Dear Maple Village Families,

Each year, NAIS (National Association of Independent Schools) holds a conference for private schools across the nation.  This year, it was held right in our beautiful city, so I was honored and thankful to attend.

Over 5,000 people attended this conference at the Long Beach Convention Center.  There were four main speakers: Viola Davis (Anderson Cooper was scheduled, but had to back out at the last minute, and Viola stepped in!), Frans Johansson, Shiza Shahid, and Simon Sinek.  In addition, there was a plethora of workshops offered ranging from classroom and student experience, to governance to communication and advancement to leadership.

Guess what? It turns out Waldorf education is on the cutting edge! Here is how I know:

As I took notes in each workshop with an open and hungry mind, I kept hearing fancy terminology which, when explained, turned out to be exactly what we are already doing in Waldorf education and specifically at Maple Village.

One workshop was about “Instructional Coaching,” which we have already instilled in our peer mentorship program and outside evaluator/mentor program.

Another was about “Ideas for Schools in a Post-Normal Era,” where I heard about what students will need in this VUCA era (I will provide a treat on Monday for anyone who does their homework and looks this up), as well as “design thinking” and instilling empathy, “reframing the core” by taking normal extra-curriculars and making them curricular (such as all our specialty lessons.) I also heard about finding your values as a school and including the reflection of these in the children’s reports (hence our long end-of-year report which includes all of this!).  Then – I listened to the speaker talk about equity, justice, eco-literacy, building diversity into the curriculum, and transforming your school by committing to “loving the students unconditionally.” Let’s see -  check, check, check, check, check.

This is not to say we don't always have things to learn. I brought back tools for helping anxiety in the classroom, working with adults on how to explain differences with young children, thinking outside the box for the growth of the school, working diversity into leadership, and gathered plenty of inspiration for our teachers.

This conference was about how to re-imagine our schools and meet the needs of today’s children. We are in a world that is constantly changing. In the words of Simon Sinek, we are not playing a finite game. We don’t ‘win.’ Education is an infinite game. We are dedicated to creating beautiful human beings who can communicate, be vulnerable, patient, innovative, courageous, and have compassion and empathy. I learned that being an “infinite-minded leader” takes time. It is a lifestyle, not a goal.  I am committed.

(Please see below for Discussion with the Dean, as this will be the topic!)

“You are not a drop in the ocean. You are the entire ocean in a drop.”    Rumi

With all my gratitude,

Lisa