KeepingTABS

Above all, Mission. Observations from the 2016 TABS Conference

Posted on February 28, 2017 by Courtney Williams — No Comments ↓

I think of David Lee Roth, Boy George and Madonna, and how defiantly outrageous the 1980s seemed when I went to boarding school, like we couldn’t push it any further. But the kinds of changes we are seeing these days are changes in the very structure of things. New situations are arising for which there is no rulebook. How do schools respond? At TABS Annual Conference this year, I was privileged to watch a large group of diverse institutions come together to share concerns and victories. The most powerful tool I noticed, that underlined schools’ approaches to radical change – from redefining inclusion to resolving a threat of terrorism – was the use of foundational principles and mission. Read more ›

Posted in Boarding schools, Dispelling Myths, Diversity, Independent Schools, Professional Development, Student Culture, Student Life, TABS, TABS Programs

Courage: a boarding school graduate reflects on life skills

Posted on February 6, 2017 by TABS — No Comments ↓

Young girl walking in balance on the rope

By Eliza Stroh

The day my mom dropped me off at boarding school was memorable, if only for its lack of drama. In the weeks leading up to the day when I would leave home and move into the dorm, I imagined the long, tearful goodbye my mother and I would exchange before she left me to fend in my new world. I pictured her hugging me too many times as I stoically assured her that Parents’ Weekend was only a few weeks away — I would see her soon.

So when the last of the boxes were unpacked, I was alarmed by the squeals of her car tires as she sped away without so much as a tear shed. And that was that. There I was alone. And completely exhilarated.

You Say Place. I Say Person. Sorting information in the classroom and guidance office.

Posted on January 27, 2017 by Courtney Williams — No Comments ↓

“I’m so glad to be home in Sausalito. Did you talk with the woman who lives in Brooklyn and teaches in Paris and Morocco, when we were in SoHo last night?”

“I don’t know who you’re talking about. How are you feeling? I know you had a long day. Hey, was she the one who looked so distracted, then ask me if I was feeling confident about my presentation?”

“I have no idea.”

That’s an example of my parents referencing a woman they both met at the same cocktail party. My Mom thinks primarily in terms of places and my Dad thinks in terms of people.

Most educators are familiar with the concept that students have different learning styles, absorbing and retaining knowledge best through one primary channel – for example, visual, auditory or kinesthetic. Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP), the discipline that pioneered these kinds of distinctions, offers another category of knowledge parsing, called Sorting, that can provide educators a new layer through which to impart knowledge – and to decode how much knowledge has been absorbed! I spoke with Lynne Conwell, an early developer of NLP, to learn how Sorting functions and how it might be useful in the classroom or the guidance office.

Kindness is Difficult.

Posted on January 20, 2017 by TABS — No Comments ↓

By Brad Bates, Head of School, Dublin School. Originally posted on 2 Brads Blog.

The recent presidential election brought about an unprecedented level of vitriol, hate and anger in our country. As a history teacher I had to go back to the election of 1800 between Thomas Jefferson and John Adams to find such a divisive campaign. As an educator I am deeply disturbed by the number of stories coming from college and high school campuses that talk about students being threatened based on their race, gender identity, religion, sexuality and beliefs. Now more than ever schools like Dublin must engage in intense conversation and encourage active listening.

This past Monday during a day of professional development I asked our faculty to talk about how we teach our students how to be kind and thoughtful citizens. I asked them what kindness looks like, what behaviors and habits of mind we want to see in our students, and what methods we can use to develop these behaviors and habits. The conversation was dynamic and insightful and once again I was impressed with the depth of thinking of the adults in our community.

