november 2009

When I first walked onto the Sea Crest campus four years ago this week, I remember remarking how alive it felt. There was a palpable, positive energy in the halls. Students were obviously happy to be here and the adults surrounding them could not have been more welcoming and upbeat. I feel that same positive energy today as I walk the hallways and visit classrooms. I see curious students working collaboratively to make new discoveries about themselves and their world— always utilizing their creativity. How do we nurture those creative impulses?

This month in our newsletter and front lobby slide show, we are highlighting one of our essential pillars of a Sea Crest education: our remarkable arts program. Not only do our students work on specific arts related skills in their “specials” classes, learning about Van Gogh's style or Native American rhythms, but our “specials” teachers work to coordinate with core teachers to integrate the arts into core classroom curriculum.

Why such an emphasis on the arts at Sea Crest? Research has shown that arts education is not some frivolous addition to a more serious curriculum, but a key component to a complete, well-rounded education. Numerous studies have shown that learning experiences in the arts help students develop academics skills, contribute to the development of creative thinking, social and motivational skills required for success in school and beyond, and help develop a positive learning environment. Thus, studying the arts benefits student achievement in many ways. Not only do our students become proficient in the particular arts they are directly experiencing, but the skills learned spill over to their overall thinking and learning. This is why our arts classes have always been an integral aspect of our program.

We are very lucky to have committed, creative and hardworking teachers dedicated to enriching our students' educations through their talents in their specialty areas. Download our latest newsletter from this homepage to read specifics about what is going on in all these classes. Also view this TeacherTube video that supports our assertion on the importance of arts education. Best of all, come to campus and visit a "specials" class to see for yourself the magic that occurs for our students.

October 2009

October on the coast traditionally brings pumpkins, fog-free weather, and big crowds. I predict we will experience all three in abundance once again.  Traditions are traditions after all. Yet, something new is brewing here at Sea Crest—something to add to the October "fun."

Our older students begin their month with standardized testing.  Some might not consider this "fun" but I believe it gives our students a chance to "show off" their problem-solving skills in ways that we don't usually ask of them—using the process of elimination through multiple-choice questions.  Not that life provides multiple-choice options, but, for the foreseeable future, our students will be faced with such tests as they apply to high schools, and then colleges, and we want to give them some practice.  Much more importantly, however, the results of this testing will be utilized to inform our instruction for the year.  Analyzing trends across a class will let teachers see areas of strengths and areas of need within the group, and they will adjust their curriculum accordingly.  Seeing these results by November also allows teachers to target individual needs for the remainder of the year.  This new timing of our testing will make this exercise much more productive for us.

In the high-stakes testing world brought on by No Child Left Behind, I am afraid that testing results have not been utilized nationally as best they should.  Rating teachers and schools by results garnered at the end of the year has led many programs to being overly-focused on test prep all year long—to the detriment of the students.  That has never been the case at Sea Crest.  We will continue to emphasize critical thinking through inquiry-based studies—teaching children how to learn through asking thoughtful questions and then figuring out where to find the answers.  Foundational skills are emphasized throughout.

As an accredited member of the California Association of Independent Schools (CAIS), we administer the ERB CTP-4 tests to students in grades 3–8.  This testing battery was developed to provide private and suburban schools with more challenging assessments than the state-sponsored options.  (For more information, see http://www.erbtest.org/parents/achievement/ctp4.) Our school's scores are normed on both a national and suburban scale.  Yet, most important to us is finding out what our students know at the beginning of the year and then getting to work on those areas of need as soon as possible. Now, that is an October tradition I can get behind!

august/september 2009

No doubt, teachers look forward to a summer break just as much as students do.  This profession, done right, requires an unending and exhausting intensity during the school year, so much so that there is a very high rate of attrition during the first five years of teaching. 

As I go into my 26th year in education, I can attest to the fact that the change of pace that summer brings has kept me in the profession. Not only can I catch up on some needed rest and reconnect with my world outside of school, I have time to read, reflect, and renew for the coming year. Each passing year brings us lessons that help us strengthen our craft for the following year. Summer gives us that time to work on those improvement plans.

