Over the past few months, I’ve been listening to Malcolm Gladwell’s podcast, Revisionist History. Maybe it’s because of my love for basketball and fascination with the statistics Wilt Chamberlain was able to amass during his career, but Gladwell’s episode The Big Man Can’t Shoot struck a chord with me as we prepare for the upcoming school year and the work we will begin with our students in less than a month.
Proctor's mission statement serves as a guide in our quest to educate a diverse body of students for the 21st century. While mission statements do not vary much between schools, the manner in which a school goes about achieving its mission varies dramatically. Over the past five years, our faculty has collaborated to develop an outcome statement (The Profile of a Proctor Graduate) and a curriculum guide (Proctor’s Characteristics of Good Teaching) to further inform our educational model. These declarative statements serve as our mission in action, and provide a constant reminder of who we are and who we desire to be as we shape the collective experiences of our students in the classroom, in our advisories, on the athletic field, in the art studio, and in the dormitory.
Last week we discussed the relationship between the concepts of nudge and mindfulness as framed by the Ted Radio Hour on NPR. Today, we look at a portion of that program, Reshma Saujani’s “Can Coding Help Girls Take Risks?” and its application to our students at Proctor. Take a few minutes to watch Saujani’s talk below before reading on.
Last week’s Ted Radio Hour discussed the concept of ‘nudge’, or how a small tweak in human behavior can shift outcomes drastically. References to Richard Thaler, Judson Brewer, Carol Dweck, Reshma Saujani, and Sendhil Mullainathan’s Ted Talks wove a fascinating narrative centered on the question: How can we encourage people to do what we want them to do? In this two-part blog, we will look at how the concept of nudge relates to our work at Proctor.
We each live in a bubble. Some of our bubbles are bigger than others as the experiences we live expand world views. Our goal as educators at Proctor is to afford each of our students the opportunity to make sure they graduate having a vastly larger bubble than when they first arrived on campus.
Proctor's summer service trip to Guatemala is nearing its midway point. Through every interaction between Proctor's students and the children of La Limonade, lives are being changed. Enjoy these student writings from Guatemala, and be sure to follow their blog for daily reflections!
On Wednesday afternoon, the Proctor community celebrated Senior Projects and senior art awards with our first annual Express Fest! For decades, the final Wednesday afternoon of the academic year has been dedicated to showcasing Senior Project exhibits, but as we looked to provide balance to awards given at Senior Dinner, Arts Department Chair Bill Wightman brainstormed a collaboration of art awards, Senior Project exhibits, and an all-school barbeque outside the Meeting House. It was a fantastic way to gather as a community one last time and to celebrate the contributions of our seniors over the course of their Proctor careers.
Mountain Classroom has been enjoying Vermont for their culminating academic and backcountry adventures. The students chose to backpack into Stratton Pond in the Lye Brook Wilderness for their final expedition. The blogs tell the story beautifully, so read on.
