Stuart Grauer's Blog

Whippoorwill’s singing Soft summer breeze Makes me think of my baby I left down in New Orleans I left down in New Orleans When you read a verse like that, pure summer perfection, you could almost throw in the towel on writing. That’s “Magnolia,” by J.J. Cale, who died a year or so ago, and […]

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“Try to think of your whole life as a unity, rather than a series of unrelated fragments.”    —Prior Bichiellina (to Michelangelo)   Outside in shimmering, early day heat, throngs of people move past the rows of scooters, wild palettes of gelatos and pizzas. A restaurant I peer into has just one table. If you follow […]

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“Mission lacks meaning …having a strong brand strategy is critical.”  (M.L. Kadison, NAIS Independent Ideas, 2017)   Summertime, circa 2017. Another year of mad marketing come and gone. This just in: mission is dead—it’s all about brand. Another year of nearly pulling our hair out to stay in the moment and out front, at once, […]

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We are running this powerful graduation keynote address, first, as an expression of our permanent gratitude for the life and service of retiring school counselor and legendary educator, Tricia Shemwell, and second, as an expression of her educational legacy and what it will mean for leadership in the future. Gratitude for Tricia Shemwell, Retiring Grauer […]

The post She Believed In Me – Gratitude for Tricia Shemwell appeared first on The Grauer School.

One of the most important predictors of school engagement and success is how connected students feel toward their teachers and their peers. A great school is continually developing and renewing a culture of connectedness and mutual respect—students feel connected to their teachers and their peers. You can see that connecting going on practically wherever you […]

The post Connectedness (School Evaluation for 2016-2017) appeared first on The Grauer School.

A Culture of Self-Directed Learners and Independent Thinkers: “Students are more engaged in their learning” Researchers have long studied the connection between student and teacher’s perceptions of school climate and academic engagement and achievement. More recently, we have begun to understand the importance of parent perceptions on these same outcomes. At The Grauer School, we […]

The post The Harvard Parent Engagement Survey – 2016-2017 Results appeared first on The Grauer School.

At the risk of sidetracking you before you even get into this column, I invite you first to watch this breathtaking, four-minute performance by Courtney C. (Grauer class of 2017) and to give it a grade (click on the link below to watch the video): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iCvkF... Ready now?  Here’s the question: How would this amazing […]

The post The Next-Generation of School Transcripts: “The Coin of the Realm” appeared first on The Grauer School.

“The more I worked, the more I knew I could have less boundaries.”- Grauer School Senior Graduation Candidate Interesting lives are lived by people who can weave interesting things into interesting stories. Schools who can teach and encourage students to produce such stories can create masterpieces. At a growing number of leading schools, senior candidates […]

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~ Part I. By Stuart Grauer (Head of School) ~ Part II. By Jesse Giessow (Grauer parent)   Part I. Introduction: The Impact of Green Spaces on Learning and Development I arrived in San Diego in the 1980s and soon began touring all the local campuses.  (That’s what I call fun.) One of my favorite […]

The post Leaving a Legacy of Leaving Things Alone appeared first on The Grauer School.

I remember the chafe and soft thud of dry logs landing on burning kindling. The fire picking up. And I remember the circle forming around the fire on the sand at the edge of the water. The scrubby hill sloped down to the shoreline and we were nestled into that hillside, so we could see […]

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