Tag: writing

Head’s Corner: Lighthouse Parenting

This blog was inspired by Russell Shaw’s Atlantic essay, “Lighthouse Parents Have More Confident Kids.” Shaw’s description of the lighthouse parent—a steady adult who offers guidance and support without trying to control every part of a child’s journey—gave me a useful way to think about the work we do with children at Saklan.

Parenting did not become a commonly used verb until around 1970.

Before that, people were simply parents.

Since then, parenting has become something we study, measure, and constantly try to improve. There are books, podcasts, experts, courses, apps, and endless advice about how to raise children well.

Developmental psychologist Alison Gopnik suggests that instead of seeing children as people with whom we are in relationship, we can begin to see them as projects whose outcomes we are responsible for producing.

She describes the difference as being like the difference between a carpenter and a gardener.

I do not think she is far off.

Along the way, we have developed all sorts of labels for parents: helicopter parents, snowplow parents, tiger parents, free-range parents, concierge parents, and more. 

But the image that best reflects the kind of parenting we try to encourage at Saklan is the lighthouse parent.

Think of a lighthouse as a steady presence. It offers light, direction, and warning when rocks lie ahead. But it does not pursue the boat, take the wheel, or eliminate the waves.

That is something I fail at regularly.

When my daughter Finn struggles, my instinct is often to fix the problem. A few months ago, I saw a student who was visibly upset and sitting alone. I went over to help. I asked questions about what was wrong and what I could do.

It was not helping. In fact, the tears increased.

Finn was nearby and came over to whisper in my ear, “Daddy, talking does not help. You always do that.” 

She was right.

Sometimes the most helpful thing we can do is not offer a solution immediately. Sometimes (most times?) our children need us to listen, acknowledge what is hard, and give them room to find their way through the experience.

When I am at my best, I ask: “Do you want to be heard, to be hugged, or to be helped?”

That question communicates I hear you, I am here for you, I believe you can handle this.

That does not mean we leave children on their own. Lighthouse parenting is not passive parenting. Lighthouses still warn us about danger. They provide guidance and boundaries. They shine a light when the way forward is unclear.

But they do not calm the waves or move the rocks- nor should they.

At Saklan, we believe children are capable. We believe mistakes are part of learning. We believe clear boundaries express care. And we believe that struggle is healthy.

We cannot make the water perfectly calm for our children. Nor should we want to. Children need opportunities to face challenges, take risks, recover from mistakes, repair relationships, and discover that they are more capable than they realized.

Our work is to provide the steady light they need to find their way.

Warmly, 

David 

What Is Democracy?

What is the meaning of the word “democracy”?

That was the question Saklan’s eighth graders explored as they launched their 2026 Midterm Elections study. Before diving into the details of elections and the political process, students first took a step back to consider the meaning of one of the central ideas behind them: democracy.

To begin, the class read and discussed a series of quotes about democracy. Students considered different perspectives, shared their interpretations, and began thinking about what ideas and values are at the heart of a democratic society.

Defining Democracy Through Words and Images

Next, students were invited to contribute to a classroom display by choosing one of two creative responses.

They could create a sketch in response to the question, “What image or symbol might we use to represent democracy?” Or, they could write their own definition of democracy.

The different responses allowed students to explore the concept from both visual and written perspectives. What symbols represent democracy? What values are essential to it? What does democracy look like in practice?

Finally, the class came together for a group brainstorm. Students shared their ideas and identified the concepts they felt were most important to include in a collective definition of democracy.

Their ideas were brought together into a final list that is on display in the Saklan Library, creating a student-generated definition that will serve as a starting point for their continued exploration throughout the elections unit.

By beginning with a question rather than a predetermined definition, our eighth graders are learning that understanding democracy requires more than memorizing a word. It requires asking questions, considering different perspectives, listening to others, and thinking critically about the ideas that shape our communities and our world.

Head’s Corner: Making Space for the Fire

This morning, Saklan families gathered around a campfire to begin our first “Discussions with David.” It was a time carved out to slow down and build community.

The center of our morning was Judy Brown’s poem “Fire.” The poem describes how a fire needs space between the logs to breathe and grow. Too much wood packed too tightly can extinguish a fire just as surely as a lack of fuel.

That image stayed with me.

In our lives, we spend much of our time thinking about the logs: the email inbox, projects, schedules, events, routines, getting kids here or there, planning dinner, responsibilities, and activities that fill our days. All of those things matter. 

But “Fire” reminded me that the spaces in between are meant to let the fire breathe, and are as important as the logs. The moment we pause to really listen. The conversation that continues around the dinner table after a child shares something that happened at school. The time families spend getting to know one another at CLAS, culminations, or over a weekend playdate. The invitation that helps someone feel included and welcomed in the life of our community. The willingness to ask a question, share a perspective, or just listen with intention—even when family schedules are full, mornings are rushed, and everyone is carrying the ordinary joys and challenges of daily life.

