News & Weekly Letters

Last night, I had the opportunity to sit in on Sara Weintraub’s Introduction to Writing Workshop for Elementary Parents (there was a repeat session this morning too – but I couldn’t attend that one!). Writing Workshop is an approach to writing instruction that has been implemented in all our Elementary classes since Sara’s arrival at The École. The parents who attended the sessions were treated to a micro-lesson and were called on to produce their own pieces of writing;

Yesterday afternoon, just before playing their first competitive match of the season, our Falcons were treated to a powerful pre-game pep talk from Coach Soden. He spoke to them about grit, one of his five pillars of character. Grit has been a trending term in education since Angela Duckworth shared her protean definition of the term during a much-lauded Ted Talk. For Duckworth, grit is about passion and perseverance in pursuing long-term goals. It involves setting a goal and striving to reach it no matter how much energy is required and no matter how many obstacles are encountered along the way. It’s an excellent lesson for our students (and for me too!)

I started writing to my school community on a weekly basis when I was head of school in Taipei because I was convinced—and still am—that it is crucial for every school to tell its story.  I enjoy writing, so the story of The École—our story—sometimes takes personal detours and diverse paths that may surprise and, I hope, give pause for thought. I also tell our story to parents who visit the school and are considering putting their children in our care.

I learn something new every day—from colleagues, from students, and from families. It’s something that makes me happy and makes my job a fascinating one. I feel incredibly lucky. Sometimes, I learn about something I had no idea existed, often I learn things I should probably have known, other times I “learn” something I used to know and had forgotten. For instance, seeing as it’s my tenth time planning a new school year, you might think that I could do it in my sleep—after all, isn’t it just the same process year in and year out?

We build bridges in France. And I’m not talking about the structures that allow us to cross from one side of a river to another—although we do of course have plenty of those, some of which are pretty famous, like the one in Avignon where we dance in circles (and cannot actually cross!). The bridges I’m talking about are symbolic ones that allow us to connect a public holiday to a weekend. If, for instance, the holiday falls on a Thursday, we build a bridge by taking the Friday off work.