Headmaster’s Internship Course

The Headmaster’s Internship is a semester course and is offered by invitation only to seniors. While there is no specific selection criteria, recommendations for participation are made initially by previous Headmaster's Internship classes, the Upper School administration, and teachers from the Lower, Middle, or Upper Schools and/or the Johnson Academic Center. The class has been designed to enlist help from the student participants in leading and improving the school, with the understanding that the best leaders serve those who work alongside them.

Overall Course Goal

Throughout the course, subtle and overt lessons in leadership and effective management will be co-learned by the headmaster and students. The culminating project is a self-selected attempt to impact the school positively with some new program or way of doing things.

The class is designed to meet the needs of 21st century learners, whose preferred path to both acquiring and retaining knowledge differs markedly from the way in which we were educated. Where earlier generations grew up with passive forms of media like radio and television; and remain, for the most part, mere consumers of content (Web 1.0, in technological parlance), their children are Web 2.0 consumers and creators of Web content. They are accustomed to being able to interact with the virtual world through social networking sites like FaceBook and MySpace, video games, or blogs; and when they are merely given information, they get easily bored – and rather quickly.

For these students, traditional textbooks are archaic, because on the Internet, content (including books in their entirety) is everywhere. In classrooms, technology which offers access to content immediately through the Internet is finally changing the ways in which teachers teach, students relate to the subjects and each other, and concepts are discussed. Rather than serving as a distraction to our discussion, that immediate access to so much information serves to enrich the discovery. To put it simply, this course has been designed with the following concept in mind: it’s a new day, we as teachers must respond accordingly, and it is our students who will help us accomplish this most quickly and effectively.

Projects, Travel, and Other Logistical Issues

Students must be able to travel at their own expense to other independent schools and likely one additional venue during the course of the semester. This travel is intended as a way for students to gain insight into other schools and the ways they are managed and to allow students in the class to bring back ideas to make Forsyth Country Day School better. Generally, visits to others schools will be undertaken by the class as a whole. Additional trips (which in the past have included visits to New York City, Dallas, Mt. Airy, Atlanta, and Charlottesville, Virginia) will be scheduled at the mutual convenience of the headmaster and the members of the class. Additionally, a technology fee of $300 per student will be assessed in lieu of a textbook charge, as students in this class will be provided (and asked to bring to each class) 1-to-1 technology throughout the semester.

The class meets two days a week in the headmaster’s office during third period (Tuesdays from 11:10 a.m. to 11:55 a.m. and Thursdays from 2:25 a.m. – 3:10 p.m.). On the other three days per week, students are expected to work independently. Any time a student needs to spend extra time outside of class with Mr. Battle, he or she is asked to contact Mrs. Curl, the headmaster's secretary, either by e-mail (susancurl@fcds.org) or phone (336-945-2134, x 339).The offline times are provided for students to meet with other administrators, teachers, and students as necessary. On their own time, but in consultation with the headmaster, students complete assigned project work specific to both their selected semester project and other administrative issues being considered by the school at any given time. For instance, students may be involved in helping the headmaster with key administrative decisions such as budget matters, space utilization, course offerings, or new program initiatives; or they may serve as internal auditors examining the school’s daily output; or they may simply serve to augment communication between the school and its constituents through writing, speaking, or presentations to groups.

Major Assignments

Major assignments for members of this class include the following, and will be posted well in advance of due dates to the Headmaster’s Internship Class website (Headmaster's Internship Home Page):

An opportunity to be published, by adding well-documented, clearly written prose to a book being authored by the headmaster this year.
A biography presentation of each student's choosing, using multimedia and teaching key leadership concepts through examples (potentially both positive and negative) set by the subject of the biography.
An examination of a major school and educational initiative - the digitization of educational resources - and the implementation of that paradigm shift at Forsyth Country Day School.
An investigation into the key components of our school's management, and several opportunities to educate our other students and parents about the school, its significance as an educational leader, and its future needs.
The teaching of individual classes in a specific grade level using either 1-to-1 technology or multimedia digitized resources, as one way of introducing this 21st Century Learner-based method of teaching and learning.

Who May Take The Course?

While there are no specific selection criteria, recommendations for prospective interns are made by the preceding class (which comprises the Headmaster's Internship Class admission committee), the Upper School administration, and teachers from the Lower, Middle, or Upper Schools or the Johnson Academic Center.
All applicants must complete an online application (please see The Headmaster’s Internship website at http://www.fcds.org/about/headmaster/intern/home.asp for details and the online form itself).

