Michael G. Murphy

When conducting interviews and focus groups earlier this year as part of Seattle Country Day School’s strategic planning process, the facilitator asked some teachers, “How do you measure success in your classroom?”

Two teachers had similar responses: “When my students surpass me.”

Such a reply offers an enlightening portal into SCDS in several ways.

SCDS is not about convergent thinking. Teaching and learning usually goes quickly beyond a simple “right” answer found in a fill-in-the-blank workbook page of rote excercises. After fundamental skills are mastered, schoolwork is often open-ended, sometimes involving projects, and often with problem-solving challenges attached. There are usually several paths to a solution and many opportunities for creative application of skills and ideas. Moreover, sharing ideas and alternative solutions collaboratively enhances everyone’s learning.

Our constructivist pedagogy, which uses inquiry as a cornerstone, resonates well with our students. Instead of telling students an answer, teachers try to tap students’ natural inquisitiveness. What if…? How about…? I wonder what…?  How might…? Learning is elevated when students are guided into constructing their own meanings, their own conclusions or path to an answer.

When encouraging students to explore and create their own meaning based on the evidence at hand, sometimes a solution or insight results that even a veteran teacher has not experienced or encountered. This is the moment “when my students surpass me.” The moment can be simultaneously profound and fulfilling for a teacher. I recall vividly when a first-grader pointed out a better, easier, and simple solution to a math problem in a way I had never contemplated. In reading a book to second-graders, a book I must have read to my own boys a hundred times when they were growing up, a student shared an insightful theme new to me.  And I thought I knew that children’s book inside and out! 

The teacher’s role is also clarified – we are no longer exclusive purveyors of knowledge but facilitators.

Our hope for humankind is that the next generation will be better than the present. Sometimes in the K-8 SCDS schoolhouse, success is indeed measured when the students surpass us!

Today, students and staff of Seattle Country Day  School (SCDS) participated in National Mix It Up Day.  As part of the program, students were organized in small “mixed” groups during lunch in all grades K-8, doing various get-to-know-you activities.  At lunch, I hosted a table of 2nd and 3rd graders who normally might not sit or play together.  After we introduced ourselves (Peter, Nora, Charlotte, Aidan, Julia, and Lachlan), I asked the group why our school would plan such an event.  What was the purpose of today?  They all understood and expressed themselves eloquently in their own way – to get to know each other better and perhaps begin to make new friends.

During lunch we learned a lot about each other.  Coincidentally, we discovered everyone at the table had a sibling also enrolled at SCDS.  After all the siblings were sorted out, one of the students made a further connection: “Golly Mr. Murphy, if this is your eighth year at SCDS, you must have been admitted the same year as my sister!”

Two years ago, after considerable research and study, SCDS formally adopted an Anti-Bullying Policy, which included teacher training, parent education, communications with students, and clarification of behaviorial expectations.  Soon, the staff leadership team, composed of teachers and administrators, altered its course to focus on bully prevention, but kept the foundation virtues of respect, kindness, courtesy, and safety firmly intact as part of their work.  Our collective work continues today as we explore further curriculum opportunities for the students around social and emotional learning.

Today’s activities, and others this week, are examples of implementation strategies that aim to nurture empathy for and understanding of others.  As one of the faculty leaders reminds us, the small places that we consistently work on inclusion can make a positive difference in the school community.

In late July and early August, my wife Deborah and I visited our son, John, who is teaching English for a year near Buson, South Korea.  The trip was extraordinary in many ways, including our five days in Seoul where the metropolitan capital city of 24 million people experienced 12 inches of rain in one day – a record.

While we cherished our reunion time with John, our quick, three-day side trip to Hiroshima, Japan to deliver paper cranes from Seattle Country Day School to the Children’s Memorial on the grounds of the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park was an immensely transformative experience for me – as a parent, educator, and world citizen.

In Hiroshima, we stayed at the World Friendship Center bed and breafast, five blocks from the Peace Park, run by long-time SCDS and now retired teacher JoAnn Sims, and her husband Larry.  The evening before the SCDS cranes were formally presented, JoAnn suggested we walk through the park at night.  Seeing the Atomic Bomb Dome Building lit-up in the quiet of the evening, its perfect reflection in the Motoyasuy River with few people around, made for a moment of profound contemplation and included silent but powerful thoughts and emotions.  I recalled a similar physical and near-spiritual response when I visited the Civil Rights Museum in Memphis, TN with a small group on a late, cold and rainy autumn afternoon 15 years earlier.  Again, the solemn quiet and dearth of people made for a tranquil moment of deep introspection.