Yet, I must admit, it is not all about school. I am happy to report that I used my vacation to finally finish the 754 page tome I have been working on all year, Doris Kearns Goodwin's Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln. (Yes, as a former history teacher, this was pleasure reading for me.) In essence, this is a multiple biography of not only President Lincoln but all the men, and important woman in their lives, who made up his inner circle. Lincoln's "genius" came from his ability to win over these people, who had national ambitions of their own, and, frankly, most people who ever met him, with his penchant for interjecting a humorous anecdote or telling an entertaining tale. During the gravest period in our history, bearing the burden of the presidency, it was Lincoln who inspired a nation by connecting with people in positive ways, believing in them, and, consequently, provoking the best from them.

The lesson therein was reaffirmed in the keynote address at this summer's conference for California independent school heads. With the year our nation is having, CAIS got it right by inviting Harvard lecturer, Shawn Achor, to speak to us about bringing the science of positive psychology to life. Although a relatively new field in academia, the basic tenet is simple and age-old.  More good comes from emphasizing the positive. Of course, Mr. Achor made his point in a more entertaining manner than I, so I invite you to hear directly from him at http://www.aspirantworld.com/talks/video.cfm .

With a news media intent on finding fault, it is sometimes difficult to concentrate on the silver lining.  Yet, as we embark on a new school year, refreshed and full of promise, my hope is that we can all help each other live the lessons of Mr. Lincoln and Mr. Achor.  I will do my best, and look forward to the collaborative efforts of the entire community.

june 2009

What do you remember from your elementary schooling? If you are anything like me, I have fuzzy memories of the regular daily routines, but vivid memories of active experiences that took us beyond the classroom and allowed us to explore topics in depth.

I remember visiting Mission San Gabriel and then building a scale model of Mission Santa Inés out of sugar cubes. I remember being intrigued by the dioramas at the Natural History Museum and the fossils at the La Brea Tar Pits. I remember our whale watch expedition out of Long Beach Harbor.  I'll never live down my fit of nervous laughter in front of the whole school as I attempted to share what I had learned from researching a report on San Francisco (yes, even at age 10, I understood that the northern half of this state was far superior to the concrete jungle of L.A. where I spent my childhood). And, the only national testing I remember participating in was the Presidential Fitness Test. How many pull-ups could you do?

With that in mind, I harbor no illusions that our students will remember this week's spelling list 40 years from now. Don't get me wrong, Sea Crest will always ensure that our students acquire the necessary skills and foundation for future learning, but a key ingredient in the Sea Crest program is going beyond the basics and inspiring intellectual curiosity through hands-on experiences. 

This philosophy is clearly evident during this last month of school with a wide variety of culminating activities and adventures. After studying basic economic theory, third graders designed their own businesses and sold their wares/services at Open House. Similarly, in early June the first graders will hold their own Farmers' Market after growing and making products to sell based on their many visits to local farms and markets. The fifth graders spent the night on the tall ship Balclutha to experience what it might have been like for the explorers they have studied, and fourth graders recently returned from three days in the Sierra foothills panning for gold as they wrap up their study of California history. In addition, our second graders just finished their wonderfully creative, yet accurate scale models of our local Pillar Point Harbor after their exploratory visit there.  

Not to be outdone, the middle schoolers are set to embark on their own adventures. The sixth and seventh graders will extend their service learning theme of "global sustainability" as they learn about differing ecosystems during their environmental education overnights in the Marin Headlands and the Santa Cruz mountains respectively. At the same time, the eighth graders will exploring the actual sites studied in their United States History class as they spend five days in Jamestown, Williamsburg, and Washington D.C.

In an educational landscape now dominated by test prep, I am proud that Sea Crest students are allowed these experiences that will, no doubt, spark those special memories for many reunions to come.

april 2009

Pat Bassett, the articulate and inspirational president of the National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS), recently spoke to a group of independent school parents in San Francisco. I attended not only because I have always enjoyed Mr. Bassett's provocative musings, but also to know what our parents are hearing. It is important that we are all on the same page.

Mr. Bassett's announced topic was "The Right-Brained Future: Creating Mindsets for the 21st Century." He began with the research of Stanford professor, Carol Dweck, on the importance of encouraging a "growth mindset" in our schools and with our children. Those with a growth mindset see every situation as an opportunity for learning, every person with potential to be developed. He said independent schools are generally successful with this as we give our students the opportunity to do hard work and we ask them to persist through struggles. Even an "A student" has much room for growth. He cited Tiger Woods’ decision to change his golf swing a few years back.  Tiger did so and came back to the PGA tour even stronger. Research shows that praising children's effort and hard work more so than their natural talents helps children continue to grow, and allows them healthier reactions to setbacks.

