It’s amazing how leadership and vision can shape a school culture.

This year my wife have moved our family from Asia to the Middle East.  We’re are in a new school and a new environment. The outside world is hot and dusty, and in a perpetual state of construction.  In a sense so is the new school we are at.  However,  any school with some vision and understanding of students and lifelong learning, should be like this.  It’s only my first day, but I have had the opportunity to teach and watch other teachers, both in the hallways and in their classrooms, and I love the sense of community that has been created here through school wide expectations and explicit approaches to student management.  The hallways and classrooms have a general aura of success.  The success is not based on test scores or HW completed, but rather it feels like the school is trying to build an environment which kids can be successful being learners rather than temporary repositories of information.  Hey,  I know, its only my first day, but those are my thoughts.