Last spring’s fundraiser of paper cranes to assist Japanese relief from the tsunami disaster, with funds matched in part by the Bezos Foundation (see New York Times Magazine article, August 21,) was a very educational, moving, and fulfilling time for our school community.  I was honored to be part of the event again in this special way.           

[I have invited Allison Hoff, 8, to be my guest contributor.  Allison came to Seattle Country Day School this year - in admissions we open an additional section for third grade - and although hardly a "newcomer," her perspective and experience provides a child-centered insight to our school.   Allison is also an occasional guest writer for Kirkland Reporter newspaper.  - M.G. Murphy]

My name is Allison Hoff and I’m a new 3rd grader at Seattle Country Day School (SCDS), and I am going to share with you some things I think are fabulous about SCDS.  Now that I’m finishing my first year at SCDS, I have realized that the school does a great job of noticing and recognizing their students’ talents and skills.

Students at Seattle Country Day have lots of interests and passions.  I really enjoy writing and singing.  Some kids in my class like to play chess, play a sport, a musical instrument, or know a lot about a certain subject.  The school is a place where the students can share their talents with others and present their skills.  Students are very supportive of their classmates and peers.  If someone is going to a chess tournament, everyone will wish them luck or practice playing with them.

I have a personal experience that shows how supportive the students are to each other.  At the SCDS Spring Music Concert I had a solo singing part, and right before we came onto the stage, one of my friends was reminding me to take deep breaths, and was helping me cool my nerves.  After the concert, friends, teachers, and parents were complimenting me on my solo.  Some of the kids who complimented me also wanted the solo part.  But they were still very supportive of me.

The teachers also encourage their students to support each other.  For example, Ms. Alice Baggett, the K-3 technology teacher, always tells her students how the Destination Imagination (DI) tournament went, or tells us when it’s going to happen so that we can wish the people on the DI team luck before the tournament. 

SCDS also takes their students’ ideas and builds on them and provides support.  For instance, a 3rd grader had ideas about donating money to the people of Japan after the recent earthquake.  The school built onto that, and soon all students were participating in raising money and folding origami paper cranes.  In the end, the students folded 3,500 cranes.  All together the school raised $9,310 for Japan.

SCDS is a unique school with unique students.  Everyone has a lot to learn from each other.  I have learned that when people support each other it gives you courage – as if you were hanging off the edge of a cliff wondering how you would pull yourself up when some invisible person comes along to give you a boost and strengthen you with new ideas to get to the top. 

One of Seattle Country Day School’s signature programs is Winterim, when for six full Fridays in January and February, the entire school participates in one of three winter sports: ice skating, alpine skiing/snowboarding, or cross-country skiing.

Begun by founding head of school Lucile Beckman, who in the 1960′s saw an opportunity for students to cultivate a lifetime winter sport and avocation, Winterim was also a chance for SCDS students to temper their perfectionist tendencies, get some unique physical exercise, and be exposed to winter sports activities in the beautiful Pacific Northwest.

In a time of high technology use, perennial digital communication, and on-line learning, getting outside and experiencing nature, including in winter, is especially helpful to child development.  One theme from Richard Louv’s recent bestseller, Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children From Nature Deficit Disorder is that our senses, attention span, and spirit of engagement are all enhanced when we get outside to experience, explore, and discover nature.

Winterim also provides other outcomes, which may vary among students, faculty and experiences.  For some students, Winterim is a new, unknown challenge.  Often a student’s sense of worry and trepidation gives way as he or she successfully navigates new experiences over time.  Skill levels increase, a sense of accomplishment grows, and a healthy degree of self-confidence results.

This year, on the fifth week of cross-country skiing, I was with a group of third- and fourth-graders.  From the previous weeks I knew their skill level was getting better and their endurance was improving.  I knew the students could complete the 6.5 mile tour we had planned from near Stampede Pass back to the lodge at Hyak, along a flat ski trail converted from an abandoned railroad track.  The students were not so sure – 6.5 miles seemed rather daunting.  I told the group gently, “Last week we all skied further than 6.5 miles total.  I think you can do it.  I know you all can do it, and we’ll have fun along the way.”

For a moment the students thought the reach was beyond their grasp.  After another teacher chimed in to also express confidence in the students’ ability, they agreed to go together and try.

The weather was cooperative.  We stopped occasionally for snacks and water.  We admired the gorgeous scenery along Lake Keechelus.  By the last mile the students were smiling, chatting with friends, and telling riddles as they skied to the lodge knowing a late lunch and SCDS smorgasbord was waiting for them.

True self-esteem comes from genuine accomplishment.  And when it comes, as a student or teacher, a quiet sense of satisfaction and fulfillment is an extraordinary reward.

[Today is May 17 or Syttende Mai, Norway's Constitution day.  Norway is a proud country whose citizens love the outdoors, especially cross-country skiing!]

