Focus in an Age of Distraction

It has been reported that even elite college students are unable to handle assignments that involve reading large amounts of text. The average adult human attention span is said to have decreased. We are constantly multi-tasking, scrolling through social media feeds, contending with distractions that beckon us. Much praise is often given to multitaskers, but science tells us that the human brain cannot focus effectively on two things at once.

While social media's algorithms may hook us into spending extended periods of time on a particular feed, we are losing our ability to devote time to deep thought, critical analysis, problem-solving, and the encoding and decoding associated with person-to-person communication—all essential to securing and maintaining high level employment and leading a meaningful, purposeful life.

So what to do? Great schools often need to be countercultural. At Saint David's, we stand committed to the written word and the book. Reading asks us to engage in deep thinking, imagining, synthesizing, analyzing, and evaluating. We have several libraries, each filled with books of every genre, where at any point in the day you can find a boy immersed in research or engaged with literature.

In addition, this week, published authors Adam Gidwitz and Jason Miletsky visited with boys in all grades to share the art, craft, inspiration, and process behind their writing.

We are committed to intellectual depth across the curriculum. In science, math, literature, and art, we ask our boys to be inquisitive, curious, to take risks and not fear failure, whether for an inquiry-based math investigation, a STEAM science project, or a history unit. For example, our seventh graders are currently studying ancient Greece and Rome in history. Last week, aligned with their studies, they performed excerpts from the Oresteia, Aeschylus's trilogy, which consists of Agamemnon, The Libation Bearers, and The Eumenides. This Greek tragedy, which deals with the murder of Agamemnon by his wife Clytemnestra, and its aftermath, pursues universal themes like the endless cycle of revenge, quest for justice, consequences of betrayal, and the gift of mercy.

The boys interpreted the various roles, commanded the dialogue, and delivered their lines with clear comprehension of these themes and issues in a play that was written in the 5th century BCE. They were able to attain these levels of understanding because they are learning the value of going deeper, of "staying with it" until mastery is achieved.

The Wisdom Within - A Matter of Trust

The Teaching Boys Initiative (TBI) is a cornerstone of Saint David’s School’s strategic vision, aimed at developing a robust framework of evidence-based best practices in boys’ education. The initiative’s primary goal is to empower educators with the knowledge, skills, habits, and dispositions of reflective practitioners, enhancing their professional growth and the overall quality of teaching and learning for boys. In TBI's new quarterly blog series, "The Wisdom Within," our faculty share stories that inform, inspire, and encourage reflective practice using evidence-based approaches in teaching and learning for boys. The following inaugural entry, "A Matter of Trust," was written by reflective practitioner and Master Teacher Tom Ryan, who has been inspiring generations of Saint David's boys for more than 53 years. A MATTER OF TRUST …but, I digress. I cannot possibly begin any writing piece, and/or class, without some digression that, as I have said to my s...

"The Wisdom Within" - Bringing Sound to Space

In the second entry of our Teaching Boys Initiative's quarterly blog series, "The Wisdom Within," Saint David's reflective practitioner and Master Teacher Cathy O'Neill explores the pedagogical power of play in the education of young boys. BRINGING SOUND TO SPACE It began with a mound of mangled metal and the vapor of a vision gleaned from recent comments and random fact-dropping by the Pre-K boys. Unsure of what exactly I was looking for, but fueled by the idea of a makeshift rocket to dovetail with our upcoming space unit, I gingerly picked through the scrap pile until my hands grazed an old VW control panel devoid of its dashboard. Eureka! An array of knobs, dials, and buttons - while in reality, dead as doornails - in the right small hands, would become the epicenter of our NASA-inspired dramatic play corner. With a couple of lawn chairs and some old CB radio microphones to round out the set, engines would be ignited by the power of imagination. All systems go...

Jack Mullin '12 : Reflections on a Mom's Love

The Chapel talk tradition at Saint David's provides faculty and alumni with the opportunity to share with our boys meaningful and inspiring personal stories: their experiences, lessons learned, challenges overcome. The annual Fifth Grade Mother-Son Chapel gathers our fifth-grade boys and their mothers or mother figures for a special shared pre-Mother's Day experience; a Chapel Talk by a young alumnus who reflects upon the role his mother has played in his life. This year, we welcomed former Student Council President Jack Mullin '12. Jack's family has deep roots with school. His older brother Patrick graduated in '08 and his dad, Terry, in 1973. Jack's talk centered on the impact both his alma mater and his mother, Immy, have had on his development into the man he is today. Below are excerpts that I would like to share: "My family's multi-generational lineage is a testament to the incredible sense of community Saint David’s fosters, and I too hope I have...

David O'Halloran, Headmaster - Saint David's School, New York City

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