Katherine Dinh, Head of School

Stories from Katherine

Screen Your Children’s Screens

The cover of the July 23 issue of The New Yorker depicts a family on vacation, each in their own electronic world. Sound familiar? Most of us parents (myself included) haven’t stayed ahead of the technology enough to fully monitor what all this screen time and social media is doing to our children. We need to turn that around.

On Turning 30 …

The first day of school is like no other. Every opening day evokes for me memories of new shoes, awkward hairstyles, anxiety, and excitement. Yet school now is quite different than it was back in the day. I wonder what it would be like to start all over and grow up as a Prospect Sierra student in the 21st century. This year Prospect Sierra celebrates 30 years. In honor of that, I consider what it means to be 30 in today’s world. For my “research,” I spoke with Jonah Klein, Prospect School alumnus and 5th grade homeroom teacher, who is a...

The Power and the Challenge of Gender Stereotypes

In the past few months, I have been paying more attention to messages that are delivered through popular culture and media. Take for instance, one night when I was watching an NBA game with my 8-year-old son. An avid sports fan, he is enthralled by games—with male or female players. But when he saw a halftime show with under-clothed women dancing on stage, he was stunned and confused. “Mom, I don’t get what those girls are doing,” he said. Indeed, I was rather stumped by what to tell him. I don’t get it either. Ever since I saw the...

Don’t Just Do Something … Sit There

A year ago, off the coast of Japan, the earth rocked and sent massive sheets of water rumbling through villages, towns, and cities to destroy everything in sight. In a matter of moments, lives were lost or changed forever. In our community we saw horrifying images and were stricken with sadness and compassion. Even though it was early morning on a Saturday, teachers, administrators, and parents began to exchange emails. We immediately asked, “How can we help?” Many years before the 2011 earthquake and tsunami hit Japan, I had spent a month...

Slow Down, We Move Too Fast

As parents we have an enormous responsibility to care for our children, instill values in them, and also to model for them a balanced and healthy lifestyle. Prospect Sierra is an environment that supports adults and children having a life outside of school. To that end, here are some suggestions for slowing down, reducing stress, and increasing human interaction ...

« Older Entries