letters to Tokyo

Even though it is still very cold, the Spring Term has begun. My courses are…

Managing Financial Resources in Nonprofit Organizations (James Honan) – introductory course for financial management practices and problems for nonprofit organizations. I am considering converting a for-profit organization into a nonprofit. This course will provide guidelines for setting up the financial reporting system of the new nonprofit.

Good Work in education: where Excellence, Ethics and Engagement meet (Howard Gardner) – framework for identifying individuals and institutions that do Good Work. I will be doing research about young people and good work, a topic I have been interested in for several years.

Adult Development (Bob Kegan) – while most other courses at HGSE deal with educating the young, this course focuses on development of humans as adults. I will learn a lot on three levels: self-discovery, managing adults in an organization and understanding their development issues, understanding adolescents who are on the cusp of adulthood.

Continuation of two courses from previous term: Proseminar School Leadership and School Leadership in Nontraditional Settings.

One more to be added: either an independent project relating to the development of a Japanese language teaching website or Interdisciplinary Studies…. to be determined soon.

Some significant learning moments from the Fall Term…

Pro-seminar: School Leadership (Janice Jackson) – inspiration from Yo-Yo Ma’s commencement address at Williams College. Coming across Deal and Peterson’s Eight Roles of Symbolic Leaders, Rooke and Torbert’s 7 Transformations of Leadership.

Practicum on Leadership in Nontraditional Settings (Lee Teitel) – use of protocols, forming a network and learning to rely on feedback, becoming more reflective and meta-cogniizant. Also see Primary Source practicum placement.

Primary Source – practicum placement at a nonprofit organization that promotes global education by providing professional development for teachers. Documenting and showcasing the learning that is taking place in the classroom as a result of teacher training and professional development. Coordinating Japan Study Tour for maximum impact in the classroom.

Inquiry: Educating for the Unknown (David Perkins) – stretching my mind to think about education of the future. Re-reading Five Minds for the Future. Writing two articles: The How of Global Education: from Culture of Competition to Culture of Sharing and Networks of Schools for Global Understanding: a survey of network structures that link together global citizens of tomorrow.

Independent Secondary Schools (Tom Hassan) – studying under the incoming Principal of Phillips Exeter Academy. Using the Harkness Table and studying about practical aspects of independent secondary school management. Studying leadership style at the Loomis Chaffee School (see below).

FEP (Field Experience Program) – internship at the Loomis Chaffee School, creating recommendations for the Admissions Office and observing leadership style of new Head, Sheila Culbert. Applying Deal and Peterson’s Eight Roles of Symbolic Leaders to analyze how the Head leads through understanding culture and helping shape its course.

School visits: Academy of Pacific Rim, MATCH School, Loomis Chaffee School, Buckingham, Browne & Nichols.

I had the opportunity to visit a second grade classroom in the Arlington District in December.  This year, the study of Japan is incorporated in the social studies curriculum for all second graders in the district. I visited a class that was being taught by a teacher who had spent some time in Japan. The learning that was taking place was obvious when I stepped into the classroom. The children were very enthusiastic. They responded to directions given by the teacher in Japanese. They were self-motivated to go to activity stations and could explain to me which aspect of Japanese culture they were exploring. One child proudly showed me a picture he had drawn with the kanji characters for Japan written on it. Other children sang me the song “Teru Teru Bozu” (somewhat like a Japanese version of “Rain, Rain, Go Away” as they showed me the Teru Teru Bozu figures (looking like ghosts in the photo above) they had made to ensure good weather. The teacher was doing an amazing job making the students enthusiastic about Japan studies.

バッキンガムブラウン＆ニコルスはハーバードスクエアの近くにあるK-12（幼稚園から高校までの一貫校）です。１８８３年にハーバードの卒業生が設立した男子校とラドクリフカレッジの卒業生が設立した女子校が１９７４年の統合によってできた学校です。デイスクールなのでケンブリッジ、ボストン市内と郊外から１０００人の生徒が通学しています。校長先生のRebecca Uphamさんをインタビューすることができました。学校運営のことやBB&Nの国際教育への取り組みなど色々お話を伺うことができました。

クリントン政権時代の副大統領、２００７年のノーベル平和賞受賞者アル・ゴア氏が２００８年１０月２２日にハーバードでスピーチをしました。詳しくはこちらで．．．

１０月１８日と１９日に秋の風物詩、Head of the Charles Regattaが行われました。いつもは静かなチャールズ川沿いが人で埋め尽くされました。今年で４３回目で今では、世界最大級のレガッタになりました。男子、女子、シングル、ダブル、４人乗り、８人乗り、親子レースと２日間かけて様々なレースがあります。

I spent another weekend at the Loomis Chaffee School.  The campus was gorgeous this time of year. I hear spring time is breath-taking, too. I had a nice chat with the Head of Admission, Tom Southworth, and learned about the international population at Loomis. There are students from 20 countries and 25 states. It is quite a diverse campus.  21% of the students consider themselves students of color and 9% are international students. I think the school will continue to attract bright students from all over the world. I would love to see more students from Japan experience the rich curriculum at Loomis Chaffee.

再びLoomis Chaffeeに行きました。紅葉でキャンパスがよりいっそう美しくなっています。

アドミッションヘッドのトム・サウスワースさんとお話をしました。世界中から願書が届いているのですが、日本からの願書は少ないのでどんどんアプライしてほしいと言っていました。テン・スクールの中でも日本人生徒募集に積極的な学校だと思います。現在息子が留学中なので質問のある方は遠慮なくお聞きください。

It’s hard not to pay attention to news in the U.S.  I could spend the whole day just following what’s going on here but it occurred to me that I should pay a little attention to news from home.

The big one is Japanese win Nobel Prize/ 2 particle scientists share 2008 prize with Japan-born American (Daily Yomiuri).

The sad news is Actor Ken Ogata dies at 71 (The Mainichi Daily News). This took me by surprise. I had no idea Ken Ogata was sick. A big loss following Paul Newman’s death.

The alarming one: Nikkei plunges 9.4% on crisis fears (AP).

The surprising one: the dollar broke below Yen 100 (WSJ) really?

and finally, the very strange… Skinny dipper invades moat around Imperial Palace (CNN) 

Following up on my earlier post about the Academy of the Pacific Rim (APR) … college awareness starts very early at APR. The 5th and 6th grade homerooms are named after colleges: Princeton, Williams, Georgetown, Tulane, Wake Forest, Brown, Stanford, BC, BU, Duke and Johns Hopkins (Harvard did not make the list…) I would worry if this was done at a fancy private school or hyper-competitive public school. However, for a charter school that is trying to plant the seed of awareness of college, this is a great way to make the concept of college as destination visible at a young age.