In guiding students to become both constructive collaborators and resilient competitors, we help them build powerful skills to thrive in the next phase of their academic and professional careers – and become leaders on the world stage. Revving up for spring semester means that annual student competitions are getting underway. Chaperones are eagerly volunteering for overnight trips (are they?!?) and teams are excitedly (or frantically) pushing toward their head-to-head showdowns. After years of helming Future Cities and now supporting my faculty coaches in their own lead-ups to competition, I ..read more

In a year when most schools were closed, our seniors — and our entire school community — worked together to live our school values: in spite of challenges, we supported one another to teach and learn in-person, pivoting in rational, informed ways, one day at a time. What a strange year this has been for our graduating students. COVID was certainly their "senior surprise" — but other challenges materialized as well. Their grit in powering through it and asking for social and emotional support when needed yielded realistic strategies they’ll tap when life presents new obstacles and crises. Mov ..read more

This school year is about can, not can’t. Though instruments are masked, our students still make music! How do you maintain COVID-19 mitigation protocols when making music — an art form that requires exhaling breath forcefully to play wind instruments? You get creative, like our Adelson Arts Chair, David Philippus, who discovered that everyday objects can effectively block air flow. MacGyvering Safety Solutions in the Band Hall Schools returning for face-to-face instruction are navigating several challenges -- one of which is developing masking protocols. This is especially important for ban ..read more

Diplomacy, policy, and governance today requires understanding the intricacies of national origins. What would a nation look like if the relative influence of its founders — or the actions of pivotal leaders along the way — varied from the course of events we recognize as history? High school students tackle a PBL addressing this theme applied to Modern Israel. One Teacher’s PBL Approach in a Modern Israel Course History is a tricky subject to teach. Looking backward is taught with the intention of looking forward, but ins ..read more

Get kids investigating real questions that arise day-to-day — that’s authentic science in action! No activity strikes more anxiety -- or Nobel-caliber competitiveness -- into your household than your kid’s annual school science fair. Stop recycling the same old “Model Volcano” project. Follow these tips to power up your kid’s science fair project by helping her get started the right way. Steer your kid towards something personally meaningful this year! Jot Down “W ..read more

Seniors giving their culminating Egg Crash Helmet presentation. As part of a schoolwide evolution towards authentic, project based learning, teaching teams at our school — the Adelson Educational Campus — are reimagining traditionally-taught content in the context of engaging and rigorous projects to be executed over several weeks. The Crash Helmet Design project, in which students create a device for protecting an “egg head” from a fall or crash injury, represents one such project. Here’s our step-by-step guide to transforming the timel ..read more

The fab four (clockwise from left): App Lab (Code.org), A-Frame (CodeHS), MakeCode for micro:bit, and Scratch (MIT) provide fun, free platforms to get kids coding! Demand for K12 coding courses outpaces availability. Most parents want their child to take a computer science course, but few schools in the United States offer one. How can families expose kids to coding without breaking the bank? Try these four, f ..read more

America is my home, and the lens through which I view it is rooted in my own personal history. I was not born here.  My Welsh father married my Texan (and Daughter of the American Revolution) mother, who delivered me in London, England.  We returned stateside when I was three, never returning to the United Kingdom.  When I enquired as to why we never visited my birthplace, my father replied, “It’s bloody cold over there.” Dad was a professor of microbiology, and learning about everything was his passion.  I recall him studying to obtain his citizenship when I was child. The content wasn’t comp ..read more

Chuteless Skydiver? Artist? Tech Guru? Kid personalities inform how to best teach them coding. There is a wide range of dispositions when it comes to getting kids of all ages started in coding. Whether you’re a parent or a teacher, knowing your audience is the first step towards creating positive computer science experiences. Here are a few of the (many!) personality types you may encounter -- and how to best help them learn to code: 1. The chuteless skydiver This kid dives right in, trying every command, without any specific plan of a ..read more

What does it take to sell a progressive, independent high school when AP and SAT scores don’t tell the whole story? And how do nontraditional middle schools – which don’t even have such data points (and can’t tally college admissions) – demonstrate their worth and success? As schools migrate to “21st century instruction,” in which soft skills and project-based learning are foundational, accessing a school’s merit becomes more challenging to quantify. Parents debating hefty tuitions for their children’s education want to know their investment is sound. They may intuit that preparing their kids ..read more