Tag: teaching

Estonia’s AI Leap in Schools

I tended towards doing more oral responses and having students complete assignments in class on paper in the classroom the last few years (and have always fought against giving homework although some admins were not big fans of that…), but I think this approach also has serious merits if you have qualified and well-intentioned teachers (and parents) on board (big if)…

Estonia eschews phone bans in schools and takes leap into AI | Schools | The Guardian:

In the most recent Pisa round, held in 2022 with results published a year later, Estonia came top in Europe for maths, science and creative thinking, and second to Ireland in reading. Formerly part of the Soviet Union, it now outperforms countries with far larger populations and bigger budgets.

There are multiple reasons for Estonia’s success but its embrace of all things digital sets it apart. While England and other nations curtail phone use in school amid concerns that it undermines concentration and mental health, teachers in Estonia actively encourage pupils to use theirs as a learning tool.

Now Estonia is launching a national initiative called AI Leap, which it says will equip students and teachers with “world-class artificial intelligence tools and skills”. Licences are being negotiated with OpenAI, which will make Estonia a testbed for AI in schools. The aim is to provide free access to top-tier AI learning tools for 58,000 students and 5,000 teachers by 2027, starting with 16- and 17-year-olds this September.

Be Not So Fearful

A sticker given to me by a student from my notebook, which I carry everywhere

I remember sitting in my apartment in New Haven, CT, and watching I Am Trying to Break Your Heart for the first time. I was (am) a fan of Wilco, and the documentary covering the making of Yankee Hotel Foxtrot (and the remaking of Wilco in the face of all sorts of adversity) was powerful. I was a naive 23-year-old grad student at Yale Divinity and full of my own anxieties about what the future might hold and where life might lead, so this particular scene where Jeff is signing (another) record deal to get YHF released shortly after their original label dropped them because of the band’s insistence on putting out what would become the best album of the 21st Century so far seemed like a clarion call to me.

Particularly this song… what was this song, I wondered??

I wish I could go back and tell Young Sam that everything would turn out well despite life’s inevitable ups and downs and my lingering anxieties about the past, present, and future (and social situations). I tried to pass that on to my children and my students in the almost 20 years of classroom teaching as well, and hopefully those seeds will find good soil.

I didn’t give up the pursuit to find “that song” after hearing Wilco perform it live a few times and eventually tracked it down to Bill Fay, who composed and recorded the original version back in the early 70s. I just read this morning that Fay passed away in February of this year. That makes me sad, but also uplifted, because his music, especially this song, has touched so many of us over the years.

Those seeds found good soil in my head canon. I’ve been changing diapers for my children since 2007, and I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve sung this song to them while doing so (including this morning). I have had big moments in meetings, in the classroom, before a speech, after a business call, etc., and this song is what I’d call my mantra for centering myself when those anxieties creep in and try to steal the moment. I can’t remember preaching a sermon when I didn’t at least hum the tune while getting my robe on before service.

I’d like to think that most of us have something like this song in our lives that brings us back to ourselves in moments of fear, doubt, loathing, or anxiety. I’m not sure if it’s cognitively the best long-term fix, but it has worked for me in the last 23 years since originally hearing Tweedy strum the tune while surrounded by tired and exhausted bandmates.

Thank you, Bill Fay. Thank you, Jeff Tweedy.

Ben’s Awards Day 2025

So proud of Sam Jr. for achieving all A’s for the year, the highest academic average, and a top iReady score in his 3rd-grade year (and a PE award!).

I was a teacher in Middle and High Schools for almost 20 years, and I’ve never been exactly fond of “awards days” for several pedagogical reasons (at least how they were carried out in the schools where I taught), though I don’t think we should diminish the hard work of young people. One of my favorite memories as a classroom teacher is getting a “talking to” by admin for having in-class awards that evidently overshadowed the main Middle School awards program later that day. But I digress (I think it’s ok to let your students see you cry in happiness over their accomplishments and accomplishments don’t always equal arbitrary or objective letter grades). Over the years, I’ve won many awards in my academic and life journey, but now I understand in my old age why some artists don’t show up for the Grammys.

Unfortunately, we still live in a “don’t smile until December” atmosphere in many schools, and our teachers are sorely underpaid and underappreciated for their tireless work, especially in our current society.

However, being a parent on the other side of the equation, and seeing the amount of hard work that Ben put into his studies and all he’s worked towards this year, gives me hope for our future.

The kids are alright. We just need to work on us adults. Be kind. Smile more. Let the Little Ones know that they are loved and cared for and are valued.

You fathers and you mothers
Be good to one another
Please try to raise your children right
Don’t let the darkness take ’em
Don’t make ’em feel forsaken
Just lead them safely to the light
When this old world has blown us under
And all the stars from fall this sky
Remember someone really loves you
We’ll live forever you and I

Should You Bother Recycling?

This previous school year, my students in Environmental Science led our school’s recycling initiative. They absolutely loved it. From making catchy morning announcements each Tuesday to designing posters and then the thrill of being out of the class and visiting each classroom from Pre-K’s to other 12th-grade classes was a blast for them (and me). We’d get questions such as “what’s the point?” every so often that I hear reflected and diffracted from social media and our general culture. 

However, the experience led to great conversations in class about sustainability, the value of our choices, and how we use materials.

