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

  It’s not always easy to raise a boy. There is seemingly a constant concern about the crisis in boys’ social development, mental and emotional health, and scholastic achievement. The cultural winds can batter and worry even the most optimistic parents among us. However, there’s ample evidence that boys can be successfully reached, can learn, grow, and be taught using proven pedagogy and an approach that focuses on the relational dimension of teaching and learning.  We focus on this relational dimension at Saint David's and, guided by our founding faith, we ground that dimension in kindness. As I wrote in my opening letter, kindness speaks to the core essence of a “good man” or a gentle-man. In fact, and in practice, going against a broader popular culture that does not always celebrate kindness is the work of our school.  Kindness does not necessarily equate to being "nice" or "cheerful." Acts of kindness can very well be keeping expectations for behavior high,...

The energy in Price Gymnasium soared last month as our faculty exhibited their professional development work to each other in a Summer Grant Showcase.  One faculty member researched boys' sense of self-efficacy in art—exploring how the integration of visual language prevents rejection of oneself as a competent artist, another anticipated employing her travels in Central Asia to incorporate a new art workshop in conjunction with fourth graders' Silk Road study, still others revised music and science units to deepen learners' understanding, according to our Teaching for Understanding framework. And there were so many more.  In total, during this past summer, 44 Saint David's faculty honed the art, craft, and science of their chosen profession, participating in professional development opportunities that varied widely in scope and type, but all with a common purpose: to advance their work in teaching and learning for boys at Saint David's School. In addition, two membe...

The following article by our School Psychologist, Dr. Michael Schwartzman, appears in the current issue of Saint David's Magazine : During one of my first observations in a Saint David’s classroom 15 years ago, I witnessed two first grade boys in a verbal altercation. Although it was contained just between the two boys, their observant teacher had them talk it through and then shake hands on being in a better place for having done so. I was very impressed, and still am, with this approach that the school takes many times throughout the day.  It helps establish a firm idea of how to behave, especially in social situations where emotions can be stirred and run high. Through this experience repeated consistently day in and day out, better, more productive ways of engaging become increasingly integrated by the boys as they develop socially and emotionally in interaction with each other.  As the School Psychologist, I spend a lot of time thinking about the touch points for student ...

"A Boy's Will is the Wind's Will" * Today we opened the school's 73rd year .....Below, I share thoughts from my Opening Letter which introduced our school-year theme, kindness . While on the rocky shores of Lake Como late this summer, enjoying family time before dropping my daughter off for study abroad, I couldn’t help but reflect upon my childhood on the banks of the mighty Clarence River. Ahh, the thoughts that race through a boy’s mind when he is playing on, in, or staring out over water—as Longfellow reminds us: “A boy’s will is the wind’s will” and sometimes, like William Kamkwamba’s parents**, we have to help our boys harness that wind. It’s not enough in the 21st century to be bright, intellectually engaged, physically active and healthy, and aesthetically aware, our boys also need to be spiritually attuned—people of character, respectful and appreciative of difference, connected to a sense of the greater good and grounded in a strong sense of who they ar...

Two recent culminating projects at the end of this school year - in the third and eighth grades - exemplify not only our "joyful balance" yearlong theme, but also how boys learn best: through active experiences that engage their attention, sustain their concentration, and result in superior performance. On Nerdy Derby Race Day, as the mini race cars fly down the 50-foot track (generously designed and constructed by a parent of one of our boys), there isn't an inexpressive face in the crowd. Our third graders, wide-eyed, excited, breath-held, wonder if the cars they designed, built, tested, and revised after several runs through the engineering cycle, have what it takes to be crowned the Fastest, Slowest. or King of the Hill.  The third grade Nerdy Derby is an interdisciplinary immersion in math, science, and artistic design. Our boys embrace this no-rules miniatures car building and racing competition. Weeks of collaborating on close observation, data gathering, and drawi...

Community is the human glue that binds us in good times and bad. It is never too early to invest in its cultivation. Even better is when it is worked into the curriculum, paying educational and socio-emotional dividends. Our kindergartners delve into a 360-degree exploration of community. They study themselves, their families, their school, and its surrounding community. On a tour of their school, they are introduced to the various departments, their functions and the "village" of people who "make it happen" for all of us at Saint David's. The boys travel beyond the walls of Saint David's during visits to Central Park, St. Thomas More Church, the Guggenheim, a Fire Station, and a pizza parlor. At each stop, they come to know the people and shared purpose behind the organizations and their contributions to their community. They also master new vocabulary, learn historical facts about the sites they visit, and draw real-world connections to their own lives.  D...

This past week, we celebrated the special relationships of fathers and mothers and those who assume these roles in the lives of our boys, in two of Saint David's traditions: the Seventh Grade Father-Son Book Talk and Dinner, and the Fifth Grade Mother-Son Chapel. Held in the spring of seventh grade just as our boys begin planning the transition to their next school and when their families are engaging in conversations about life and "what comes next," the Father (or father figure)-Son evening features a book talk by an author and focuses on the power of supportive and loving relationships. This year, we warmly welcomed Alum Ben Lindbergh '01, Regis and Georgetown graduate, staff writer for The Ringer and host of the Effectively Wild podcast for FanGraphs, to discuss The Only Rule Is It Has to Work , his book about his and fellow baseball analyst and co-author Sam Miller's adventure running an independent minor-league baseball team's operations using advanced s...