My sense is that physical safety is a sine qua non as a pre-condition for choosing an independent school. After that are the other aspects of safety: academic, social and intellectual. For me the idea of being in an academic environment in which a student’s intellectual safety is nurtured is profoundly important. For students to develop the ability, the skill and the willingness to be critical thinkers, the school has to provide an intellectual context in which ideas are proposed, discussed, investigated, and carefully criticized and then either accepted or rejected within a full range of understanding and seriousness. For a student to propose an idea involves a certain amount of risk taking; how that idea is received and examined determines how successful a school will be in developing critical thinkers.

In my AP English class, I urge my students to be bold thinkers—try out ideas, interpretations, and viewpoints; follow the idea wherever it may lead. Sometimes you will think that the idea has real merit; others you may feel need to be rethought. But my advice is to push the idea however you need in order to discover how truthful it is. There is a line in Spenser’s Faerie Queene that reads, “Be bold, be bold, be not too bold.” I fully support the first two parts of that exhortation. “Be bold, be bold” in your thinking and discover where it may take you.

And for this to happen, a school needs to be open to ideas and critical challenges and encourage, support and nurture thinking. When a school does this, it is truly fulfilling its mission as an intellectual catalyst for the unlimited development of young and daring thinkers.