Duke School Under the Oak Magazine, Fall 2020

Duke School’s commitment to professional
development. It is remarkable. I feel like Duke
School does more than any place I can imagine
in terms of keeping us on the cutting edge of
what is happening in progressive education.
It’s phenomenal! Then, there’s the collegiality
among the staff. Everybody will share
everything! You have a new idea, you share it
with your colleagues. I think we have grown to
feel that by sharing what we are learning, trying
and finding success with everybody else, makes
us all better. I think it puts us in a unique place
in the community.
Debbie: This is this is what I think I’ve learned:
There is no end game in teaching. I’ve been
back to graduate school twice in my career.
The last time I started graduate school at the
age of 60, and every time I’ve done a graduate
program, it has been “I’ve got to find the
answer. The answer is here.” And it’s not. It is
not a finite field. There is no end. It is always
going to be evolving. And you always have to
just grow and change. This is the place where
you just keep growing and you get better and
better each time. But it never stops. So be a
lifelong educator and a lifelong learner.
Rebecca: I really want to hear your words of
wisdom for me.
Rebecca: Mic drop. That’s great advice,
Debbie. I’m keeping that in my pocket.
A Former Student’s Perspective:
Debbie and Rebecca continue to “talk shop”—sharing memories
and examining education in today’s world.
Debbie: What do you remember about
kindergarten?
Rebecca: I remember the classroom being
so big. We came in and walked down these
little stairs to get to the room. And it was
huge in my eyes. I remember you being so
kind. I feel like I remember snuggling in the
loft with my classmates. But this is where I get
emotional—I don’t remember a whole lot about
the kindergarten year in school. This is the sad
thing. I remember going in for show and tell
and I decided that my “tell” to the kids in my
class was that I couldn’t hug my mom because
she was getting radiation therapy.
Debbie: That is the thing that defined your
year in kindergarten for me. I don’t think I’d
ever taught a child who had to deal with that.
Rebecca: And we should say out loud…
My mom was diagnosed with brain cancer in
December of that year.
What do you remember about talking to my
parents? Because I assume that they would
have wanted to sit down with you, or at least
had a phone call about it.
Debbie: I remember your mom talking to me
at a conference and telling me about how she
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