Basic Course Outline

After the initial planning session, the course will begin with a general introduction to school’s management and financial issues, followed by general sessions on issues related to leadership, which includes a leadership styles inventory exercise. Thereafter, the course will be a practical semester-long internship with real-school issues, case studies, and discussions.
Grading for the class is based on student work on assignments, class participation, preparation for each class meeting (either on or off campus), and major projects. All projects and assignments are to be completed and uploaded using the Headmaster's Internship Class website and its online forms.
Students should consult the class calendar – posted on the Headmaster's Internship Class website daily – for all assignments. Important note: Some assignments will be made via the website, and not mentioned in class.
Students will be asked to evaluate the school's publications, website, programs, and even its greatest asset - its people. These evaluations are included in the assignments section of the Headmaster's Internship Class website.

School Management Emphasis

As we visit other independent schools (both in the state and beyond) and look at the things they are doing, students will be asked to compare what they see to what we do, and – in turn – come up with solutions for making our school better. Consistent with CEO internships in major companies, students are asked to sign confidentiality agreements, as they are given unfettered and widespread access to administrative team meetings, division director meetings, as well as through various projects, assignments, and class management exercises director meetings, and other meetings as called by the headmaster.

As part of the school management portion of the course, each student develops and executes a specific semester-long project that is intended to lead to the betterment of Forsyth Country Day School.　 That project – once approved by the full administrative team of the school - eventually is presented to other members of the school community – either in person or via video presentation.

While students often focus on work specific to their projects in their off days, they also will be expected to work on specific projects that relate to the course’s emphasis on school management (all of which will be posted on the Headmaster's Internship Class website) and/or other administrative issues being considered by the school at any given time. These issues include, but are not limited to:

Working with the headmaster to plan the class (students in the class will be asked for ongoing input on the class' structure, projects, experiences, and speakers);
Examining, making suggestions for change, and adding to or subtracting from the school's 15-year-plan (understanding that such strategic plans are working documents in need of constant change and redirection); along with each participant's semester project, this will be a major focus of the class;
Evaluating the school’s curriculum as a whole, specific course offerings, and ways to improve the curricular and co-curricular offerings at Forsyth Country Day School;
Learning about and discussing school budget matters;
Advising the administration on such logistical items as effective space utilization;
Helping the headmaster by providing input and suggestions with regard to legal, logistical, or disciplinary matters of a general nature;
Reviewing school policies and any of the school's publications - particularly focusing on the school's website;
Evaluating the school’s methods of raising funds for specific needs or capital and endowment projects;
Scrutinizing everything produced by the school or taking place at the school for inconsistencies and/or inefficiencies;
Suggesting changes in programs, processes, or procedures;
Creating new program initiatives;
Presenting school programs and/or new initiatives to parent and other school constituent groups in meetings throughout the year.

Transforming Education by Digitizing Resources Emphasis

When we ask ourselves how we can serve our students even better in the next five, 10, or even 20 years, we need first to know who they are and how they learn best – both as individuals and as a generation. Unlike our generation, students today grew up on technology’s lap, learned to use computers in (more or less) infancy, and now have to help Mom and Dad "tweet" on Twitter, download music to their MP3 players, and watch TV on demand through Hulu.

These are 21st century learners, whose preferred path to both acquiring and retaining knowledge differs markedly from the way in which we were educated, thus the need to address this key paradigm shift in our school through this class. Basically, we need to think beyond teaching the technology and reach a place where we’re using the technology to enrich our teaching. Over the next few years, our school will be moving towards blending technology to an even greater extent (we have a good start with SmartBoards throughout our Lower School and in some Middle and Upper School classrooms, Moodle, and teacher Web pages, to name a few). Our immediate goal is to finish out this critical SmartBoard initiative. As of this writing, we’re exactly 39 SmartBoards short of complete integration. We’re working to complete this in – literally – 39 days. This clearly will provide a more interactive learning experience for our students, and will engage them more fully as active participants in their own education, even as it positions our school to stay ahead of the curve – and remain relevant – in a constantly evolving educational environment.　

Here at Forsyth Country Day School, we’re looking into – in essence – a Napster/iTunes approach to delivering curriculum to students. We believe this content – which includes both a core PK-12 curriculum and an a la carte menu which includes multitudinous additional and higher-level curricular offerings – transforms American teachers into moderators and encouragers, rather than the long-suffering lecturers/masters of specific content which has led to a massive brain drain from our country to others. As a result, we believe the learning process becomes a collaborative student-centered one, eclipsing the tired old teacher-oriented method. It better meets students where they are today, and invites them to be active participants in the learning process.

As we do so often, by making this an issue for the Headmaster's Internship Class, we are asking our students to lead us in this effort – helping us learn to think and teach differently, and helping us remove the obstacles to transforming the ways in which we teach and learn at Forsyth Country Day School.