 Yes, recycling is “broken” in many ways, as are numerous systems in our society in 2024. However, I firmly believe that by taking the right actions, we can contribute in small but significant ways at our individual levels to effect positive change. The success of our recycling initiative is a testament to this belief, and it should inspire us all to continue our efforts toward a better, more sustainable future.

“Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot..” and all that. From choosing to be a teacher to choosing to pick up that piece of trash in the store parking lot to choosing to be intentional about how we recycle… those choices add up.

Recycling Is Broken. Should I Even Bother? – The New York Times (gift article):

So, is it worth the effort?

In theory, every item you recycle can keep resources in the ground, avoid greenhouse gases and help keep the environment healthy. And that’s all good.

“The value is in displacing virgin materials,” said Reid Lifset, a research scholar at Yale’s School of the Environment.

But here’s the critical part: Don’t wish-cycle.

Follow the instructions provided by your local hauler. If you throw in stuff they don’t want, the effort needed to weed it out makes it less likely that anything will get recycled at all.

Moving On From Wilson Hall

This week marks the end of a significant chapter in my life as our family says goodbye to Wilson Hall, where I have had the privilege of teaching AP Physics, Environmental Science, and Life Science and coaching golf (and Ben completed 2nd Grade, Emmy completed PK, and Lily was basically born this past school year). It’s hard to encapsulate the depth of my experience in a single post, but as I reflect on my time here, I am filled with gratitude and a sense of accomplishment.

From the early mornings prepping experiments to the late afternoons spent discussing complex theories before heading to the golf course, every moment has been a testament to the power of education and the joy of learning.

One of the highlights of my time here has been the field trips, like the recent one to Charleston, SC. Watching my students engage with the USS Yorktown, explore Fort Sumter, and marvel at the beauty of Magnolia Plantation reminded me why I chose this profession. These experiences extend learning beyond the classroom and foster a deeper connection to the world around us.

To my students: You have been the heart of my experience at Wilson Hall. Your curiosity, resilience, and eagerness to learn have been a constant source of inspiration. Keep questioning, exploring, and pushing the boundaries of your knowledge. The world needs your bright minds and passionate hearts!

As I move on, I am thrilled about the future and the new challenges that await me. I am particularly excited about my latest venture, StudiesLab, where I aim to create an innovative learning environment for gifted young people.

I wrote this 11 years ago when I left Carolina Day in Asheville, and it seems like a good passage to include here as well:

My views and philosophy on education necessitate that I follow a different path. I’m not exactly sure what that looks like (“the woods are lovely dark and deep”). Yet I know that drive will take me and my career down a road that is still covered in snow because I have miles to go before I sleep (beg pardon of Robert Frost there).

So what’s next? I have a couple of interviews at exciting schools but I also have the nagging persistence of StudiesLab.

StudiesLab is a business plan and educational model I’ve had written for years in my head (and on paper) of decentralized, cooperative and authentic education based not on 19th century content delivery for Victorian factory workers but on current research aimed at producing world changers. A place for round pegs in a world of square holes. A prayer for hope and humility and learning.

Or something like that.

Clear Communication of Worth

Petersen here defies what many of us who have spent our lives in academia or adjacent to it in some way feel… the institutional impact of certain places on our careers, our self-judgements, and eventually our self-worth can be crucibles that define our lives for years. Seeing past that is indeed difficult work, especially when we want to confer respect for ourselves and our future students.

Worthy read here whether you’re a teacher, preacher, parent, or trying to figure things out at age 45 like me…

Ten Years Out of Academia – by Anne Helen Petersen:

When it comes to these students, the best gift we can give them — whether they are our children, our advisees, our peers, our employees, or just ourselves — is clear communication of worth. It’s spaces to fail with security and create and build community outside of resume-building. It’s ongoing assurance of their value: not because of their grades, or their ability to “work hard,” but simply because they are. It’s respect, which looks a lot different than surveillance. Creating these environments requires a lot of work, most of it invisible. It’s arduous in part because it requires refusing so many legible norms of “good” parenting or mentorship. But its eventual value is beyond measure.

On Darwin and Sapolsky

I’ve just finished Robert Sapolsky’s (excellent) book, Determined. You should read it for yourself, obviously, but Sapolsky does an expert job of providing the argument that our conception of determinism and what we colloquially call “free will” are to be examined under a much stricter microscope society-wide.

These sorts of philosophical arguments rarely escape the ivory tower of The Academy. However, Sapolsky is a masterful speaker and has attracted a good deal of attention in the mainstream for his seemingly outlandish idea that we do not, in fact, possess free will. 

I think he’s right and on to something monumental. If we took his admonishment with intention and began to examine the structures our society (especially our educational systems) place on behavioralism, exceptionalism, and perceived meritocracy… our society would look quite different. Dare I say it would be more just.

I picked up Darwin’s Descent of Man (1871) this morning and began reading. The beginnings of Chapter 4 here lay out a very similar thought construction about where we gather our conception of morality and sympathy in the context of what he labels natural history. 

I was taken by his statement that:

“We are indeed all conscious that we do possess such sympathetic feelings, but our consciousness does not tell us whether they are instinctive, having originated long ago in the same manner as with the lower animals, or whether they have been acquired by each of us during our early years.”

Reading both of these texts together is an incredible thought experiment!

Podcast: Zane’s Ice Dragon

It’s Monday, and we’re not together in class (weird), but we’ll fix that tomorrow on Optimistic Day. Get some rest, take your vitamins, and drink water… big week ahead! Here’s what is happening in Life Science, Environmental Science, and AP Physics!