This is hard! Stereotype Threat Part 2

Posted on November 29, 2016 by Courtney Williams — No Comments ↓

In a previous TABS blog, Stereotype Threat & the Unique Advantage of Community, I discussed an in-depth conversation I had with Andrew Watson of TranslateTheBrain, about Stereotype Threat and the problems it causes for Working Memory. One of the primary strategies to diffuse Stereotype Threat or null its consequences, is to Normalize Struggle. But it’s not a crazy thing to wonder, does telling students that something is hard, make it harder? Read more ›

Posted in Academics, Counseling, Dispelling Myths, Diversity, Students, Students of Color, Teaching & Learning

After the Election: Thoughts from a Head of School

Posted on November 23, 2016 by TABS — No Comments ↓

Solebury Head of School Tom Wilschutz shared the following thoughts at a student assembly on November 9, 2016.

Good afternoon,

I want to spend a few minutes and offer some context and perspective around this moment in our nation’s history. Some of you assembled here awoke with fear of the consequences of a Trump Presidency. Some of you assembled here today would have feared a Clinton Presidency. Some of you assembled here today don’t know how to process what is happening in our country.

But I don’t want to go to boarding school!

Posted on October 31, 2016 by TABS — No Comments ↓

By Sims Boulware Bullock

I needed to be pushed – okay forced – out of the confines of my South Carolina hometown into Boarding School. My parents knew that I needed to be challenged more academically and that I would benefit socially from meeting kids from other parts of the world, but I was too scared and yes, maybe a little too stubborn to see their line of reasoning. How was I going to survive without my best friends? What if the girls there didn’t like me? What if I wasn’t as smart as everyone thought I was? My stomach was in a ball of knots. But they packed me up and off we went.

A Surprising View From The Helicopter

Posted on October 4, 2016 by Kerry K — No Comments ↓

I have recently had the pleasure of working with The Association of Boarding Schools on a new initiative to increase student enrollment. It’s a category of great interest to me as a parent of two primary school-aged children who are on the verge of leaving their comfortable elementary school “bubble” and hit the real world of middle and high school. As we have delved into the trends affecting the category, I have come to the realization that I am, like many parents in my generation – a helicopter Mom. You know the type, we waited into our 30s and put ourselves through countless medical procedures in order to finally, gleefully, hold the title of “Mother”. Since they were tiny, our children have taken priority over all else in our lives and we have created industries out of finding ways to keep them entertained, enriched and educated. I wouldn’t have it any other way. And, like many of us up here trying to micro-manage the chaos, I have never even considered a boarding school experience because it’s such a departure from what I now know as “normal”.

Alumni Reflect on Lifelong Friendships from Boarding School

Posted on August 30, 2016 by Courtney Williams — No Comments ↓

Green. Green. Green. Clustering, rolling, expanding. Cresting up and gliding down little hills, dancing criss-cross with a quiet river. Up where history gives way to leafy-fingered growth, the Taconic State Parkway is a beautiful drive that seems to be leading somewhere special, to the precipice of a great quest.

I love the journey but am relieved to arrive at manicured playing fields and little pathways winding between brick and wooden buildings. Familiar, yet totally unpredictable, like the ocean. I climb an old staircase to my room, pick my bed and put my computer on a desk. I know it so well and yet I’ve never seen this place before. I am not starting a new year at boarding school. It’s summer, decades later, and I’m a bridesmaid at one of my closest friend’s wedding, at the school where she now teaches.

WONDERING #3

Posted on August 12, 2016 by Arch Montgomery — No Comments ↓

We continue to live in an era of rapid cultural evolution. Reasonable people navigate these turbulent waters with humility, curiosity, and openness, yet even reasonable people can feel the passionate, loud, and often uncompromising voices of extreme perspectives – extreme advocacy for rapid evolution and extreme recalcitrance at the very concept of change. At schools, we cannot share the self-indulgent luxury of extreme advocacy or extreme recalcitrance. We must practice, model, and promote critical thinking, kindness, and sensitivity while engaging the day’s most contentious issues.Our obligation is to our students. Our missions are clear – “to prepare students for college and life in mind, body, and spirit.” Our communities embrace the idea that the most effective way to accomplish this mission is in the context of an intimate, caring community in which we both maintain high standards in all areas of school life while ensuring that every student feels known and loved.

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