Voices and viewpoints from educators across Dana Hall School's campus.
A prospective parent recently asked, “how is success defined at Dana Hall?” Her question gave me an opportunity to explain one of the highlights of our grading practice in the Middle School. Fifth and sixth grade students do not receive letter grades on their report cards for the first trimester; Continue reading Knowing What We Know
As the proud member of an all-women’s educational institution, I have joined with my colleagues to commit ourselves to inculcating in our students the importance of “integrity, leadership, diversity, and service as well as respect for self and others…” as they prepare for “the challenges and choices they will face Continue reading DHMUN—A ‘Model’ of Excellence in Women’s Leadership
This year, I started teaching a new course at Dana Hall called Physics and Engineering. Previously, the Science Department offered an upper-level physics course called Physics 11/12 that was intended to be a comprehensive survey of high school physics content. Many of the students who took that course expressed a Continue reading Applications of Physics by Future Engineers
This marks my 27th year as an English teacher, and I am still figuring out what it means to teach students to write. I have been researching this topic for most of those years: I read the books, I keep up with the posts, I see the journal articles: a Continue reading One Kid at a Time
I read with great interest a piece published in the December 2019 issue of The Atlantic entitled “Stop Trying to Raise Successful Kids: And Start Raising Kind Ones.” Written by noted organizational psychologist Adam Grant and his wife, author Allison Sweet Grant, the article makes the argument that teaching kindness Continue reading Accomplishing Kindness
One of the things I love about my job as Director of the Upper School at Dana Hall is that I get to be all over campus — in classrooms, in performance spaces, in the gym, in the Student Center. But when I do sit at my desk in my Continue reading Wisdom on a Bulletin Board
As an alumna of Dana Hall, I am often asked what makes Dana Hall special. There are a number of ways I could answer this, but I almost always immediately think of the connections that Dana Hall alumnae make with each other across decades. One tradition that connects all Dana Continue reading Class Rings: Connecting Generations of Dana Hall Alumnae
I know that I am not the only educator who turns to metaphor when I talk about our work. There is something about the process of education, and the powerful feelings it engenders, that leads me and many colleagues to look for comparisons and themes from other contexts. We talk Continue reading Of Poetry and Adolescence
I just completed my 15th year of employment at Dana Hall School. This landmark means that I’ve worked at Dana Hall longer than any other place I’ve ever been employed and I’ve lived in a house on campus for longer than I’ve lived in any house/apartment as an adult. It Continue reading The Rewards of Longevity
“I emailed her, but didn’t hear back.” It’s an early morning in April. The senior in my office doesn’t seem frustrated or undone. I wait. This spring, 78 seniors stepped away from Dana Hall in the weeks prior to their graduation. They were engaged all over the Boston area: Cambridge, Continue reading Part of the Project is Finding the Project