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Lee Burns

Lee Burns

Headmaster

4025 Poplar Avenue
Memphis
TN
38111-6022

901-842-4617

lburns@pdsmemphis.org

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Headmaster's Blog

teacher_leeburnsA question with which we at PDS wrestle frequently at Presbyterian Day School is this:what does it mean to be well-educated in the 21st century? The answer is different than what it meant to be well-educated last century....or even last decade.

I hope you will follow along as I explore these ideas and more.
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Kindergarten Lessons for a Community of Children and Adults

Tuesday, 07 September 2010 12:54

In his 1986 book, All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten, Robert Fulghum lists the wisdom that has bolstered his life and attributes it to the sandbox in elementary school.  Here are the things he learned:

  • Share everything.
  • Play fair.
  • Don’t hit people.
  • Put things back where you found them.
  • Clean up your own mess.
  • Don’t take things that aren’t yours.
  • Say you’re sorry when you hurt somebody.
  • Wash your hands before you eat.
  • Flush.
  • Warm cookies and cold milk are good for you.
  • Live a balanced life—learn some, think some, and draw, paint, sing, dance, play, and work every day some.
  • Take a nap every afternoon.
  • When you go out into the world, watch out for traffic, hold hands and stick together.
  • Be aware of wonder—remember the little seed in the styrofoam cup:  the roots go down and the plant goes up and nobody knows why, but we are all like that.
  • Goldfish, hamsters, and white mice, and even the little seed in the styrofoam cup—they all die. So do we.
  • And, remember the Dick-and-Jane books and the first word you learned—the biggest work of all—LOOK.

According to Fulghum, everything you need to know is there somewhere—The Golden Rule, love, basis sanitation and hygiene, relationship management and balanced living.

Read more...

SEC Football Creativity Contest

Friday, 27 August 2010 00:00

crusaders_letter_football“Next week is the longest one of the year,” a friend said to me the other day. He was referring, with anxious anticipation, to this upcoming Saturday as the opening day of the college football season for many teams. Time surely seems to move more slowly as we eagerly await those big moments in our lives, which, in the South for millions of us, includes the annual kickoff of SEC football.

I’ve posted two blogs about creativity recently (part 1 and part 2), and I wanted to write about the SEC and creativity. (A disclaimer: I have been a Vols fan since my dad took me to my first game in 1974, though I have grown to like the Rebels when they are not playing the Vols; I also will pull for the hometown Tigers, even though they don’t play in the SEC.)

SEC football is not just about the game itself, of course. It is about the tailgating and talk as much as it is about touchdowns. It is about bravado and bragging and boasts…none of which are in short supply among the fans, especially at this time of the year, before the dreams of BCS bids have been shattered by big losses to bitter rivals.

So, in the spirit of the annual SEC preseason frenzy, here is my first annual (perhaps) SEC Creativity Contest. I invite SEC fans of all stripes to see who can come up with the most creative answers to the following questions.  In a subsequent blog, I’ll post the results and/or winning answers, as well as announce which school has the most creative fans. Among everyone who participates, I’ll draw a name from a cyber hat and get this person a tailgating pack customized to his/her tastes and team.

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Fostering Creativity in Our Schools

Wednesday, 25 August 2010 21:28

Educators today know that we are preparing students today for jobs that don’t yet exist. The U.S. Department of Labor estimates that today’s learner will have 10-14 jobs by the time he reaches age 38. According to former Secretary of Education Richard Riley, the top 10 in-demand jobs in 2010 didn’t exist in 2004. Our students will grow up to use technologies that haven’t been invented in order to solve problems we don’t even know are problems yet. They are likely to work in industries that have not been fully quantified and named (like nanotechnology or swarm technology, both relatively new fields). What we do know as educators is that our students, in order to be prepared for the challenges and opportunities of the future, will need to be flexible, adaptable, technologically adept, continuous learners who are proficient in the process of collaborative creative thinking and who feel fully competent and comfortable in a culture of inquiry.

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SEC Football Creativity Contest Entries

Thursday, 26 August 2010 00:00

 

Your Contest Entries


From Chris Hill:

Florida Coach Urban Meyer is most similar to the historical figure Keith Urban because there's only one Tebow and
"days go by."

If Alabama Coach Nick Saban had an animal for his first name like Bear Bryant did, it would be Cash Cow Saban because he is always willing to mosy into "greener" pastures.

Lots of people dislike the color of orange that Tennessee has. The most appropriate color for Tennessee would be orange because rednecks in Knoxville turn orange in the fall.

 What school’s fans in the SEC most need to heed Proverbs 16:18? Romans 3:23.

 If the SEC mascots got in a fight, Colonel Reb would win because he is hiding out as Coach Lynn Fox under the SEC witness protection program.

Kentucky has Joker Phillips as their coach. This other SEC coach, Nick Saban should have the following batman villain name, Two Face because his Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde act is well documented.

Use the letters from “Bobby Petrino” and “Arkansas Razorbacks” to create a bumper sticker/slogan for Razorback football. Darilyn Christenbury 4 Life

If LSU were a celebrity, it would be Coach Mark Fruitt because he's better at free throws than Shaquille O'Neal

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America's Creativity Crisis and What Schools Can Do

Saturday, 21 August 2010 10:00

According to a recent IBM study of international business leaders, CEOs believe that, more than rigor, management discipline, integrity or even vision, navigating and thriving in today’s increasing complex world will require creativity.

Released in May 2010, this study is the fourth edition of IBM’s biennial Global CEO Research series. The IBM Global Business Services division conducted face-to-face interviews with 1,541 CEOs, general managers, and senior public sector leaders who represent different size organizations across 33 industries in 60 countries. Their findings reveal that less than half of global CEOs believe that their enterprises are adequately prepared to handle a highly volatile, increasingly complex business environment. CEOs are confronted with massive shifts—new government regulations, changes in global economic power centers, accelerated industry transformation, growing volumes of data, rapidly evolving customer preferences—that, according to the study, can be overcome by instilling “creativity” throughout an organization. Creativity was ranked by 60% of global CEOs as the most important leadership quality needed over the next five years in order for their enterprises to break with the status quo of their industries and develop leading value propositions.

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