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Creating an Attitude for Learning

Creating an Attitude for Learning ABOUT A  2  MINUTE READ –  Real learning is an active, engaging and personally rewarding process. School should not be defined as a “place” to go. It is instead a journey of exploration, creation, challenge, and fulfillment. Growth and learning demands us to do things we have never done before. That definition can be either intimidating or exciting. Our attitude determines which it will be.  To create an attitude for learning, each day has to foster a frame of mind that encourages effort, perseverance, and celebration. As educators, it becomes our obligation to build an environment that allows for this intrinsic construction of the value of learning. A boarding school, with influence over both academic and residential aspects of life, can help to establish the habits that sustain a healthy attitude. Learning requires we start each day right. Starting the day right is essential. Teaching and learning requires good rest and readiness.  It starts with establishing an evening routine that allows you to feel ready...

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Teaching In The Woods

Teaching In The Woods ABOUT A 2 MINUTE READ –  2020 was a rough year that seemed to only get more challenging after trees lost their leaves, sunlight faded, and the cold seeped in deep.  As we begin 2021, even though the hours of sunlight are finally lengthening, winter is just starting in earnest and nothing less than a global pandemic still has us firmly in its grip.  Sweetness will come out of hiding We don’t just talk about resilience, we are surrounded by it. Just walk around our campus and you’ll see the ever-greens of hemlocks, pines, and firs. Tracks in the snow give away secrets of wildlife adapting and persevering.  Bright red berries, conspicuously uneaten, might also catch your eye. The berries of the local viburnums (otherwise known as American Highbush-Cranberry) taste and smell so bad that even the hungriest creatures this time of year say “no thank you.”  If you were to smush one between your fingertips and smell it you might say it smells acidic, sour, or musty. You might say it smells like a body part with a name similar to...

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Benefits of Residential Life Faculty: Lessons From Superheroes

Benefits Of Residential Life Faculty: Lessons From Superheroes ABOUT A 2 MINUTE READ –  I’ve loved reading comics (either in book form or in the Sunday paper) since I was just starting to read on my own. The stories varied from intergalactic space battles involving both sides of “the Force”, to teams of superheroes fighting supervillains, or just tussles with a madman in Gotham. But they all had an overarching theme: superheroes, either with their abilities thrust upon them or sought after, they were working with their brains and brawn to make their little corner of the galaxy, planet, or neighborhood better than it was before they got there.  Heroes aren’t going to be around forever… Sometimes frustratingly, I’d see that the hero removed the threat or villain from an area temporarily, but this didn’t help the humans in the long run, because what if the threat came back? The Caped Crusader and the Earth’s Mightiest Heroes aren’t going to be around forever, nor could they be in all places at all times. The humans needed to learn that they...

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3 Reasons A Small School Can Mean Big Things For Students

About a 3 minute read – Benefits of Small – Small schools can offer benefits that go beyond academic achievement and address the deeper personal and learning needs of students. The full experience of “school” can be dramatically different depending on the sense of community, the ability to form strong relationships, and class size, allowing the process of learning to be one full of wonder and joy. 

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How We Are Continuing To Educate and Inspire During Distance Learning

About a 5 Minute Read – Distance Education During Covid-19 During this unexpected time of distance learning due to the COVID-19 Pandemic, schools have had to pivot nearly overnight to change the way they are educating students. This has been an immense challenge for all schools – teachers, students, and families alike. At The Leelanau School, this unprecedented situation has allowed us to reflect and reconfirm the importance of why being an intentionally small, supportive community, focused on the individual student is so valuable. “The very nature of education is to help people discover the ability to do things they have never done before and such faith in the capacity of each person to rise to the challenge is the very essence of teaching.” – Rob Hansen, Head of School  

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