Those spaces are where relationships grow.

As we begin this school year, I hope we can continue creating more of those spaces at Saklan. Our children benefit when the adults around them are connected and working together. Partnership does not mean that we will always agree or see things in exactly the same way. It means that we communicate, listen, and remember that we are all here because we care deeply about our children and this community.

Thank you to everyone who joined us and helped make the morning so special. I left feeling grateful for the community we are building together—and reminded that sometimes the most important work begins when we slow down and make a little more space.

Our next “Discussions with David” will be a Drumming Edition on Friday, October 2. Isaac, Saklan’s African drumming teacher, will join us to share how drumming helps develop listening, communication, and collaboration skills—and, yes, we will all have a chance to drum. 

I hope you’ll join us.

Warmly, 

David

#SaklanCommunity #HeadsCorner

Second Graders Become Published Authors

Saklan’s second graders recently celebrated the culmination of their Project Based Learning unit, The Secret Life of Seeds, by becoming published authors and sharing their work with younger students across campus.

Centered around the driving question, If a seed could talk, what story would it tell about how it travels?, the project invited students to combine scientific inquiry with imagination and storytelling. Throughout the unit, students explored the many ways seeds travel, survive, and grow, studying methods of seed dispersal such as wind, water, and animals. Each student selected a specific seed to research before creating an original narrative that followed the seed’s unique journey.

As students moved through the writing process, they experienced firsthand how ideas develop and strengthen over time. Early brainstorming and planning sessions helped students organize both the scientific concepts they wanted to teach and the creative elements they hoped to include in their stories. During drafting, students experimented with voice, dialogue, and storytelling techniques as they transformed seeds into characters with adventures, challenges, and destinations.

Revision became one of the most meaningful parts of the project. Students carefully reread their work to strengthen descriptions, clarify scientific explanations, and make their stories more engaging for readers. Peer feedback conversations encouraged students to think about their writing in new ways and reinforced the idea that strong writing develops through reflection, collaboration, and persistence.

The project culminated in a series of “Meet the Author” events held in the library with ECE, Kindergarten, and First Grade classes. During these special visits, second graders proudly read their published books aloud, answered questions about their stories and scientific research, and stepped into the role of confident authors and experts. Sharing their work with younger students gave second graders an authentic audience and highlighted the meaningful connections between literacy, science, and community.

The Secret Life of Seeds beautifully reflected the inquiry, creativity, and communication that are central to Saklan’s Project Based Learning approach. Most importantly, students experienced the joy and power of using their voices and ideas to teach, inspire, and connect with others.

#SaklanProjectWork

Head’s Corner: What Kind of Childhood Are We Trying to Protect?

When I was a child, I routinely got into trouble. (Hard to believe, right?)

I grew up in a Detroit neighborhood with lots of friends and neighbors around. Most of the trouble we got into could best be described as “good trouble.” Staying out past the time the streetlights came on. Using the entire city block to play tag, running through neighbors’ backyards with friends, cutting across lawns. Nothing serious. Nothing mean-spirited. Just the ordinary trouble of childhood: testing boundaries, losing track of time, and discovering the world beyond adult eyes.

Looking back, I am struck by how much learning was tucked inside those moments. We were practicing judgment, negotiating with friends, taking small risks, and discovering what it felt like to be trusted.

I have been thinking about this because of two things I have been reading: The Amazing Generation and a new report from the Institute for Family Studies, High Tech, Low Play: The Life of American Children. Together, they point to something many of us sense: children need more than protection from the virtual world. They need more opportunities to experience the real one.

What struck me most in the report was a simple but unsettling idea: many children today are highly protected in the physical world, yet relatively unprotected in the digital one. They have access to screens earlier and more often, while having fewer opportunities to roam, play, take small risks, and build independence with friends.

That imbalance gives me pause.

Many children today can wander widely online before they are trusted to wander very far in real life. They may have access to enormous digital worlds before they have had enough practice navigating the physical one.

This is not to say we should simply recreate the childhoods we remember. The world has changed. But children still need opportunities to stretch, explore, decide, negotiate, and discover their own capabilities.

That is one reason I am drawn to The Amazing Generation, by Jonathan Haidt. Its invitation is not simply for children to put down their screens, but to imagine what they might pick up instead: more freedom, more friendship, more movement, more play, more responsibility, and more real-life adventure.

So what kind of childhood are we trying to protect?

One with enough safety to feel held, and enough freedom to grow. One with adults close enough to guide, but not so close that children never get to practice. One with room for play, movement, friendship, responsibility, and the small, good trouble that helps children discover their capacity.

