Lise's Lens: September 24, 2026
This week, I share my thoughts on Theo of Golden, the importance of listening, and our incredible “Food, Justice, Power” courses. I am looking forward to seeing many of you tomorrow at Fall Fest!
WHAT I'M READING
Theo of Golden by Allen Levi
Last week I talked about a highly popular book I had read. This week, I am going to talk about another: Theo of Golden by Allen Levi. Perhaps you’ve read it? If not, consider this your spoiler alert!
One of my favorite passages was when Kendrick Whittaker was trying to figure out how to respond after the trial of the man who was responsible for the car accident that killed his wife and severely injured his daughter. Kendrick was reeling from his face-to-face encounter with this man and realized they had so much in common, including having a little girl of the same age. Kendrick shared guidance his grandmother once gave him, which I feel bears repeating: “Baby, they’s justice and they’s mercy. If you not sure what to do and you gotta choose one or the other, I say always go the mercy way.”
WHAT I'M THINKING ABOUT
The Importance of Listening
In the latest issue of the NAIS (National Association of Independent Schools) magazine, I read a great article by Dr. Nicole Brittingham Furlonge, a professor of practice and executive director of the Klingenstein Center at Teachers College, Columbia University. The title of the article is: Leadership Lessons: Stronger Listening Leads to Better Decisions in Schools. While the title is true to the article, I wish it were a bit more emphatic about how key and transformational this practice is. Building nimble educational institutions requires adaptable staff paired with leadership that listens to empowered teams, ensuring decisions directly address emerging needs. To support her point, Furlonge shared a framework from neuropsychiatrist Daniel Siegel, known as PART:
In the latest issue of the NAIS (National Association of Independent Schools) magazine, I read a great article by Dr. Nicole Brittingham Furlonge, a professor of practice and executive director of the Klingenstein Center at Teachers College, Columbia University. The title of the article is: Leadership Lessons: Stronger Listening Leads to Better Decisions in Schools. While the title is true to the article, I wish it were a bit more emphatic about how key and transformational this practice is. Building nimble educational institutions requires adaptable staff paired with leadership that listens to empowered teams, ensuring decisions directly address emerging needs. To support her point, Furlonge shared a framework from neuropsychiatrist Daniel Siegel, known as PART:
- Without presence, listening becomes distracted and transactional.
- Without attunement, we hear words but miss meaning and power dynamics. We miss who or what fails to catch our attention.
- Without resonance, understanding does not travel.
- Without trust, we hear cautiously and listen skeptically.
Furlonge argues that presence, attunement, resonance, and trust are not outcomes of leadership; they are the conditions that make listening — and therefore transformative leadership — possible. This is a good reminder for me as I embark on a new year of listening, leading, and making important decisions.
WHAT I'M WATCHING/LISTENING TO
Our “Food, Justice, Power” Classes!
Throughout Mod 1, I have had the pleasure of watching our “Food, Justice, Power” classes in action. Many of you will also get a chance to see what they’ve been up to when you visit classes on Friday, but here’s a little preview. To sharpen their presentation skills, students mapped commodity supply chains, tracing a product’s lifecycle from "birth" to "adulthood,” making complex power structures intuitive and compelling. They then evaluated effective pedagogy and translated those insights into dynamic, primary-source-driven mini-lessons for their peers. In just four weeks, their progress in collaboration, active listening, and public speaking was extraordinary to witness.
WHAT CAUGHT MY EYE
Our new patio was radiant in the autumn sun today. Here's hoping the weather is nice enough tomorrow that you can come and enjoy it between classes and events!
CSW — a gender-inclusive day and boarding school for grades 9-12 and PG — is a national leader in progressive education. We live out our values of inquiry-based learning, student agency, and embracing diverse perspectives in every aspect of our student experience. Young people come to CSW to learn how to learn and then put what they learn into action—essential skills they carry into their futures as doers, makers, innovators, leaders, and exceptional humans who do meaningful work in the world.