BrewsterConnections(PDF) - Brewster Academy

Dr. Cooper, a Klingenstein Fellow
In mid-winter, Dr. Cooper packed his suitcase and laptop, said
goodbye to his wife Andrea and their dog Tess, and left home for
school. For two weeks he was a fellow at the Klingenstein Center
at Teachers College Columbia University. As far as we know, he had no
BMPs, was always in dress code, and called home frequently.
His classmates were a select group of 19 other heads of school from
around the world who were chosen for the prestigious fellowship “that
offers talented individuals the time and resources for renewal and
reflection about their passion and their work in the company of equally
committed peers.”
Upon his return to campus, Dr. Cooper reflected on his fellowship at
Klingenstein’s Heads of Schools Program.
What attracted you to the Klingenstein Heads
program?
In the independent education world the Klingenstein program has an
excellent reputation. I was impressed with the opportunities it offered and
had heard from past participants that it was an excellent experience.
Also, being in my ninth year as head, I was looking forward to the
professional renewal component. I have always been interested in learning
and value lifelong learning. We certainly talk to our students about the
importance of being lifelong learners so it was an opportunity to practice
what I preach.
What was the program focus?
Each participant had to complete an individual research project on a
contemporary issue that we wanted to get more involved with. This
involved researching what literature has been written on the topic,
formulating a better understanding of the topic, and then presenting this
understanding in a paper, followed by a presentation of findings to my
peers. It was nice being fully immersed in school, as I had the time to fully
concentrate on the assignment.
In concert with Brewster’s emotional literacy program, I chose to focus
on the role that emotions play in decision making. We see the results
of students’ decisions and we ask ourselves ‘Why did they do that? …
They know the consequences.’ We know that the area of the brain that is
responsible for decision making is not fully developed in adolescents, and
we also know that in adolescents risk taking goes up considerably in the
presence of peers.
Research indicates that intervention programs do make a difference in
students’ choices, but we also know that imparting students with skills
and awareness won’t always prevent them from making some risky
decisions. My research reinforced that giving adolescents the tools to help
regulate their emotions can make a difference and thus the emotional
literacy program in place at Brewster is an opportunity to introduce
more skills and awareness so students can learn to take that split second
to think about their decision, and the consequences, and hopefully make a
different choice.
What did you like best?
There was a component where we worked with master’s candidates
enrolled in Columbia’s graduate program. Most of these students have
worked at independent schools as teachers, dorm parents, and coaches
and aspire to be heads of school.
My cohort had developed case studies of challenges that have happened
throughout our careers. This was a fairly comprehensive process to write
these cases and then we sat with the graduate students through two fairly
lengthy sessions and talked to them about the details of each and their
outcomes. The process afforded the students to see the many facets to
issues that heads confront and how decisions can go in many directions
depending upon the school, its culture, and situation being considered.
Working with them was one of the highlights. They were sponges, and
they valued the time they had and exposure to working with heads
of schools. The setting was enlightening for them as they were able to
spend time with us and really see the nuances associated with a head’s
position and decisions that have to be made. They realized that there are
so many facets that go into decisions, whether it’s related to curriculum,
the budget, personnel, or even the dismissal of a student, and from my
perspective it felt good ‘to impart this wisdom’ on the students.
We also spent a session on governance with these students because
the majority of them have little experience working with a board. We
helped them to better understand what represents good governance at an
independent school. In the end, it is the intent of the Klingenstein Center
to have these reflections published as seminal lessons.
We had a number of sessions on technology and pedagogy and the
importance of leadership within this realm. In many respects most of the
schools represented were well beyond the issues being discussed. Because
of our independence, we have been able to get out ahead of what’s on the
horizon for secondary education. Certainly a good example of that is our
early entry into being a laptop school and how that has helped to shape
our pedagogy through the Brewster Model.
12 BrewsterConnections – Spring 2012