Mission
The Center for Mission & Academics
Mission Moments
SEPTEMBER, 2021
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Rely on Mission to Make Good Decisions
By Linda Pryor, Executive Director, The Center for Mission & AcademicsRead More
Education has the reputation of being a trend chaser - always looking for that magic bullet, that next big thing that will change how we help young people learn. The result is a good deal of change in curricula, pedagogical instructional strategies, terminology, and textbooks. And yes, some of these trends or new approaches have been positive and helpful. But, in my opinion, others have taken K12 education down the wrong path. For example, grammar instruction is currently on the outs. Inventive spelling has not proven itself. And sadly, memorization has been given a bad name - drill and kill - to name just a few.
APRIL 2021
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A Year of Change: When Expecting Less is Not Always Best
Read MoreBy Linda Pryor, Executive Director, The Center for Mission & AcademicsAs we move swiftly to the end of the school year, making plans to celebrate our Class of 2021 graduates, we cannot help but think about our “Portrait of a Brookfield Academy Graduate.” The Portrait is a description of the characteristics that have been taught, cultivated, and celebrated for each of our students during their BA journey. This document, written by the faculty, inspires us as we begin our school year, and fills us with pride as our graduates cross the stage and receive their diplomas each May. Given this year of COVID-19 and the many changes we have endured, tweaks to our course of action at BA might be considered acceptable -- including shifted goals and reduced expectations. Some might suggest that it’s okay to look for less.
March 2021
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Teaching Students to Choose the Good
Read MoreBy Linda Pryor, Executive Director of Mission & AcademicsBrookfield Academy offers students a classical education with an emphasis on character development. How do these two aspects of our program work together?
February 2021
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Critical Thinking: A Vital Tool for Students
Read MoreBy Linda Pryor, Executive Director of Mission & Academics
In his book, The Global Achievement Gap, Dr. Tony Wagner outlines seven skills that he has identified from his research gathered while talking to many CEOs and successful business owners regarding the skills that our students will need when they graduate and want to enter the workplace. He proposes that these skills will be needed to succeed in the 21st-century global economy but will also be important for students to become engaged and contributing members of our democracy.
JANUARY 2021
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Character in the Classroom
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Lessons of good character are embedded into every aspect of Brookfield Academy, but exactly how does one “teach” good character?
DECEMBER 2020
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A Commonly Overlooked, Wondrous Family Gift
Read MoreBy Linda Pryor, Executive Director of Mission & Academics
If you want a child to know the truth, tell him the truth. If you want a child to love the truth, tell him a story. ~ Andrew Peterson, author
The gift of the 2020 pandemic is the slowed pace which offers us more quiet time with our families, our children. So what activities are we doing with this unexpected gift of togetherness?
NOVEMBER 2020
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Perspectives: The Value of a BA Education
Read MoreBy Dr. Larry Pesch, Executive Director of AdvancementWhen discussing a school’s success, we often hear theorists talk about the importance of a strong school culture. Establishing values and beliefs that have the potential to create positive behaviors and actions are the foundation of a strong school culture.
OCTOBER 2020
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The US Constitution: A Look Back and A Look Ahead
Read MoreBy Jonathan Koenig, Appellate Division Chief in the U.S. Attorney's Office, Eastern District of Wisconsin and a BA Parent.
(The following is a condensed version of Brookfield Academy’s American Character Series Presentation on September 17, 2020.)I am privileged to work for the United States Department of Justice, the views I express today are my own.The story of our Constitution is—I hope—familiar. Delegates met in 1787 in Philadelphia with the mission of revising the Articles of Confederation, which had loosely bound the states together since the end of the American Revolution a few years earlier.
September 2020
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Embracing Challenge at Brookfield Academy
By Linda Pryor, Executive Director of Mission & AcademicsRead More
Each year at Brookfield Academy we spend time thinking about an appropriate theme for the new school year ahead. I always enjoy the process as we try to determine what message we need to move our Brookfield Academy family forward in the most constructive manner while remaining focused on our Mission. This year the decision was made quickly -- we chose Embrace Challenge as the 2020-21 school year theme. It was an easy choice -- and an obvious choice. We knew opening our campus this fall would have its challenges. We asked ourselves how we wanted to proceed; and by moving forward with a positive attitude and big hearts for our students and their families, we were already committing to our new school theme.
June 2020
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How Guiding Truths Influence Us
By Linda Pryor, Executive Director of Mission & AcademicsRead More
What truths do we face in the middle of a pandemic? During the last two months of the school year, the first truth that came to mind -- it was quiet. The children, our greatest joy, were missing. There were no messes in the halls or locker banks, telltale signs that our favorite people were not present. The hum of conversation and laughter in our buildings was no longer there. What a difference - you could feel it the moment you stepped into one of our buildings - it was just too quiet. We suddenly had a new normal. Our schedules were very different. The workload
was strangely more and less at the same time. Everything had changed and yet, nothing really had changed. These were and continue to be the truths of life at Brookfield Academy during the COVID-19 pandemic.
