Getting Ready!

It has been a very busy week and I am remiss with my blogging. This entry will be a little more scattered than most but will hopefully give you a sense of the whirlwind that is getting the school ready for the year. The jackhammer that has been breaking apart the ledge outside of my office for the last couple of days may have caught up with me. It will be well worth it if Ford Hall’s lower level is drier going forward!

Conveniently, eleven of us headed to the hills for two days to due some planning and discuss curriculum, faculty development and other important issues. In this photo, our Business Manager Jacques Delorme and Dean of Students Elliot Harvey debate the role of croquet mallets in teaching the proper rules on footnotes!

It was also a week of welcoming some of the new teachers who have started to arrive. Here Academic Dean Pam Blair welcomes Chris MacDonald and Van Nguyen. Chris is our new Humanities Division Head and Van will be teaching Advanced Computer Science and ESL. This coming week will see the arrival of all new faculty as we will embark on New Faculty Orientation on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. I will be one of the new kids learning at the feet of a very impressive core of returning teachers!


Favorite Quote of The Week:
Harry Harelik ’77 writes in a letter when contemplating the opportunity that Winchendon has:

“Can we envision a school that takes a Winchendon student and really straps a jet-pack to them, kids that can enter the school undirected and leave as well educated, poised, and confident graduates?”

This concept of really empowering our students with a “jet-pack” of skills and habits is a wonderful way to think of what we do. We can get caught up in the rhetoric and often ambiguous language of pedagogy, when “jet-pack” really captures our opportunity and goals. Thanks Harry.

Have a great week.
John