McCartney Shares "Snakes are Born this Way"

The following is an excerpt from Dean Kathleen McCartney’s speech welcoming incoming HGSE students:

I have one final piece of advice. Take every opportunity to remind yourself why we do this work. I believe that our hopes for a more just and equitable society depend on our ability to improve student opportunity, achievement, and success.

Sometimes, I visit a high-performing school to see the very real difference educators make in children’s lives. I want to share an example with you through a music video called “Snakes Are Born This Way.” If any of you know the Lady Gaga song, “Born This Way,” the melody will sound familiar. But the lyrics belong to an amazing group of second graders from the Conservatory Lab Charter School in Brighton, Mass.

In making this video, the students learned how to conduct library research, how to interview experts, how to analyze survey data, and how to share what they learned through music and dance. These second-graders have become true herpetologists, as you will see. I suspect they know more about snakes than most of us. Enjoy.