The biggest phase of SCDS admissions tours and visits for those applying to our school is nearly over.  This is a time to clarify the SCDS mission for prospective families: who we are and who we are not.  With so many excellent school choices, it is critically important for all schools and parents to be in congruence regarding expectations, which usually makes for a better “fit” between child and school.

What are some key points the Head of School makes to prospective families during school tours?

* SCDS is an independent school with a specific mission.  The needs of our students to reach their fullest potential are no more or less important than anyone else’s, they are just different.

* SCDS is a child-centered learning environment which emphasizes depth over breadth, where creating one’s own independent path to an answer is sometimes more interesting than the answer, and the application of a skill, idea, or concept in a new and generative way often nurtures an intrinsic love of learning.

* The SCDS spirit of inquiry – tapping our students’ natural curiosity and inquisitiveness – permeates our informal but very purposeful learning environment.

* Peer relationships are encouraged in part because collaboration brings more ideas, experiences, and perspectives to the problem-solving process.  We can learn from each other.

* If a family is looking for a traditional program that accelerates students with only seatwork, workbook exercises, and convergent thinking, SCDS may not be the right fit.  While SCDS does use some texts to ensure basic skills are covered, students at SCDS will be exposed to many open-ended projects that are constructivist in pedagogy.  This methodology allows for differentiation and individualization.

* While SCDS is quietly proud of our experience and success in challenging students academically and intellectually in age-appropriate ways, we recognize we are teaching the child, not just the subject.  Our experienced faculty has dealt extensively with a population whose general traits of perfectionism and sensitivity are tempered and channeled in healthy ways.

As Head of School, my reward is to observe, learn from, and support so many resourceful students and teachers, who have a healthy degree of freedom and autonomy, to explore and express themselves in many creative ways.  They live and advance our mission daily.

September 8, 2010

Dear Mary,

Today is the first day of school.  It rained steadily for most of the morning, perhaps a signal confirming it was time to resume classes.  I relish the collective anticipation of a new school year.  Students return as if unwrapping a holiday or birthday present: something positive and perhaps familiar awaits, but with a healthy dose of the unknown.  Opening day is exhilarating, like the first hour of a long-awaited road trip, the first chapter of a delicious book, or the start of a mountain hike.  What will we experience and learn along the way?

Fresh wood chips beneath the playground equipment have an enchanting fragrance, like the cedar walls of a Scandinavian sauna.  A hallway bulletin board has pictures of famous world citizens with insightful and inspiring quotations.  It beckons one’s attention and contemplation.  The students are applying their learning styles (e.g., auditory, tactile, visual, etc.) to create their own method to remember the new keypad punch code which secures all outside doors at school.  We pay particular attention to the new students to be sure they are connected, have a buddy, and find their way.  Over the years I have come to know this: the children will be fine, but we need to do better with the adults!

This being Seattle, the school contracted to have a coffee cart on the concourse to welcome parents.  I hear the delight of one family who now have all three children at school, the youngest in kindergarten.  Another parent is already lamenting this will be her eighth grader’s last year!  Time moves swiftly.  Savor every day.

While I always look forward to the beginning of school, Mary, I am also reminded of and grateful for your grace, support, and mentorship during my years as a classroom teacher at University Liggett School over 20 years ago.  You asked me the questions which helped me form my own principles as a teacher.  I know we shared many.  Yet you valued and validated my own application of those principles without micromanaging.  Such autonomy and support allowed me to grow immensely as a teacher in every way.  Thank you again for such guidance which continues to influence me every day.

Our goal is to foster similar growth and incremental independence for all 327 students in grades K-8 at Seattle Country Day School this year.

Best,

Michael

Yes, I am a teacher!  Try the following matching quiz.  The quotes, excerpts, and data provided are a portal into some of my reading, thinking, and listening of late.  The goal: to provoke thought and contemplation.   

___1. Empathy is the key to good teaching.

___2. High school/college students average 7 hours of on-line recreational technology use daily.

___3. When jobs can be sent out all over the world…what type of education ought we be teaching our children?

___4. The central role of parents is not to push massive amounts of language into the baby’s ears; rather, the central role of a parent is to notice what’s coming from the baby and to respond accordingly.