And maybe that is the real invitation — not just to give children fewer screens, but to give them more childhood.

Sincerely,

David

Improving Saklan’s Community Spaces

Saklan’s seventh-grade students have been exploring the role of community spaces through an engaging Humanities Project Based Learning unit centered on the driving question: How can we improve our shared public spaces to better meet the needs and reflect the values of our community?

As the culminating project for the unit, students are developing thoughtful and practical proposals for improving one of the most meaningful shared spaces in their daily lives: The Saklan School campus. Families are invited to join the seventh graders on Wednesday, May 20, at 10:15 a.m. in the Humanities Room to hear students present their ideas for enhancing our campus community.

The project began with students reflecting on the changes already made to Saklan’s campus during the current school year. Together, they identified several updates, including the addition of all-gender bathrooms in the Lower School, a new net above the sports court fence, the construction of the redwood deck, and the installation of larger middle school lockers. Working in small groups, students evaluated whether these changes improved the campus experience and considered how they might be enhanced further.

From there, students conducted a detailed assessment of the school grounds, examining buildings, outdoor areas, and the campus perimeter. Each group identified spaces that were functioning successfully, areas that could be improved, and the reasons behind their evaluations. This process encouraged students to think critically about how design impacts the way people interact with and experience shared environments.

The unit then expanded into a historical exploration of community spaces in pre-Columbian Mesoamerican civilizations. Through a gallery walk featuring unlabeled images from the Maya, Aztec/Mexica, and Inka civilizations, students analyzed architecture and public spaces while considering the cultural values they reflected. Students also engaged in discussions about the legacy of Christopher Columbus, examining differing perspectives on why he remains widely recognized and whether he should continue to be celebrated.

Working in expert groups, students studied one of the three civilizations in greater depth, learning about the geography, climate, and major achievements that shaped each society. Individually, students then selected a pre-Columbian structure or community space to investigate more closely. They explored why the space was created, how it was used, what needs it fulfilled, the materials used in its construction, and the factors that influenced its design.

As students continued refining their understanding of successful community spaces, they also examined examples from the modern world, including a visit to a contemporary temple. Throughout the process, students connected lessons from the past and present to their own campus community, using their research and observations to inform their final proposals.

The project has encouraged seventh graders to think deeply about the relationship between physical spaces and community values, while empowering them to imagine how thoughtful design can improve everyday experiences for others.

#SaklanProjectWork #SaklanCommunity

Once Upon a Time in Kindergarten

Kindergarten students at Saklan have been immersed in a magical world of storytelling as their Project work has focused on fairy tale writing. The classroom has been filled with excitement as students bring imaginative characters and adventures to life. Dragons, evil magicians, brave princesses, talking animals, and mysterious villains have all found their way into their original stories.

While the final stories are full of creativity and humor, students are also learning an important lesson about the writing process: strong writing begins long before the final draft. Weeks earlier, students engaged in a carefully scaffolded planning process designed to build an understanding of story structure and organization.

Using a color-coded system, students mapped out their ideas across six parts of a narrative: introducing the main character, beginning the adventure, presenting the problem and villain, building to the “uh oh” moment, resolving the conflict, and concluding with a happily ever after. By focusing on just a few sections at a time, students were able to thoughtfully develop their stories and gain confidence in structuring their ideas.

Once their plans were complete, students eagerly began the writing process. Over the following weeks, the classroom buzzed with focused energy as young authors transformed their plans into full fairy tales. To support their work, students used a growing class word bank, along with table-specific word lists, to help with spelling and vocabulary. They also leaned on one another, asking questions, offering suggestions, and celebrating each other’s ideas along the way.

This collaborative and supportive environment helped students not only strengthen their writing skills but also develop confidence and independence. The process was both challenging and rewarding, resulting in stories that are as unique as the students themselves.

You are invited to experience these original fairy tales firsthand during the Kindergarten culmination on Friday, May 15, at 9:00 a.m. It promises to be a joyful celebration of creativity, growth, and storytelling!

#SaklanProjectWork

Cross-Divisional Project Collaboration

Beyond reading buddies, Saklan projects are intentionally designed for meaningful student collaboration that authentically supports academic growth. This spring, middle school is using their music production skills for kindergarten’s fairy tale recordings, 6th grade helped 1st graders organize their expository writing, and 4th graders helped our Pre-K Hoot Owls refine their Venn diagram skills! 

Kindergarten and Middle School Music Production

How can we write and share our own fairy tales to spread magic and joy? Through answering this driving question, Kindergarten students have learned the elements of fairy tales and deepened their reading, writing, listening, and speaking skills to write and record their own original fairy tale stories. 

In preparation for their readers-theater style culmination on May 15th, students recorded their stories, and middle school students are creating original backing tracks to support the narrative elements of the fairy tale. Sound mixing the Kindergarten stories gives our middle schoolers an authentic application of their digital music production skills.

