Schools for Wisdom...a critique of High Tech High by David Brooks

David Brooks wrote a critique of High Tech High in The New York Times on October 16, 2015.  Mr. Brooks gets a lot right, however, he cleaves so tightly to his own well constructed perspective of "intellectual virtues" that ironically, he misses the point he hints at, "a partial response." High Tech High may be going too far in emphasizing relational skills over content.  I've only read about the school, I've not been there.  And, I've seen lots of photos of the building design, that is far and away among the best school designs I've seen.

However, from my reading of Mr. Brooks, he doesn't see the possibility that the approach at High Tech High can embrace BOTH life skills (21st C. skills) AND his intellectual virtues (basic factual acquisition, pattern formation, mental formation that combined, create wisdom, the "hard earned intuitive awareness of how things will flow").

The point of the approach at High Tech High, and other schools striving to evolve a more generative methodology, is to impart knowledge AND to develop life skills; and to do so in ways that engage students, that include them in the compelling issues of their time, that empower them to be essential contributors to their immediate communities, and that prepare them to become productive citizens who lead fulfilling lives.

As I think through Mr. Brooks' critique of High Tech High, I imagine a new school, High Brooks High.

Come Learn With Us In Italy!

International Study Tours LLC and Angela Ferrario asked Ashley and me and our colleague and friend, Lori Geismar Ryan to co-lead a seminar in Italy in June of 2016! We are so pleased and excited about this opportunity. Ours will be a part of a seminar series on leadership that will take place in the charming town of Mercatello sul Metauro in the Marche region near Tuscany and Umbria. The seminars are designed to provide professional development for small groups of educational leaders, complemented by sightseeing excursions and encounters with local artisans, townspeople and village life.

Lori, Ashley and I worked together for 18 years in St. Louis as leaders in the St. Louis Reggio Collaborative hosting conferences and professional development opportunities for educators from around the country and the world. We were each leaders in our three schools, Clayton Schools' Family Center, The St. Michael School, and The College School. We have all moved away from St. Louis though we return to work with clients and schools and to see friends and family. Lori is a Senior Instructor at the University of Colorado Denver, School of Education and Human Development, is faculty in a state-wide early childhood leadership program and coaches in communities of practice both locally and nationally. Ashley and I are based in Boston and Vermont and continue to work and consult with educators and schools in North America and internationally through Cadwell Collaborative.

Our seminar will take place from June 11 - 16, 2016. I have copied the description that you will find in the brochure below. To learn more, to receive a brochure, and to register, click here or contact Angela Ferrario at aferrario@comcast.net. We hope to see you there!

Learning and Leading for the Future

What are the current challenges and opportunities that lead educators who design environments, curricula and learning experiences for communities of learners to dynamic possibilities for the future? What inspires all members of a learning community to embrace their passions and contribute to a healthy, hopeful future for our world? How do leaders invite and sustain such contexts and cultures?

These questions and others will frame the diverse and multi-layered experiences, conversations, and reflections of Learning and Leading for the Future. As an interactive community of learners within a welcoming and beautiful Italian setting, participants will:

- Look back at the field's historical roots and our own unique personal and professional stories

- Study together current neuroscience research, global competencies, 21st century skills and contemporary learning processes

- Re-imagine schooling based on life-worthy, life-long learning

- Leave with a new vision and new possibilities for redesigning their own learning communities with the future in mind

A Courageous Voyage

It is finally summer and beautiful! I know that all east coasters are basking in the light, warmth and green of these months.  Even Boston public school teachers will be out of school by next Tuesday! Almost July due to all continual snow and snow days.  In any case, yippee for summertime. My first taste of real summer was about 2 weeks ago when I was invited to go out for an evening sail in the Boston Harbor by our friends Carter and Peggy Bacon.  What a gorgeous evening and what a dynamic harbor.  Boats or all kinds, planes taking off  from and landing at Logan Airport from all over the world, blue sky, steady wind, and an endless summer ahead.  There were 8 of us aboard for this harbor cruise including Carter, the captain, and Jim one of the crew who will accompany Carter on a big sail coming up soon...The Transatlantic Race 2015.  Another member of the crew will be Sam Bacon, Carter's youngest son. They will be one of two father son teams in this race.

