Both general sessions today were fantastic! John Hunter was the morning keynote speaker and he shared a film “World Peace and Other 4th Grade Achievements” Watch the 3 minute trailer here http://worldpeacegame.org/the-film/trailer and you too will be inspired. The closing keynote speaker was Amy Chua, a Yale Law School Professor and author of “Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother” which has resulted in media portrayals of Amy as a monster mom. Amy is tough, funny, and forthright with her explanations of western vs eastern parenting styles and she does not apologize for it. You go girl!

The workshop I enjoyed the most today – FOLIO: Faculty Evaluation Grounded in Honest Dialogue Informed by Real Data presented by McDonogh School in Maryland. The Asst Head (former Dir IT) & team created a customized evaluation system they dub as the “FOLIO”. It is a web based system that uses Danielson broadly and focuses more on reflection and growth. Caveman simple was their criteria and it really is that simple.

Fellowship for Aspiring School Heads www.nais/org/go/fellowship The program includes workshops, leadership assessments, a mentor relationship, peer and professional coaching, a series of webinars, and a focused school project, all throughout the course of one year.

Another workshop worth mentioning featured technology vendor FINALSITE www.finalsite.com The vendor presented with a client – The Oakridge School from Arlington, Texas – and featured how Oakridge created and implemented its own APP for mobile users. Go to itunes and download the app. Could you imagine KS creating its own app for parents, students, staff, alumni of all programs to download via itunes and have their calendars, alerts, etc. be instantly updated? 🙂