Reflecting on Two Weeks at Columbia Teachers College

This winter, I had the great privilege of spending two weeks at Columbia University Teachers College as part of the Klingenstein Heads Fellowship. This long-standing, fully funded program brings together a small cohort of Heads of School each year to study with prominent educational researchers and to learn from one another.

I’m grateful to Columbia for inviting me to the program and to the Seven Hills leadership team for encouraging me to attend and for so effectively leading the school while I was away. 

In the spirit of the classic “what I did on my summer vacation” essay, I thought I’d share a few experiences I had and insights that I gained during my time at Teachers College.

The Role of a School in a Changing Era

Here’s a sign of the times. After landing at LaGuardia Airport, I got in a taxi and asked the driver to take me to the Upper West Side.

“What brings you to town?” he said. 

When I told him I was there for a meeting of school leaders, he replied, “Hey, so what are you gonna do about AI?”  

This is clearly a topic on everybody’s mind. Over the course of the two weeks at Teachers College, we did indeed discuss AI, as well as many other trends, patterns, and developments in society, from political partisanship to the adolescent mental health crisis.  

Through case studies, sessions with guest speakers, and discussions, we asked ourselves how schools can best meet this historical moment and best prepare students for a changing future.

I was reminded by how well Seven Hills’ mission statement encapsulates this need to prepare students for a “meaningful role in a rapidly changing world.”

The Cohort Effect

The program brought together 19 Heads of School from all over the world to learn together as a group. As powerful as the formal content of the program was, the informal “cohort effect” was equally so.

Living, working, and socializing together gave us opportunities to hold running conversations about our work in schools and to develop relationships and connections that will last beyond our two weeks together.  

In our formal sessions and our informal conversations alike, I was struck by how the group was able to develop ideas and insights that went far beyond what any one of us could have thought of on our own. 

Just as we see in our Seven Hills classrooms, I saw in my cohort the power of learning together as part of a community.

Leading through Listening

Researchers from Teachers College shared many different frameworks, concepts, and findings with us over the course of our two-week fellowship.  

Here’s one that really stuck with me: the concept that good leadership is about being a good listener.

Traditionally, Heads and other school leaders have been thought of as voluble talkers, the prime spokespeople for an institution. Yet to really know our schools and to be able to speak on behalf of them, we need to engage more in conversation than in soliloquies.  

I hope that the work of the past year and a half — including unification, strategic planning, and community building — has been grounded in listening to the many different voices and perspectives that make up our community.

Getting back to my hometown of New York to learn with a cohort of fellow Heads of School was an invaluable experience. My thanks again to Columbia University’s Klingenstein Center and to everyone here at Seven Hills for your support.