6th Grade and 1st Grade Expository Writing

All year 6th graders have worked on expository writing in Humanities. Recently, while preparing to write artifact labels for their PBL unit culmination, the Museum of the Future, sixth graders reviewed structure and organization in expository writing. To practice this work, sixth graders analyzed 1st grade report writing drafts on extreme weather. They completed individual writing conferences to support improving the structure and organization of the first-grade reports. Not only did the first graders get to work with the big kids in a middle school classroom, but the sixth graders had the opportunity to grapple with the deeper cognitive task of teaching and explaining elements of writing to a younger child. This work improved the content of the first-grade reports and solidified the sixth grader’s understanding of writing structures and organization, while building community across divisions.

Hoot Owl and 4th Grade Venn Diagrams

Venn diagrams are a useful tool for many grade levels to demonstrate understanding of academic content. This spring, our Pre-K class has been learning all about oceans while their 4th-grade reading buddies have been working on a PBL unit about the California Gold Rush. Both classes planned to use Venn diagrams as a learning tool, and teachers needed an opportunity for some one-on-one teaching and practice. It was natural for these classes to connect and engage in some cross-divisional content learning! 

With fourth graders guiding the learning, the buddies made Venn diagrams all about each other! They chatted and recorded what they had in common and what was different about each other. As they got to know each other better by completing the diagram, both classes also deepened their understanding of how to use a Venn diagram. When each class returned to their own project work, they employed the same learning tool at different developmental levels with different content.  

If you want to see final products and culminating events, stay tuned for the next week at Saklan emails for updates on ways to come see and celebrate our students’ spring project work!

#SaklanProjectWork

The Secret Life of Seeds

One main goal of our project work at Saklan is authentic learning that connects to the students’ world outside of the school walls. One beautiful example of how deep academic work and authentic learning come together is the current 2nd-grade PBL unit called The Secret Life of Seeds. In this unit, the students are working to answer the driving question: If a seed could tell its own story, how could we use it to teach others about seed dispersal?

Through a blend of science labs, expository reading, imaginative story boarding and script writing, Saklan’s 2nd graders are learning how seeds travel and move through their growth cycle. They visited the Berkeley Botanical Garden, dissected foods to learn how fruit is a “suitcase” for seeds, and playfully considered how seeds move from place to place- some seeds hitch a ride on fur, feathers, or even shoes, while others are eaten and later deposited in new locations. 

These hands-on experiences, which are at the core of every Saklan PBL unit, help students see the world around them in new and complex ways while also driving authentic inquiry. Recently, students have wondered: Why do some fruits have many seeds while others only have one? Why are some seeds tiny and others large? How does the fruit help the seed survive its journey?

Next, students will be taking all their science learning to create stories of their own about different types of seeds and the journeys they take to grow. This work reflects the heart of Saklan’s approach—where academic content and creativity come together, and where students’ voices and ideas shine.

In the coming weeks, all three divisions will be sharing their project work culminations. Families are warmly invited to join in celebrating student learning and to experience firsthand what makes Saklan’s project work so meaningful.

#SaklanProjectWork

Head’s Corner: 24 Acceptances, 1 Waitlist, and a Class Ready for What Comes Next

There are some years when the numbers tell a strong story on their own. This is one of those years. Saklan’s 8th-grade class submitted 25 applications to local independent high schools and earned 24 acceptances, along with 1 waitlist.

That is an outstanding result, and one we are proud to celebrate.

Our students received offers from an excellent group of schools, including Athenian, College Prep, Head-Royce, Bentley, Carondelet, De La Salle, and St. Mary’s. But as strong as those outcomes are, what matters most to me is what they reflect.

They reflect years of growth—students who are deeply known by their teachers and supported along the way. They reflect young people who have learned to think critically, speak with confidence, navigate challenges, and contribute meaningfully to a community. Most importantly, they reflect students who are not only academically prepared but ready to step into their next chapter with confidence, character, and curiosity.

At Saklan, we work hard to do both: challenge students and know them deeply. We want them to leave here with strong skills, certainly, but also with the confidence that comes from being seen, supported, and stretched over time.

Saklan alum Levi Kim, now at Brown, spoke at our auction about the impact Saklan had on him. He talked about the adaptability, critical thinking, empathy, and creativity he developed here — and how those qualities have mattered well beyond middle school. That is what we hope for our students. Yes, a Saklan education helps open doors. But more importantly, it helps students walk through those doors ready to thrive.

That is what makes these admissions results so meaningful.

I am proud of this class and of the way they represented themselves throughout the process. They showed who they are, and these results reflect that. We are excited to see where their journeys lead next.

Warmly,

David