2
SPRING 2016
Office of the
PRESIDENT
FROM THE
ARTHURRAIMO
President
These days, while walking about the beautiful grounds, one can’t help but notice the campus
improvements that are, inonesense, transforming theAcademy.Whether it’s thestartof construction
on the Bailey Family Center for the Arts, the newly opened parking garage, the Bailey and SYKES
InnovationLabs, theartificial turfon theathletic fieldsandplaygroundareas,orobserving thestudents
activelyusing their iPads andMacBooks, the changes are striking andportend evengreater things to
come.Asencouragingandexcitingas these thingsare,however, theyareonlypartof thestoryofwhat
ishappeningat theAcademy.
Over the past few years, insructors have been slowly but surely transforming the way they teach.
There has been a shift away from teacher-centered instruction to a model that is concernedmore
with student learning andunderstanding. Focusingon the needs of students as individuals is quite a
challenge, and it is an additional requirement for 21st century teachers. Themodel is no longer one-
size-fits-all, but what can be done to guarantee success for each child? Certainly, knowledge of the
subjectmatter is essential for great teaching, but it isnot enough. The equally critical part is to know
how to inspirestudentsso theyactivelywant to learn thematerial. Inspiringstudentshas longbeena
hallmarkof anAcademy education, andwhen coupledwithnew strategies andways to engage all of
our students, thepotential isalmost limitless.
Inhisrecentbook“CreativeSchools,”authorandeducational leaderKenRobinsonwrites the following:
Great teachersare theheart of great schools. In their various roles, theycan fulfill these three
essential purposes for students:
Inspiration
– They inspire their studentswith their own passion for their disciplines and to
achieveat thehighest levelswithin them.
Confidence
–Theyhelp their studentsacquire theskillsandknowledge theyneed tobecome
confident, independent learners who can continue to develop their understanding and
expertise.
Creativity
–Theyenable their students toexperiment, inquire, askquestionsanddevelop the
skillsanddispositionof original thinking.
