Joe Iuliano's Blog

The Circle of College Application Life

3/28/2024

Here in New England at this time of year, we live the belief that, “if March comes in like a lion, it will go out like a lamb.” However, the reality is often that March provides considerable roaring at both ends of the month and if we’re lucky the lamb shows up sometime not too much later. Baaa…

Brimmer Students Model Statecraft at Model UN Conferences

2/27/2024

Model UN is a successful enterprise, and Brimmer and May students are living proof of that. While the School has offered this activity for a few decades now, we have a stable of self-motivated, knowledgeable, and enthusiastic Model UN stalwarts in the Upper School, and this year the Middle School introduced Model UN to its students.

Some Rough Thoughts on Learning in the 21st Century

1/11/2024

The NIH—what, the National Institute of Health offers insight on learning? Go figure (but be sure to choose one of the learning methods below. And yes, NIH does offer insights into the science of teaching…so here we go.

AI or JI?

1/4/2024

As a rule, when writing for Brimmer’s weekly Bulletin, I try to limit the number of “I”s present in the text. However, with this piece, I am going to break that rule in a brief discourse on my feelings about AI.

What Matters?

11/17/2023

In a bit of timely coincidence the Independent School Management November “Ideas and Perspectives” newsletter hit my mailbox featuring a research report titled “What Matters to Parents.” Being a life-long educator and a parent of 3 Brimmer graduates, this caught my attention, so I dug into the article presented.

If you build it—a good school—they will come (and go far!)

10/19/2023

This past Saturday offered us another joyful Brimmer and May homecoming community experience (sans a couple of wins on the field we had all been rooting for—sigh—but there is season still to be, so Go Gators!)

Essential Relationships Drive Behavior

10/12/2023

The international world is offering us such sorrow now, and it’s hard to face it because to do so means to look squarely into the face of inhuman behavior. I have always thought that there is nothing we humans do that is unnatural because we are as much a part of nature as anything else on planet Earth.

Ms. Neely and Mr. Iuliano Attend Workshop at Harvard

9/8/2023

Ms. Neely Mr. Iuliano attended a workshop at Harvard University Divinity School in pursuit of professional development for their teaching practice in Brimmer’s Upper School History Department.

Advanced Placement®: One Step Forward, Two Steps Forward at Brimmer and May

2/24/2023

Assistant Head of Academic Affairs Joe Iuliano reflects on the relevance of Advanced Placement courses both nationally and at Brimmer.

Why 22-23 is Going to Be a Better Year

9/2/2022

Seeking to be an optimist (because that just feels so much better) and after observing the efforts of my summertime colleagues, I began thinking about the upcoming school year and how it will be better than the past few we’ve experienced—no jinx.

Art for Our Sake

6/2/2022

Seeking virtue and excellence where I know I have found it in the past, I went searching for that life-affirming, creative élan vital that every school has the capacity to bring forth and offer to its community, and I found it here on our hallway walls.

A Good Argument

3/10/2022

Too often these days, we argue amongst ourselves in ways that are neither compelling nor valid, and we seem to think that being vociferous, righteous, and adamant—sans reasonable evidence—is a valid appeal to share our perspectives.

Of Prep School and Oligarchs

2/25/2022

It was my impulse to follow this because I am a life-long prep school educator, an instructor of International Relations, and a citizen of the world with an eye on pragmatism but a heart for diplomacy and equity. Let’s keep an eye on our nation and our world and work to make it a safe, healthy, just place for us to live and thrive in.

Know History?

2/8/2022

Back in the day, I had a wonderful history teacher in high school, Miss Simmons, who had taught all four of my older siblings and was a venerable fixture at the school. She was my teacher for three years, from ninth to eleventh grade, and I think we studied European, World, and US history.

Learning Together Again

9/24/2021

“School is not just about the academic learning, it’s about the social and the emotional learning. It’s about understanding your place in society. It’s about learning to get along with others...”

Restoring our Essential Connection

9/15/2021

It’s now time to close that social distance so that we can re-engage our minds, to reconnect them with big ideas, creative ideas, collaborative ideas as we look to re-connect to the habits of mind that make us all successful learners. So, close that distance and reconnect.

The Great Outdoors

6/11/2021

All this time outside was certainly a boon to body and soul, but what about the mind? Our school seeks to serve the mind—to help students learn to use their minds well and to develop habits of mind and thinking routines. Observation, practice, and research come to agreement here on the positive impact of being in nature.

Innovating our Rites of Passage

4/15/2021

Our School motto “De mieux, en mieux,” like our rites of passage for our students, is cherished and meaningful. I am excited to see how my colleagues bring it to life once again this spring with a new round of innovations in service to our students and to the School motto and our valued traditions.

Signs of Spring

3/12/2021

This spring may be a little different still--we’ll be adding masks to the athletic equipment list--but the sports equipment will be coming out again; it’s a much-anticipated restart with some increased opportunity and plenty of safety to go around.