Captain Carter and his 6 strong and expert young sailors will race with the 40 other boats entered from Castle Hill in Newport, Rhode Island to the southern most point in Great Britain, the Lizard Peninsula in Cornwall.  In their 50 foot boat, Solution, they expect to take 15-20 days for the crossing.  Ashley is cooking for the crew, 3 meals of a hardy beef stew frozen in liter blocks!  We are thrilled to be going to Newport to cheer them on and see them start the race at 1:30 p.m. this Sunday the 28 of June.

Mostly, we are in awe of this kind of spirit of undaunted courage taking on such a great challenge.  Hard to imagine many things that require more skill, teamwork, dedication, endurance, courage and love of the elements especially the sea, the wind and the weather.  One of the blog posts on the Transatlantic Race site quotes Mark Twain.  This is a line to remember, to quote and to live by...even if you are not sailing across the Atlantic Ocean in a 50 foot wooden boat!

"Twenty years from now, you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than those you did. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from safe harbor. Catch the wind in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover."

Happy summer sailing to all of you!

Louise and Ashley

New Look for our Newsletter

We are looking forward to summer and we are sure that you are too!  Looking forward to some leisure, time swimming in lakes or oceans, time to read in our new hammock, more time to visit friends.  One of our favorite places to visit is Carol Hillman's farm pictured above.  Carol is a colleague, author and dear friend.

On another note, we have a new newsletter format! Cadwell Collaborative website was redesigned by Penny Dullaghan and launched in December 2014. To accompany our beautiful and user friendly website, Penny recently helped us rethink and redesign our newsletter so that it also is streamlined easy to navigate. Thank you Penny!  If you are subscribed, it will arrive in your inbox in the next week.

In this new format, we will not list all the schools that we work with, however you can find that list on this page of our website.  As always, we will feature our work with schools in our blog posts on our website.

We will continue to send out three newsletters a year to stay in touch and to offer you strategies and best practices that are working well for us and for the schools where we work, suggestions for good books and articles to read, links to good work in education that is happening in lots of places.

All the best to all of you as you prepare for the summer ahead!

Louise and Ashley

Everything New

Welcome Yule! and Welcome almost New Year 2015! We are announcing four very new and very exciting events.  We have a NEW BABY! in the family.  Born on December 18 at 1 a.m. on her due date, the first girl in our immediate family to arrive in more years than we can count and we are thrilled. Delilah Mae Cadwell is now one week old.  We had such a blessed Christmas time with the new tiny one and her brother who is so lovely with her and her uncles and auntie and mother and father in Boston. We are truly grateful and enthralled.

Secondly, we have a NEW WEBSITE! Go to http://cadwellcollaborative.com to see it. We are grateful to Penny Dullaghan for designing it and working so hard to make it beautiful and functional.  We are thrilled about this new turn of events. Please tell us what you think!

And then, we have a new BOOK! In the Spirit of the Studio, second edition is due to be published in March in time for the NAREA conference in NYC. The four editors, Lella Gandini, Lynn Hill, Charles Schwall and I are so pleased with the new book with a new cover, once again designed by Pam Bliss. Make sure to find it and read it. It is an updated, important and timely read.

Finally, Ashley and I have a new HOUSE! We closed on a Boston condo on Halloween of this year and officially move in in two days, just in time for the new year.  We are thrilled about this move, this new second home in the city, that is very close to our new BABY, her brother and her family.  More soon on all of these announcements. 

In the meantime, we wish for you, wonderful things in store as we head into 2015, with hope, joy and renewed energy for our dedication to education, family, our earth and our lives here together.

We wish all of you the happiest of NEW YEARS!