Author Archives: Kathleen McNamara Head's Up!

About Kathleen McNamara Head's Up!

an educator in Independent Schools for over 38 years

Washington Post Parenting Blog on Connecting with your teen!

Posted on April 7, 2016 by Kathleen McNamara Head's Up!

I definitely can trace the history of my own life through a soundtrack of my own choosing. I have always felt connected to music and have firm opinions about “my music” and the periods of my life that this music … Continue reading →

Posted in childhood development, gratitude, mindfulness, parenting, Seven Hills School Walnut Creek, social emotional learning, technology, the science of emotion | Tagged education, music, seven hills school walnut creek, teenagers and parenting | Leave a comment

Parent Guide: Common Sense Media

Posted on April 2, 2016 by Kathleen McNamara Head's Up!

When there is too much information out there, parents can rely on Common Sense Media to help sort out how to look at everything from media consumption to screen time to important issues in brain development. I have found this … Continue reading →

Posted in 21st Century Skills, academic excellence in elementary schools, Common Sense Media, Uncategorized | Tagged Common Sense Media, early childhood education, early childhood lietracy, education, educational leadership, seven hills school walnut creek | Leave a comment

Atlantic Monthly: How Preschool is crushing children

Posted on March 18, 2016 by Kathleen McNamara Head's Up!

Some incredible reminders about the power of childhood, the importance of play and making sure in schools we continue to value childhood with developmentally appropriate curriculum and schedule. This is where we live at Seven Hills. The New Preschool: Atlantic … Continue reading →

Posted in 21st Century Skills, academic excellence in elementary schools, childhood development | Tagged character education, early childhood education, seven hills school walnut creek | Leave a comment

Teenagers fighting with their parents

Posted on March 16, 2016 by Kathleen McNamara Head's Up!

This link has some terrific reminders about picking your battles, picking your times and not going after everything. For parents, it can be hard on us, but helping them form their identity by NOT interpreting everything is important. Read away! … Continue reading →

Posted in education, NY Times, parenting, resilience, Seven Hills School, Seven Hills School Walnut Creek, social emotional learning, the science of emotion | Tagged education, parenting, Seven Hills School | Leave a comment

Washington Post on Play!

Posted on February 13, 2016 by Kathleen McNamara Head's Up!

There is mounting evidence that allowing children to play and sort out their mini squabbles is great training for problem solving in the short and long terms. The more adults intervene, the more the message implied becomes “You can’t seem … Continue reading →

Posted in 21st Century Skills, academic excellence in elementary schools, parenting, Uncategorized | Tagged child, education, parenting | Leave a comment

Gratitude:the right recipe? Is there such a thing as too much gratitude?

Posted on February 11, 2016 by Kathleen McNamara Head's Up!

I think there is no down side in cultivating gratitude in ourselves and in our students. Making them aware of the fact that their families all sacrifice in some way to send them to our school; looking at models of … Continue reading →

Posted in childhood development, gratitude, Uncategorized | Tagged education, educational leadership, gratitude, parenting | Leave a comment

Teaching Traditional Ethics in Japanese Schools?

Posted on February 9, 2016 by Kathleen McNamara Head's Up!

I have recently become a student of all things Japanese, largely thanks to our Seven Hills Japanese Exchange Program. This is an interesting article in the Wall Street Journal about culture clashes (between the generations) in Japan. As we prepare … Continue reading →

Posted in academic excellence in elementary schools, childhood development, leadership in children, Uncategorized | Tagged education, parenting | Leave a comment

How can we send the messages we want to our children without confusing motives?

Posted on February 8, 2016 by Kathleen McNamara Head's Up!

I enjoyed one mother’s sardonic assessment of the situation where children want to play rather than earn a little money or help out a neighbor. Notice, though, that college admissions is still a part of many a threat, even for … Continue reading →

Posted in parenting | Tagged parenting, Parenting Teens | Leave a comment

Tomorrow marks the release of a new report…

Posted on January 19, 2016 by Kathleen McNamara Head's Up!

New Report on College Admissions about to be released by Harvard’s GSE and Rick Weissbourd! Because the Bay Area Heads had the chance to meet with Denise Pope last week, and she will be speaking at Seven Hills in April, … Continue reading →

Posted in 21st Century Skills, academic excellence in elementary schools, adult development, Challenge Success, childhood development, College Admissions, Denise Pope, Harvard's Caring Schools Initiative, Making Caring Common at Harvard, Rick Weissbourd, Seven Hills School, Uncategorized | Tagged Challenge Success, Denise Pope, education, educational leadership, Harvard GSE, Making Caring Common, parenting, Rick Weissbourd, seven hills school walnut creek | Leave a comment

Serendipity and its role in Innovation

Posted on January 11, 2016 by Kathleen McNamara Head's Up!

I am in the middle of visiting a few other schools to see what they are doing with innovation and how they are BUILDING IT into their curriculum. Making room for opportunity and then embracing it when it arrives, we … Continue reading →

Posted in 21st Century Skills, academic excellence in elementary schools, childhood development, education, leadership, new york times, NY Times, Seven Hills School Walnut Creek, Uncategorized | Tagged 21st Century Education, 21st Century Skills, education, educational leadership | Leave a comment