Outside/Inside

I’ll start by apologizing for the weather — no, really! I’m sorry about all the delays at the start of the day. I know it throws your day for a loop. I’ve never spent so much time looking at weather…

Bumps in the road by Ben Chant

We don’t like to see our children in pain or frustrated. We want them to be happy, and as much as we know a life without frustration is impossible, and not even a good thing, we still try to smooth…

We make our own luck — Ben Chant

We are lucky to be here at the school. We’re lucky for where PDS is situated, in Poughkeepsie, in the heart of the Hudson Valley. And we’re lucky because of the people who are here now, and because of those…

…and we’re off!

The first week of school is always exciting for grown ups as well as children, but there’s also relief when Friday evening comes, and as an adult you can look back and say, “Right! We’re back to school! Let’s get…

A Portrait of Us

Building community means getting to know each other. And that means time. Last week we had the first ASA (all-school-activity) of the year and it was a lot of fun. This year teachers have divided up the activities for the…

The End of Expertise

Here’s a interestingly provocative article for all of us in education. How Much Do we Need to Know? by Peter Evans-Greenwood. It opens with: We used to be defined by what we knew. But today, knowing too much can be…

“I am not a scientist”

I’m tired of the weasel-worded politicians who trot out “I am not a scientist” when asked a rational question that has the potential to challenge a deeply held, irrational, ignorant ideology. When the threat of  a shred of reality, logic,…

Creativity in the Classroom: The Commodore Amiga and PDS

It’s the 30th anniversary of the Commodore Amiga computer.  This is apparently the machine that introduced a whole new world of computer gaming for a generation of users. This is a cause of great celebration in the retro computing crowd.…

Mockingbirds on Trial

I haven’t read Go Set a Watchman and I’m not sure I will. I did read the first chapter in The Guardian and was not particularly impressed. If Harper Lee did not want it published then she didn’t want it…

Crikey! It’s #Blimage

Finally – at long last – the old desks were taken to the basement for storage. There they sat for two decades -surplus to requirements, replaced by moulded plastic, steel and aluminum –  gathering dust and shedding memories. The lidded…