Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Center for Studies in Jewish Education

2011 Teacher Forum

Jan. 30, 2011

Cultivating an Ethic of Excellence in Schools: An interactive workshop with Ron Berger

Ron Berger guided participants through an exploration of student work as examples of developing what he calls a "culture of craftsmanship."

He covered:

• Helping students to engage in excellent, original work
• Promotion of high standards
• Nuturing the capacity for rigorous and respectful critique

Ron Berger, a dynamic and visionary educator, is author of "An Ethic of Excellence: Building a Culture of Craftsmanship in Schools." He was a public school teacher and master carpenter in rural Massachusetts for over 25 years. He is currently chief program officer for the non-profit school improvement network Expeditionary Learning, a network of over 160 public schools and has over 30 years of experience as a teacher and professional developer. Expeditionary Learning is helping to found public high schools in low-income communities that send all graduates to college, and helping to transform existing public schools toward high student achievement, character and citizenship.

Ron's writing and speaking center on inspiring quality and character in students, specifically through project-based learning, original scientific and historical research, service learning and the infusion of arts. He works with the national character education movement to embed character values into the core of academic work. Ron works closely with the Harvard Graduate School of Education, where he did his graduate work, and specifically the Harvard Project Zero research team. He is an Annenberg Foundation Teacher Scholar and received the Autodesk Foundation National Teacher of the Year award. He is the author of "An Ethic of Excellence and A Culture of Quality."

Watch a video of Ron Berger in action: