Dawson Blog Archive
List of 40 news stories.
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The Abundant Benefits of Bike Riding
My father likes to jokingly retell the story of when he taught me how to ride a bike and how he questioned if I would ever learn. We both remember the skinned knees, him running behind me holding on to the big banana seat, and his letting go without my knowledge (until he yelled, “You’re doing it!”, which caused me to turn my head, panic, and promptly crash). Learning to ride a bike was an expectation in our house, and the countless “let’s try again” frustrations on both of our parts are embedded in our memories. My sister and I started with big wheels before graduating to bicycles with training wheels and eventually to two-wheelers. We biked for exercise, pleasure, and freedom, and I rode my bike to school every day as my mode of transportation.Read More -
The Importance of STEAM Education for the Next Generation
Dawson’s real-world exposure to STEAM allows students to see value in using their creativity, explore diverse social elements through partnerships, develop the intrinsic motivation to succeed through passion projects, and promote mastery of a given subject through commitment and confidence. They research, brainstorm, and hypothesize novel solutions and achieve outcomes that hopefully result in positive and meaningful change. And we start early, embedding STEAM lessons throughout Early Childhood and Lower School so students have a solid foundation once they enter Middle School and are developmentally prepared to take on more profound, actionable projects.Read More -
We Believe in Modern Spaces for Modern Learning
Read MoreEach Dawson student is one of a kind and just as our approach toward world readiness has evolved, it’s now time for the physical landscape of our campus to follow suit. With the School’s commitment to philanthropy as the guide, our goal is to further enhance more innovative and creative spaces across our school campus that are designed to meet the modern learning needs of our students. -
Unplug Your Child Before Bed
Read MoreIn anticipation of turning in their phones to Advisory every morning, it is evident that our students’ lives are fully integrated with technology and social media. They pour into the halls while sending that final morning text or taking one last glance at TikTok. For children and teens, regulating phone use can be quite difficult in general, but it becomes especially challenging at night without supervision.According to data from the Challenge Success-Stanford Survey of Adolescent School Experiences administered to our Middle Schoolers in November 2022, 55 percent of Dawson students go to bed with their cell phones. Allowing someone whose decision-making is still developing to keep a device in their bedroom can increase the temptation to scroll when parents believe they are sound asleep. The act of browsing before trying to sleep may have a detrimental effect on their rest. Unbeknownst to kids, the blue light radiating from their device decreases their natural levels of melatonin, leaving – according to a new study – almost half of America’s teens sleep deprived. The level of sleep deprivation has grown as student phone ownership has increased. -
Purpose & Progress Through Service-Learning Projects
Read MoreEach year, Dawson engages in a school-wide service-learning initiative that helps unite us in one purpose as one community. During the winter season, the School partnered with Foster Kinship to fulfill the Winter Wishes of local children. Foster Kinship’s mission is to strengthen kinship caregivers’ capacity to provide safe, stable, permanent, and nurturing homes for children so they do not enter the state foster care system and instead remain with extended family members. -
The Purposeful Synergy of PBL & Play
At Dawson, Project-Based Learning (PBL) brings education to life for our students. Creative, playful inspiration bounces around the classroom while students actively absorb academic concepts that include design, critical thinking, data interpretation, collaborative planning, and compromise. And rest assured, the three Rs are always reinforced through PBL: knowledge of math is built upon, and reading and writing skills are challenged.Read More
This fall, Ms. Greenspan’s kindergarten class endeavored to build a haunted house. Not just any haunted house, however. This house had to be large enough for at least one student to play. Thought-provoking discovery questions arose, such as, where should the windows be placed so all students can see? What should the roof look like? How many doors should be cut into the house? And so many more curiosities yet to be answered. -
Challenge Success: The Benefits of Developing the Whole Child
Read MoreIn alignment with the Challenge Success philosophy, Dawson provides students and families with information and strategies to create a more balanced and academically fulfilling life for kids. We partner with families to help children strengthen their sense of self, increase their motivation and critical-thinking skills, and learn how to effectively deal with life’s inevitable challenges.This fall, we had the distinct privilege of welcoming Dr. Denise Pope, co-founder of Challenge Success and senior lecturer at Stanford University’s Graduate School of Education, to campus to meet with families, faculty, and students. During the Parent University presentation, Dr. Pope explained the guiding principles of the “developing the whole child” approach and how Dawson applies the Challenge Success SPACE Framework to create a student-centered learning environment. She also shared the results of a recent Dawson student data collection and how parents can partner with the school community in support of creating the foundation that is necessary for children to grow into well-rounded, healthy individuals. -
Cultivating a Lifelong Love of Reading and Writing
Read MoreDawson’s robust literacy program nurtures a love of reading and writing through an integrated, relevant curriculum aligned with The Science of Reading research and Being a Reader and Being a Writer programs. We know using a common scope and sequence for phonics and high-frequency word instruction is beneficial for our students as they advance in their Dawson journey. The continuity of the routines, instructional practices, and consistent and concise language across grade levels is a strength of our program. And we are proud that it reflects what the research says kids need in order to become capable readers and writers. -
Level Up: The Driving Force Behind Dawson's School-wide Throughline
Dawson’s school-wide throughline this year is “Level Up.” The power of a community-accepted throughline can cultivate a mindset that encourages a lifetime of improvement, growth and the joys of becoming our better selves. Read more about the intention for this year's message in our latest blog.Read More
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Early Childhood Butterfly Project
Read MoreWith Dawson’s commitment to modern learning, all of our families have heard the term Project-Based Learning (PBL). But they may not yet fully understand what it means and how modern learning is accomplished through the PBL process. The Early Childhood Butterfly Project, led by teacher Katie Figg, is one incredible example of how Dawson delivers this inquiry-based approach to teaching new information and demonstrating how learning takes shape. -
Dawson's Class Placement Process
Every spring as the school year draws to a close, there is a particular topic that begins to permeate the conversations of our Dawson students, teachers and parents alike: class placements.Read More -
How Students Find Their Place After Dawson
Read MoreThere is a big world beyond the walls of The Alexander Dawson School. The next step for our graduates is high school, and we understand the importance of addressing the academic expectations and needs of our outgoing students so they can continue to meet their personal potential in the future. And while our students experience myriad emotions as they exit the doors as eighth-graders, we are confident that they are prepared to meet the challenges of that big world. -
Using Challenge Success Strategies at Home
As Nevada’s first Challenge Success partner school, The Alexander Dawson School is in an important position to educate the community about this Stanford University-affiliated program and the role it plays in the lives of Dawson students. Dawson’s most recent Parent University discussion titled “The Well-Balanced Student”, led by Head of School Roxanne Stansbury and Director of EC-1 Amanda Murray-Musgrave, highlighted the Challenge Success program, what it looks like at Dawson, and some helpful ways parents can utilize Challenge Success strategies at home.Read More -
Why the Dawson Community is Stronger Together
Read MoreEach year, Dawson faculty and staff choose a throughline that helps anchor our greater purpose and keeps our community connected. Head of School Roxanne Stansbury shares her take on this year’s throughline, Stronger Together, and what it means to the Dawson community. -
Dawson Alum Profile: Lauren ('06) & Carmen ('08) Hollifield
When the Hollifield family relocated from Washington, D.C. to Las Vegas in 2001, Lauren and Carmen joined the Dawson community in the School's second year as fourth and second-grade students, respectively. Lauren graduated from the eighth grade in 2006 and Carmen graduated in 2008, and now 20 years after they first became Dawson Bears, both sisters have pursued advanced degrees and careers in medicine, crediting the Dawson experience with making a huge impact on their educational and professional paths.Read More -
The Academic Architect of Dawson’s Future
For the upcoming 2021-22 academic year, the School is incredibly excited to announce Dr. Brandon Wiley’s new title of Chief Academic Officer. The change for this position, originally Director of Teaching and Learning, is due to the large breadth of responsibilities and comprehensive understanding of student learning and success, educational research, and program integrity required and demonstrated to make ours a school ready for the future.Read More -
How a Banana Helped Shape Dawson’s Community & Culture
Modern learning concepts are illustratively woven throughout our quarterly seventh-grade genius hour insights course, a class where students working in small, collaborative teams apply the design-thinking process to solve real-world problems challenging our community. Students use their agency and important critical-thinking skills to identify a unique learning path and discover outcomes based upon one simple challenge: How can we all work together, in partnership, to make Dawson a better place?Read More -
More Than Just Competitive Gaming: Leveraging Esports As A Learning Experience
Read MoreA new and emerging trend throughout K-12 education is the creation of esports programs. At The Alexander Dawson School in Las Vegas, Nevada, our esports elective course is one of the most popular. Now, a question: Did you immediately envision students mindlessly playing video games in a classroom for 50 minutes? We wouldn’t be surprised if you did. In spite of its global popularity and exponential growth as an industry, the term esports still evokes for many the image of hypnotized children playing video games alone in their rooms for hours on end. But those of us who teach esports courses and run esports school teams and leagues know that it is not only a legitimate sport, it’s also a terrific vehicle through which to teach a host of valuable education-based and interpersonal soft skills. -
The Parent-Partnership Dance
Twenty-one years ago, I prepared for my first parent-teacher conference as a fifth-grade teacher at The Alexander Dawson School. With sweaty palms and a nervous stomach, I was intimidated to meet families who invested a great deal of time, energy, and money into their child’s education. Receiving the best education possible was a priority to these families, and I assumed this was their sole priority. I knew their expectations would be high and their questions would be tough. Those nerves lasted until I was about 10 minutes into my first conference when I realized we all shared the same endgame: We wanted their child to grow into the best version of themselves.Read More -
This Isn’t an Upbeat Education Blog
A Special Note (1/06/2021): Over the course of winter break, I wrote this blog about the challenges of keeping a school open during the pandemic, firmly believing that with some time away from campus to reflect on the year so far - more specifically, on the need to continue supporting each other through the next wave of the pandemic by “holding” one another - it would help me and others feel more connected and hopeful about the new year and new semester. I could have never anticipated that five days after we shared this blog, our community would suffer an indescribable loss with the tragic passing on New Year’s Day of a bright, vivacious Dawson eighth-grade student.Read More
This blog uses tidal waves as a metaphor for the challenges that the pandemic has wrought; this was a different tidal wave to hit our campus and unlike all the processes and protocols we put in place to control some of the effects of the pandemic, there is simply no way to prepare for the loss of a life. Over and over, the sorrow and disbelief continue to slam into each Dawson student, family, faculty, and staff member who knew her. Our collective grieving has just begun, and the only way to work our way through it is together, as one school community. For me, the concept of holding is more real and precious than ever before, and we must continue to hold one another without judgment or expectation. It is in this spirit that we are resharing this blog post. While framed within the context of the pandemic, we hope the general emotions and thoughts the blog conveys are relatable on a larger scale and the resources shared on grief and holding are just as helpful. -
Q&A with Dawson's DEI Instructional Designer Kelisha Everage
Read MoreWhen The Alexander Dawson School reopened in August, the leadership team made clear the important goal to develop competencies and take actions that continue to build diversity, equity, and inclusion throughout the Dawson experience. More than ever, it is important to take the words of Dawson’s Diversity Statement and Core Beliefs to heart as we work together to model for our children what it means to be agents of positive change. Together, all members of the School community must remain unwavering in our commitment to helping our children build communities where everyone truly feels valued, safe, and accepted.To help lead our community in this important work, Dawson faculty member Kelisha Everage has taken on a new role at the School: In addition to being a sixth-grade advisor and math teacher this year, she has stepped into a leadership position as Dawson’s diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) instructional designer. Learn more about her responsibilities and passion for this work in this Q&A. -
Parenting During a Pandemic
When Dr. Michael Thompson, clinical child psychologist and New York Times best-selling author, began his Dawson Parent University presentation, he opened with a simple but powerful acknowledgement: In his more than 50 years of work with children and independent schools, this is one of the most challenging times for families he’s ever experienced. Whether a family is facing the loss of employment, managing health concerns, balancing working remotely in conjunction with a child’s distance education needs, or even grappling with the inability to see friends and family, the pandemic has made the grim trifecta of worry, stress, and fear a part of daily life for most of us. The demands on parents of young children in particular have grown exponentially, and a healthy work-life balance difficult to maintain, which makes how we care for ourselves and each other more important than ever. Yet, as Dr. Thompson notes, the most important thing parents must remember is they are not struggling alone.Read More -
Discover Your Voice
Read MoreUntold Stories. Brave Voices. Courage Over Comfort. Discover Your Voice.To the uninitiated, it’s easy to assume these buzz words are trending hashtags you’ll find sprinkled throughout social media. But at The Alexander Dawson School, these phrases are our School’s thoughtfully developed throughlines, common threads that imbue our students’ learning with relevance and deeply connect us to our Mission, Vision, and Core Beliefs. In Dawson’s first Zoomcast of the 2020-2021 school year, Head of School Roxanne Stansbury and Assistant Head of School Andrew Bishop discussed this year’s throughline, Discover Your Voice, and why one common purpose as the foundation for what we do every day is more important than ever. -
Flexibility, Self-Talk, and Stamina: How to Immunize Your Child Against Uncertainty
Read MoreDuring a pandemic, when kids face canceled summer trips, postponed playdates, and missed celebrations, how do we equip them to pivot when plans and routines change? The solution is building their executive functioning – soft skills such as cognitive flexibility, stamina, and positive self-talk–that will serve them as they transition back to school and encounter uncertainties during this new academic year. -
