At this week's Round Table, Ava, Madeline, and Maya spoke with Tim Fish, Chief Innovation Officer of National Association of Independent Schools, which works with 2000 private schools nationally. Prior to this, Tim was a headmaster, which informs his lens on leadership and student learning—as does his experience as the father of four kids! Despite 32 years of experience now, Tim’s work is still fueled by his experience as a brand new teacher who didn’t know anything and found himself staring at an empty file cabinet and trying to figure out how to fill it. He initially thought his job as an educator was to talk as much as possible but learned over time that it is to listen and to create conditions within which learning can be constructed. Tim describes his pedagogical philosophy as “structured agency,” within which teachers give back the power and provide students with voice and choice in order to promote self-determination and self-direction. He shared a core conundrum of caring educators wanting to help—and hating seeing students struggle—but recognizing that the learning comes in the struggle. We talked about differences (and similarities) between independent and public schools—and whether the absence of standardized testing promotes more creativity; what innovation looks like within the seemingly traditional and entitled culture of independent schools; what’s working in innovation–and the preconditions for it; and how well high schools are–or aren’t–providing youth for college. We think you’ll get a lot out of this episode. Thanks for listening!
