Cary Academy hosted one of the country’s leading voices in educational innovation, Dr. Tony Wagner, on December 15, 2014, for a talk on his most recent book, Creating Innovators: The Making of Young People Who Will Change the World.
In his presentation and subsequent question and answer session, Dr. Wagner, who is an Expert in Residence at Harvard University’s new Innovation Lab, highlighted the three big elements necessary for schools and parents to create an environment ripe for innovation:
- Play
- Passion
- Purpose
Innovation, Dr. Wagner said, rarely happens from a single lightening bolt of inspiration. Collaboration between individuals and disciplines should be at the core of the work happening in schools — for both teachers and students.
An innovative environment promotes risk taking and the discovery of new connections between ideas. Schools should continue to look for ways to take advantage of students’ intrinsic motivation by giving them some flexibility in their learning and creating a failure-friendly atmosphere. Learning is an iterative process that is sparked when students understand their own abilities and can build upon skills in future work. Wagner’s thinking on the importance of iteration dovetails very nicely with the work of John Hattie on educational achievement that I wrote about earlier this year. Hattie says that one of the biggest factors impacting achievement is when students understand their own learning and give that feedback to their teachers, who can then adjust the next steps in the course.
You can hear a nice summary of Dr. Wagner’s presentation from a talk he gave at Sidwell Friends School in Washington, DC, about a month before coming to visit us at Cary Academy.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pJbTFU99TAI[/youtube]
State of the School and Strategic Planning — AN INVITE
Dr. Wagner’s talk fits in nicely with many of the themes being discussed in our strategic planning process.
On January 21st at 7 PM in the Dining Hall, I invite all parents to come and hear the annual State of the School address and to participate in the mid-process feedback session regarding our strategic plan.
The State of the School is part of the PTAA Annual Meeting. It is an address by the Head of School containing all sorts of interesting information about Cary Academy. In my talk this year, I’ll share some highlights from the past 18 months and benchmarking data relative to admissions, financials, and student outcomes. In addition, I will talk about the school’s financial picture moving forward, including the tuition for the 2015-2016 school year. There will be a chance after the presentation to ask questions.
Following the State of School presentation, we will give an update on our strategic planning process. In October, I shared the four main goal areas for the plan:
- Creating institutional flexibility to facilitate dynamic and innovative learning experiences.
- Fostering the intellectual and cultural elasticity needed to thrive in an interdependent world.
- Strengthening existing relationships and forging new connections to embrace fresh perspectives and opportunities.
- Building the professional and learning environments necessary to realize our dreams.