The Pandemic Opens the Door for Reimagined Learning
Situated at the edge of the Spring Mountains and the Red Rock National Conservation Area, our 33-acre Dawson home of flexible space and modern learning abruptly shut down in March. We left our classrooms filled with tangible remnants of the Dawson Bears spirit and headed into an indefinite distance learning reality. Hard questions emerged about how we might maintain who we are as a school while managing a crisis that was beleaguering our community. We grappled with so many uncertainties: What’s a Google Meet? How will we persevere? How do we still continue to provide safe spaces for our students? How can we build connections, provide a climate of care, and allow equitable access to educational experiences through devices? Will we be able to recreate what is unique about our Dawson community, virtually?Read More -
Authenticity and Collaboration in an Online Setting
Dawson’s pivot to distance learning is a differentiator. From planning to execution to content, our faculty is leading the way in how to design a program that is best for kids. In our latest Zoomcast episode on distance learning, we hear from Assistant Head of School Roxanne Stansbury, Assistant Head of School for Advancement Andrew Bishop, and incredible faculty members Matt Reynolds, Nikki Baker, Hung Le, and Simon Hunt on how Dawson maintains authenticity and collaboration in an online setting. This blog post will complement that discussion and include key examples and links.Read More -
Introducing Dr. Brandon Wiley, Dawson's New Director of Teaching & Learning
Read MoreAfter an extensive and thorough nation-wide search of several prestigious candidates, The Alexander Dawson School is pleased to announce the hiring of a new director of teaching and learning as a member of our leadership team. -
The Importance of Wellness
Read MoreCognitive excess. Digital overload. Grief and rebirth. Connection and isolation. The COVID-19 global pandemic has closed the curtain on life as we once knew it, and everyone is talking about the latest article, blog, or website that addresses our new reality.The National Association for Independent Schools (NAIS) recently hosted a webinar in which experts predicted one of the biggest secondary public health consequences from COVID-19: mental health issues. The coronavirus pandemic has caused extreme anxiety by adding stress on families, particularly financially and emotionally, and has forced us to ask ourselves what an authentic, virtual relationship looks like. -
Distance Learning: A Journey of Discovery
In the early twentieth century, American philosopher and scholar John Dewey said, “If we teach today’s students as we taught yesterday’s, we rob them of tomorrow.” Perhaps, as our country embarks upon a virtual education journey due to the COVID-19 pandemic, this statement is even more relevant now than it was at the time. Schools across the country have been forced to quickly pivot their educational plans without notice, and administrators are challenged with determining if curriculum should be synchronous (students engaging in real-time lessons) or asynchronous (students completing lessons independently).Read More -
Supporting Students at Home During a Pandemic
Read MoreAs schools around the world close as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, families face the challenging task of transitioning to at-home learning for an estimated or indefinite period of time. Some schools are quickly pivoting to a distance learning module, as we have done at The Alexander Dawson School, while many are still figuring out how to continue educating and feeding our youth in the midst of so much uncertainty. Whether a school has the ability to provide at-home learning or not, we know our children’s routines and expectations and family life as we know it are significantly disrupted. Although some situations may present challenging behaviors, it’s important to remember all emotions are OK. Parents can incorporate the common language used in school, including Social Thinking vocabulary and the Zones of Regulation, to support children during this time. -
Keep Social Media In Check By Creating Balance
Read MoreSocial media. Just the mere mention of it can elicit a collective groan from all within earshot. It’s the thing almost everyone hates to love, yet the thing in which almost everyone loves to partake. From pictures of our daily meals to throwbacks of our most embarrassing photos, it’s easy to fall down the rabbit hole when perusing your newsfeed or dreamily reliving some of your most favorite memories. Even as adults, it’s difficult to draw the line; I myself must admit that I am guilty of experiencing FOMO (or, anxiety and apprehension caused by the “Fear of Missing Out” for those of you who don’t know) when I see others having what I perceive to be fun in their online posts. Yet, because I am an adult, I also have the knowhow to realize when it’s time to put myself on hiatus and take a break. But are kids capable of this same self-awareness and understanding? Through the many ages and stages of adolescence, children and teens vacillate from adult-like independence to awkward self-consciousness, from curiosity about the vast world around them to introvertly locking themselves away in their rooms, from enthusiasm over family dinner to only seeking the approval of their peers. So how can we, as the adults in their lives, help kids strike a healthy balance? Enter Rosalind Wiseman. -
Let Kids Sleep In
