NEXT Chapter: Unboundary
On Feb. 29, 2012, students from the Westminster 8th grade Writing Workshop team that produces our Wildcat Press Xpress posted this podcast interview with me. Thanks WPX!
CURRENT Chapter:
Bo Adams serves The Westminster Schools as the principal of the Junior High School. Bo received his appointment to the faculty in 1995, and he began his principal role in 2003. For most of his years at Westminster, Bo has coached cross-country running. During the 1999-00 and 2000-01 academic years, Bo served as Sixth Grade Boys Grade Chair. During the 2001-02 and 2002-03 academic years, Bo fulfilled the role of Director of Studies for the Junior High School. In 2006-07, Bo helped co-found and establish The Center for Teaching at The Westminster Schools. In 2010-11, with Jill Gough, Bo co-created and co-facilitated an interdisciplinary, community-issues, problem-solving course called Synergy 8 for eighth-grade students; Synergy 8 remains his primary pursuit as a “classroom teacher.”
As Bo evolves as an educator and school administrator, he sees himself as not only the principal teacher, but primarily as the principal learner of the Junior High – his passions reside in being a “lead learner” in his division, as well as in the school. Professionally, his research and practice centers among topics such as professional learning communities (PLCs), assessment, change theory, brain-based learning, project and problem-based learning (PBL), integrated studies. Additionally, Bo regularly pursues deeper understanding in the area of “schools of the future and the future of schools.” Personally, Bo is married to Anne-Brown Adams, and he has two sons – Phillip and Jackson. Bo loves to read, write, run, bike, and kayak.
At Westminster, Bo fully engages the Faculty Assessment and Annual Review (FAAR) Plan. Below is a link to a matrix of resources which houses Bo’s annual goals, administrative evaluations, etc.
SAMPLES of Bo’s engagement with Westminster’s FAAR Plan.
SAMPLES of Conference Attendance, Professional Learning, and Presentations:
2011-12
- Bo is a regular participant in the TEDxAtlanta community.
- Mississippi Council of Teachers of Mathematics (MCTM), Keynote with Jill Gough, September 2011 (Formative Assessment & Professional Learning Communities)
- SACS-SAIS Accrediting Team for Ravenscroft School, October 2011
- Kindezi Charter School, Project-based Learning Workshop, Co-facilitating with Jill Gough, October 2011 and February 2012
- EduCon 2.4, “Synergy-Questions are the way points on the path of wisdom,” Co-facilitating Conversation on PBL with Jill Gough, January 27-29, 2012 (launched Synergy2Learn blog)
- Professional Learning Communities Keynote and Workshop, Co-facilitating with Jill Gough, Randolph School, February 17, 2012
- Innovation in Education, NAIS Annual Conference Workshop, Co-facilitating with Jamie Baker, Lee Burns, and Grant Lichtman, February 29, 2012
- High Museum of Art (Atlanta) – “STEM to STEAM: The Meaning of Innovation” with John Maeda, President of Rhode Island School of Design (RISD), March 19, 2012 [related Huffington Post article]
- Mount Vernon Presbyterian School Design Summit, attending, March 23, 2012
- The Lovett School American Studies Institute: “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised? American Culture: 1970-present,” June 7-8, 2012
- The 2012 Martin Institute Summer Conference: Teaching for Tomorrow, June 13-14, 2012
2010-11
- INMAX: Innovation in Schools, June 2011, Co-speaker with Jill Gough (Learnopolis: Professional Learning Communities)
- Project-based Learning Workshop, Center for Teaching Summer Institute, June 2011 – Co-Facilitator with Jill Gough
- Professional Learning Communities Facilitation, Center for Teaching Summer Institute, June 2011 – Co-Facilitator with Jill Gough
- Sabbatical focused on Schools of the Future and the Future of Schools, March-April 2011 (Included internship at Unboundary, as well as schools visits such as The Lovett School, Trinity School, Brightworks, The Bay School, St. Gregory)
- TEDxAtlanta Creativ!ty, April 2011, and RE:SOLVE, September 2010
- Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD), Annual Conference, March 2011
- Learning Forward (formerly NSDC), Annual Conference, January 2011
- 21st Century Learning Summit, Solution Tree, October 2010
2009-10
- TEDx Atlanta RE:LEARN, Speaker (“Infrastructural Learner-preneurship”), May 2010, and RE:PURPOSE attendee, January 2010
- Professional Learning Communities Summit, Solution Tree, February 2010
- Learning and the Brain Institute: Modern Brains in the Digital Age, November 2009
- Assessment Summit, Solution Tree, October 2009
- Professional Learning Communities at Work Institute, Solution Tree, August 2009
2008-09 (and earlier) – Under Construction
[...] I learned about Tavi last weekend from the principal of the iSchool in New York City, a dynamic educator named Alisa Berger. I saw Alisa present about the iSchool at a phenomenal conference in Philadelphia called Educon (about which I will blog next week — Educon rocked my world and introduced me to two educators from The Westminster Schools in Atlanta who have become fast friends, and with whom I look forward to collaborating in the future, Jill Gough and Bo Adams). [...]
[...] finding and solving course focused on community issues”, taught by colleagues and friends Bo Adams and Jill Gough. This course is helping 8th grade students to take a break from chasing grades and [...]