How do we know what students know: Who decides?
For decades, questions of assessment have polarized educators. Assessment comes from the root word assidere, or, to sit beside. Over the last forty years, assessment in schools has become synonymous with high stakes tests and the results often dictate whether a...
Building Democratic Learning Environments: A focus on Maw Maw Kaing
In the mid-1980s, before Pilot schools and Charter schools were mainstream, I opened a middle school for the arts that had more autonomy than traditional district schools. Although we had no special governance status, the fact that we were a bilingual school for the...
New Beginnings, 2023
I sit in my kitchen in the quiet of the morning and my amaryllis bulb catches my gaze. It is tilting to one side, unable to hold its beautiful blossoms erect. That bending towards the light captures my attention. I realize that I am ready for change. After ten...
Reflections on India: There is no such thing as indifference
In Gandhi's Ashram I read somewhere that India is like marmite: you can’t be indifferent. There's some truth to that statement. Colors, sights, smells, noise, people, experiences and the sheer vastness of the country all demand a reaction. I have been to India before...
On Whose Shoulders We Stand: a Brief History
September, 2022 The inaugural Deeper Learning Boston is here: a unique collaboration between Hale Education and Deeper Learning Global, an offshoot of High Tech High Graduate School of Education. When we began planning this event, my long-time colleague and dear...
We Move in Color
We gathered the other night to learn about "We Move in Color," the extraordinary musical review that Wyatt Jackson (PSi-3 ) is part of. Invoking Carmen’s memory, Wyatt began with Connections, a PSi tradition that Carmen often led. He asked us: “Where have you...
Speak up, Las Cruces
I'll be speaking on this radio program this week. Tune in if you can! "Speak up, Las Cruces!" airs live 8-10 a.m. Wednesdays, on 101.5FM locally and streaming on our website, www.lccommunityradio.org. It also repeats 2-4 pm and thereafter is on our archive,...
Gina Desir
I was so happy to catch up with Gina Desir (PSi 5, ‘21) the other day. She is now an instructional coach with the department of multilingual learners. “It’s a big transition from having my own classroom to coaching others,” she told me. She is responsible for teachers...
Into the Woods! Burke seventh-graders go to Hale
For two days in October, sixteen seventh-graders from the new Burke Middle School in Dorchester, MA came to Hale Education to participate in team building and outdoor learning adventures. They also camped overnight in newly-outfitted yurts! Although Hale is only...
Deeper Learning – Thinking “outside” in every way
After two and a half years of Covid school, it was a joy to gather outside and in person and NOT talk about learning loss or how many students or teachers were absent today, but to experience sustained learning in what we called “Deep Dives.” Day 1 of Deeper...