___5. Nationwide, 56% of college freshmen graduate within four years.

___6. Deferred gratification is better than deferred maintenance.

___7. You can be entertaining at the expense of being useful.

___8. Every saint has a past, every sinner has a future.

___9. Not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted.

___10. Turn off the TV and phone during family dinner.

a) Albert Einstein

b) Peter Cobb, educational consultant and author

c) Edward Burger, Williams College math professor, on teaching

d) Po Bronson & Ashley Merryman, Nurture Shock

e) Roger Rosenblatt, NY-Stony Brook University professor, on teaching

f) Tony Wagner, Harvard Graduate School of Education (survey reference)

g) Dr. Yong Zhao, Michigan State University, Catching Up or Leading the Way?

h) Pat Riley, General Manager, Miami Heat Basketball Team

i) Bowen, Chingos, & McPherson, Crossing the Finish Line, (from Education Week)

j) Leo F. Murphy, Jr., Lessons From My Father (unpublished)

Key: 1(c); 2(f); 3(g); 4(d); 5(i); 6(b); 7(e); 8(h); 9(a); 10(j)

Inspiring gifted children to reach their potential through inquiry, curiosity, and wonder.

A lot of time, effort, and thought went into this Seattle Country Day School (SCDS) mission statement update last spring.  Our essential mission was not changed; rather we created a clearer and more inspired description of what we do here.

Including the word “gifted” was seen as a real challenge and opportunity.  “Gifted” means different things to different people.  Our challenge is to clarify and further describe what we mean, whom we serve, and how we serve them.

A major reluctance to use “gifted” is the perception of labeling children as privileged, inherently better than others, or pretentious, which, of course, is not condoned here.  In addition, we also know from research that praising children as smart is often counterproductive to growth and achievement.  (Emphasis on motivation and effort has better results.)

If one believes, however, that the purpose of education is to provide the best path for everyone to reach their fullest potential, then one can agree that different paths can better accomplish such a noble feat for different students. 

The needs of the SCDS students are not any more or less important than those of other students.  They are just different.  That is why we talk a great deal during the admissions process about “fit.”  All parents are looking for that unique school environment – public or private – that best suits their child, where s/he will flourish.  One size does not fit all.

At SCDS we believe strongly in assembling a like-minded peer group where natural inquisitiveness provides intrinsic motivation.  Our students certainly seek and desire a correct answer in their schoolwork, yet are often more interested in the problem itself, how it might be solved, and what creative application might be made with the new knowledge.  They enjoy exchanging their ideas, their path to a solution, and their algorithm with peers throughout the learning process.  Such collaboration enhances everyone’s learning.

This learning culture, this attitude and aptitude for sizing up and being intrigued by an academic challenge, is fundamental to our public purpose – it is why SCDS exists: To cultivate the next generation of creative problem solvers for tomorrow’s complex problems.

Not long ago on the SCDS playground, I was assisting with recess supervision.  In less than 25 minutes, three case studies reminded me – as a parent and teacher – that sometimes resisting the urge to intervene on behalf of a child can pay positive dividends.

A group of kindergarten students was having a merry time pushing the tire swing around in a circle.  Higher and higher the swing moved with many hands pushing it onward.  During the frolic, one girl was accidentally bumped by the tire swing, hard enough to stumble back onto the ground.  None of her classmates noticed.  I immediately took two steps forward but stopped…and watched.

She got up, slowly dusted herself off and walked away quietly, surreptitiously drying her tears on her sleeve.  After a few moments, still alone, she looked around and began to warily size up the enthusiastic participants still having fun at the tire swing.  In small incremental steps, she returned closer to the circle and reentered the periphery of the tire swing’s flight.  She gingerly reached out her hand to the swing as it came around.  A few moments later she was back participating in earnest, although with extra care and caution.

A mixed group often plays kickball at recess, and as in golf, tennis, and Ultimate Frisbee, they learn to referee the game themselves.  Undoubtedly, a close call creates a robust argument between teams, and participants often turn to the nearest adult on the playground for resolution.  When asked to help, I raised my hand and said, “Pretend I’m not here and work it out.”  I had watched the entire play and was prepared to render a quick decision but resisted.  “You all need to come up with a way to solve this yourselves,” I said, purposely walking away, yet very interested in the resolution.  Of course they eventually worked it out.

Some first-graders were playing hockey with plastic sticks and an old tennis ball for a puck.  When the ball entered a modest puddle, one of the players swiped at the ball but unintentionally splashed a significant wave of water, dousing, but not drenching, another player.  Play immediately stopped all around, and for a few precious seconds, an adult observer could wonder about the wet child’s reaction – which way would it go?  Better to stay put and watch it all unfold than to enter prematurely.  Shaking off the water and the unexpected surprise, the wet student dropped his stick and began to…laugh, which gave all the other participants a cue and license to laugh too.

It takes a lot of energy not to intervene because our nurturing and protective impulse says otherwise.  Sometimes, these moments of non-intervention allow our children to experience challenges and resolve issues themselves, which promotes independence, confidence, and resiliency – all prerequisites for creative problem-solving and growth.