Page 25 - Priorities #52 2012-March/April

25
SMB: What do you love about the Priory?
SP: In the larger world, I greatly prefer kids to adults. But this place is an amazing collec- tion of good people, smart people, funny peo- ple. I love that the Priory so clearly knows who and what it is. Our current moment, however, is the most exciting and generative that I have experienced in my 12 years at the school. Stanford psychologist, Carol Dweck, describes the value of a “growth mindset” for student learning. For many reasons, schools become stuck in a “fixed” mindset, and teachers are often the ones who reinforce
not to explore. Priory’s Academic Dean sent the campus minister (who was a practicing Quaker – this I loved) to interview me at Har- vard. Priory flew me out supposedly to “seal the deal,” but I was told the morning I got here that the person I was supposed to replace de- cided to stay another year. I was so annoyed, I took the car the school rented me and drove down the coast and had an expensive lunch in Santa Cruz. It was an absolutely gorgeous day and I was heartbroken. I returned to Boston and took a job at a very traditional all boys school. The next year, the same Aca-
offers each of us. I would say that we have really only scraped the surface of what is pos- sible here. We are challenged now to find ways to introduce these kinds of processes much earlier than senior year. Design think- ing is a tool, just one in our belts, but a very versatile tool.
SMB: What do you believe is the most serious
issue facing the human race today?
SP: Speaking primarily as an educator, I am
most concerned that the greatest challenge
we are facing is a lack of real and action- able hope. We want our kids to leave the
We want our kids to leave the school feeling charged and excited about the unknowns, with a sense of what they can honestly contribute and change.
such thinking. I have constant contact with peers in schools all over the Bay Area, and around the country. When I tell them about the faculty culture here, about what is com- monplace in the way that our teachers are try- ing out new ideas and approaches to teach- ing and learning, they are shocked. In many schools, there may be pockets of innovation, or splashy technology schemes, but what we have is unique. I believe we are engaged in a very optimistic discussion about how kids learn best, as well as an honest evaluation of the road ahead. The adjustments that will have to be made so that all kids are grow- ing in parallel to the complexity of the world around them is humbling. The flexibility necessary for our kids is forcing us to look at everything we are doing. It’s an absolute blast! Head of Upper School Brian Schlaak says that this is a thrilling time to be in this line of work, and I could not agree more.
SMB: From Boston to Silicon Valley, how did that happen?
SP: Like so many of us, I got wait-listed on the first try. I mailed one application to the Bay Area. I learned that there was a semi- rural monastic school just South of San Fran- sisco. That was just too weird and wonderful
demic Dean called me back and promised no more funny business. I begged my girlfriend Alicia to move to California with me. Thank God, she said yes. One application to the Bay Area Mystery Monk school changed my life.
SMB: You’ve been a strong proponent of design thinking, can you tell us how that has shaped the curricula and student life at the Priory?
SP: We found out that what we were already doing with the Senior Project had a name: Design Thinking. We also realized that our student-run robotics program has been doing this all along. We already had students work- ing collaboratively on open-ended problems. What we did not have was a succinct group of steps to understand how to most efficiently help young people identify and define what we call the NPO (Need, Problem, or Opportu- nity). What we love about the Design Think- ing process is that it validates mistakes and encourages multiple passes at a problem in order to create the most appropriate solution. It is a disruptive and frustrating process too, especially for an educational culture that has become right-answer addicted. This has been a great challenge for us all. We worked as a faculty with a group called limedesign for an entire year to see what Design Thinking
school feeling charged and excited about the unknowns, with a sense of what they can honestly contribute and change. We need to do more to help young people not feel over- whelmed by the number of choices they will have to make, or the lack of certainty that accompanies every choice they will have to make. How do you help kids feel confident in themselves when so many events and peo- ple around them inspire the opposite feeling? How can we inspire them to be hopeful in- stead of cynical?
SMB: What are some of your personal goals in life? SP: 1.) To be the kind of Dad my kids deserve. 2.) To trick myself into loving exercise. 3.) To worry less. 4.) To do less, but do it better
SMB: Outside of your work at the Priory, what do you enjoy doing?
SP: There is an outside of Priory?
SMB: Do you have a favorite quote?
SP: “The days run away like wild horses over the hills” – Charles Bukowski
SMB: Who has been the biggest influence in your life and why?
SP: My wife Alicia. It takes a very special person to love me for so many days in a row.