Daniel Pink's book, A Whole New Mind, has been the focus of discussion in independent schools throughout the country over the past several years as Mr. Pink and educators like Pat Bassett argue the need to "rebalance the portfolio" between the left brain and the right brain. Although it will continue to be a vital component of education, left brain-dominated curriculum that emphasizes analytical thinking, measured by standardized tests and schooled by knowledge acquisition, will increasingly become less important as creativity and empathy, i.e. right brain attributes, play a growing role in our economy. As routine work is increasingly done overseas or by machines, the United States' economy will be dominated by the "creative class"—inventors, meaning-makers, designers, story tellers, "big picture" thinkers. Sea Crest continues to refine its curriculum with this transformation in mind, and it was good to hear Mr. Bassett reaffirm the work we are doing here as we develop our program to concentrate on problem solving skills, character education, collaboration, oral and written communication, creative and leadership opportunities.

In between those two discussions, Mr. Bassett laid out the five things he wants all parents to hear: 1) the continued importance of reading to, and then with, your children—modeling the importance of reading throughout one's life; 2) the importance of engineering your children's peers since those peers will have increasing influence as your kids get older—here he highly recommended the independent school environment, citing a great diversity in schools like ours in everything except expectations; 3) that too little parenting is irresponsible, but too much parenting is a crime—there really is a "blessing in a skinned knee." Our children can learn best through dealing with hardships and we should not try to shield our children from them; 4) similarly, we need to stop concentrating on wanting our children to grow up to be "happy" or "successful" and help them grow up to be "good" because they will most likely be happy and successful if they do; and 5) the importance of sending your children to schools that continue to experiment and innovate because trying something new requires engagement, and student engagement is the key for growth.

As we journey together as parents and educators, let's keep discussing how best to prepare our children for a future that will look very different from the time you and I were in school.

march 2009

At the end of February, I attended the Annual Conference of the National Association of Independent Schools in Chicago. Over 3,000 senior administrators attended from the wide variety of independent schools across the nation and the globe. Some of the schools are, like Sea Crest, relatively young while others are internationally known and have been in existence longer than the US has been a country. Yet, most everyone was talking about the same thing—how the constricting economy is affecting their schools.

However, there was one school “leader” who wasn’t as worried about the financial side of running her school. Being in her hometown of Chicago, Oprah Winfrey was our final keynote speaker and, for her, money is not the issue. Ms. Winfrey talked about doing what is best for the young girls of South Africa through the founding of her Leadership Academy which opened its doors in January 2007. She wanted to do what she could to give these young women an opportunity—an alternative that didn’t exist before for them.  Although it hasn’t been cheap or easy, and every day brings new challenges, the girls’ lives are being transformed and, therefore, so will the future of South Africa.

Doing right by children is never cheap or easy, but is always important. The founders of Sea Crest, although not blessed with Oprah’s cash flow, also provided a great alternative for this community— one that betters the lives of our students, and, in turn, their extended communities. Sea Crest remains committed to providing thoughtful experiences that transform lives. 

Coming home from Chicago to the all-school musical week brought that home for me.  As Mr. Lederman so aptly noted, to see confident and poised eighth graders commanding the stage as Tevye and Golde and think back to them as munchkins in the school’s first production eight years ago, it is obvious that the school’s well-rounded program has changed lives for the good. To watch the boys’ varsity basketball team win the league championship, and then see two-thirds of the team as featured leads on the stage for a Fiddler performance less than two hours later, demonstrates to me the profound power of this small school environment and the on-going importance of enriching our students’ lives beyond the basics. This week, these same eighth graders are off to serve food at San Francisco’s Glide Memorial as part of their service learning initiative on hunger and poverty.

Yes, the tightening economy has affected Sea Crest like all others, greatly increasing our financial aid allocations for one thing, but this situation will never compromise our core philosophy of providing an exceptional environment for academic achievement, intellectual growth, artistic fulfillment, athletic development, and civic responsibility. Despite obstacles encountered along the way, Oprah’s girls are benefiting from her steadfast commitment to her founding vision, as are the Sea Crest students because of the clarity of the vision set out by the Williamsons, Mazers, and Ginger Girvin in 1996, and the on-going commitment of parents ever since.