TODAY
NOVEMBER 2016 - JANUARY 2017
Playing by the Rules
A Catalyst for the Corkins Center
By Brenda Stockdale, Dean of Grades 7/8
By Josh Cobb, Associate Head of School
As a student approaches a teacher in the hallway, she reaches for the hem of her skirt and firmly tugs it, hoping it’ll reach the top of her kneecaps. In the Middle School Commons, four students huddle around a laptop. Sensing their dean in the vicinity, one of them deftly minimizes the game on the screen. Reaching for a jump ball at recess, a cell phone flies out of a student’s pocket. He scrambles to snatch it before anyone notices. Breaking school rules is common – and expected – in middle school. This is a time of great change for adolescents, who are transitioning from childhood to adulthood. Since they were toddlers, they’ve followed rules in every arena of their lives but suddenly, they begin to question, challenge and even break rules that were once the foundation of their wellordered lives. Dr. Larry Nucci and Dr. Elliot Turiel, two professors at University of California Berkeley’s Graduate School of Education, have done continued on page 13
In the fall of 2013, I heard Dr. Yong Zhao, the author of World Class Learners: Educating Creative and Entrepreneurial Students, speak at the European Council of International Schools in Amsterdam. I was there with Marty Twarogowski, director of innovative learning, presenting a workshop on launching Graland’s 1:1 iPad program, and Zhao was there as the keynote speaker. His speech detailed how the current educational system was failing our kids and not providing them with the skills they need to be global entrepreneurs and innovators.
Design Inspiration
Two specific images from his presentation stood out to me. One was a graph showing the inverse relationship between countries with high PISA math scores and countries with a high entrepreneurial capacity. The United States, for example, had mediocre math scores but excelled in terms of inventions patented and produced. The other simple image showed how the education system was initially designed to take all of an individual’s creativity, diversity and curiosity and squeeze those elements, like a sausage continued on page 8
Inside this Issue:
In Memory Page 2
Bike Hike Page 5
Civil Rights 6 Alumni 10 GPA 14
GOGRALAND