Dawson commits a lot of time and resources toward examining the student experience; every evaluation and decision begins with our students in mind. Whether it’s the class schedule, guest speakers, service-learning programs, facilities updates, recess, lunch menus, athletics, or homework loads, we constantly look for ways to improve and meet our students’ needs by asking, “How can we encourage our students to build self-efficacy and support their wellbeing while also showing parents the value of a Dawson education?”Read More -
Setting a Nightly Homework Routine that Works for Any Child
Read MoreMy favorite of the questions we pose to applicants during their admissions interview is: What do you want to know about Dawson? I’ve heard some pretty great answers throughout the years, such as, “How would you describe the teachers here?” Others’ answers have made me laugh: “How did they get the bear to leave those footprints on the sidewalk?” And one, from a child who had spent the previous weekend house-shopping with his parents, stumped me entirely: “How many square feet is the Dining Hall?” But after meeting dozens of applicants, by far the most popular question is: “How much homework will I have to do?” -
What Our Kids are Missing While They Stare at Their Screens
Read MoreThere are pros and cons to growing up as the daughter of two clinical psychologists. Pro: Listening to them dissect the behavior of people around me made me an emotionally attuned, empathetic person. Con: No video games.“Atari turns your brain to mush.” That’s what they told me and my little brother, the lone kids on the block who couldn’t hold our own during Ms. Pac-Man tournaments in our friends’ basements, joysticks slipping around in our unpracticed hands like sticks of butter. It wasn’t until recently, as I began reading the emerging body of research regarding the effects of screen time on the young brain, that I realized my parents had given me a gift. -
The State of Your Tech and Engineering Courses (Hint: They May Be Boring)
As an administrator, when was the last time you considered the state of your technology and engineering classes? Take a look at your course catalog. Your school probably offers computer science, a coding elective, an engineering-type course, and some kind of catch-all digital literacy class (yawn). Have you ever wondered why every school has courses similar to yours? Have you considered how to differentiate your electives from everyone else? Have you taken time within the last five years to evaluate whether or not they are what’s best for student learning? Are they even relevant anymore? My guess is no, they are not, not in the way we see them taught in many schools. Let me generalize here.Read More -
Courage Over Comfort
What is the difference between a great TED Talk and a mediocre one? Sure, we can all agree that speaking ability is very important, as is an interesting story. But those at TED would tell you, aside from speaking ability and a good story, the single most important element that distinguishes a successful TED Talk is the establishment of a throughline, which is the thread woven throughout a story that connects various themes to one central arc or greater meaning. Writers, too, from Toni Morrison to JK Rowling, understand the critical importance of establishing powerful throughlines that anchor themes or plots and help drive and shape the narrative of their novels. Without a throughline, there is no greater takeaway or idea for a reader or listener to hold onto, and the opportunity for deeper learning and reflection is lost.Read More -
Learning to Code
At Dawson, we believe wholeheartedly in providing an education where the student is the driver of the learning, and the teacher acts as a facilitator and mentor. Giving our students true ownership over their educational journey is one of the primary differentiators of a Dawson education. This philosophy is threaded through every subject, though it is often visibly evident in our middle school technology courses.Read More -
Parenting From a Place of Fear
Read MoreThere are two universal myths far too many parents believe: One, overall success in life is determined by which college their child attends and, two, experiencing failure is bad for their child’s self-esteem. -
Why I Love Doing Science at Dawson
Read MoreThrough no plan of my own, I find myself looking back on a career teaching science, doing scientific research, and training others to teach science. It all started in 1994 when, as a middle school humanities teacher, I was given the opportunity to attend the National Science Teachers Association regional conference. Why? Who knows! At that time, I just thought, “Sweet, a free trip to Las Vegas.” Who would have thought attending one session at that conference would change the way I educated students forever? -
How to Choose a Quality Early Childhood Program
Choosing an early childhood program can be both overwhelming and intimidating. The quality of instruction can vary considerably, so parents must become informed consumers. This requires investing time, energy, and research into making a decision that is best for your child and family.Read More
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The Alexander Dawson School
The Alexander Dawson School at Rainbow Mountain, an independent school located on 33-acres in the community of Summerlin, is Nevada’s first Stanford University Challenge Success partner school for students in early childhood through grade eight. Utilizing the unique Challenge Success framework, Dawson uses research-based strategies and programs that emphasize student academics, wellbeing, and a healthy school-life balance to create more engaged, motivated, and resilient learners and leaders. At Dawson, students achieve their individual potential while savoring life and meeting the challenges of the world.