Joe Iuliano's Blog

List of 20 news stories.

  • An Upper School student at work

    True or False?

    True or False: We live in a post-truth world. As true-false questions go, this is not well-constructed because it is a subjective statement, not an objective one. But it does make me think, which, as an educator, is what it’s all about for students in our classrooms.
  • Brimmer Upper School students at work

    From a Zero Sum to a Win-Win Educational Mindset

    Back in mid-August, Tom Keene of Bloomberg Surveillance, had a conversation with a guest analyst about the zero sum approach that seems to guide the operating rules and goals of our current business and geopolitical environments. Their brief discussion started me thinking about a zero sum conceptualization in education. 

  • Class of 2025 by the Numbers & Then Some

    Through its educational aesthetic, applied during the past 1 to 13 years, depending on the grade of enrollment, for the Class of 2025, Brimmer has been preparing the canvas, choosing the colors, and arcing its paint brush in purposeful paths to create a tableau that is personalized, student-centered, and mission driven for our 45 graduates and 350 PK-12 students.

  • Going Global, in a Nutshell

    Travel is on my mind, as both the domestic Middle School trips and the Upper School Winterim excursions launch this weekend or early next week—we are ‘getting out of the house’ for some exciting experiential learning and life adventures.

  • Goal Setting — De Mieux, En Mieux.

    Some goals are phrased as action statements while others are structured in the form of a question. Citing the end product and consideration of how to get there—the steps in the process—are both kickstarters for a reflective, action-oriented process to improve, grow, build, and achieve in one’s work.

  • Authentic Learning. Bold Thinking. Compassionate Community.

    During Opening Convocation, our school leaders provided insight into the pursuit of personal and communal goals and urged students to be accomplished scholars, brave thinkers, and caring citizens.

  • ‘Fly Me to the Moon’ Again

    Last Friday, I stood on the stage under the big top tent and congratulated the 35 graduates in the Class of 2024 as we launched them on a exploration mission of their own—to seek out bold new academic and social worlds in college and in the world.

  • Critical Thinking in the Classroom

    My final individual Learning Walk of the school year had a different focus; most often, I visit a class to observe the teacher, but on these visits I went specifically to observe student thinking.

  • The Circle of College Application Life

    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…
  • Upper School Students at MIT's Model UN

    Brimmer Students Model Statecraft at Model UN Conferences

    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.
  • Getty Images. GETTY

    Some Rough Thoughts on Learning in the 21st Century

    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?

    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.
  • The Iuliano family (Quinn '14, Jill, Keenan '15, Joe, and Grant '18 at Keenan's Brimmer commencement).

    What Matters?

    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!)

    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

    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

    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 

    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

    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

    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

    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.

    • Joe Iuliano

      Assistant Head of Academic Affairs

Brimmer and May School

69 Middlesex Road
Chestnut Hill, MA 02467
617-566-7462
As an inclusive private school community, Brimmer welcomes students who will increase the diversity of our school. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, sex, gender, gender identity and expression, disability, sexual orientation, national origin, ancestry, or any other characteristic protected from discrimination under state or federal law, in the administration of our educational policies, admissions practices, financial aid decisions, and athletic and other school-administered programs.