Comments from Back-To-School Nights

Heather Mock, Associate Head of School/Director of K-8
Hello Everyone,
 
We are getting into the swing of things, having been in school for four weeks, now, and we are off to a great start! On Wednesday, we had our first plus day (A+ or B+), a day in which classes are only 50 minutes long to allow for advisory time, clubs, and community time. I heard many students comment that the periods seemed so short now that they are becoming accustomed to the longer periods. One student even said, “I can’t believe all of our classes used to be that short!”
 
As I said in my speech at both Middle School and Lower School Back to School Night, it’s not that longer periods make for better teaching just by virtue of being longer. It’s that we know a lot about how the brain learns (so much more than even five years ago!), and teaching with the brain in mind simply takes longer.
 
In case you weren’t able to come to Back to School Night, I’m including the text of my speech here. There was an interactive feature, so you won’t get the full effect, but hopefully you’ll get the idea. The actual speech included some introductions, but I have left those out as well and cut to the “meat” of the speech. Enjoy!
 
As you know we have gone through some significant changes at Dawson this year, most notably the change to the daily schedule. Based on one of our goals from the Strategic Plan (Dawson will distinguish itself as a leader in innovation, collaboration, and current educational practices and will attract, develop, and retain exceptional faculty and staff), we went through a design thinking process, including the steps of empathizing, defining, ideating, prototyping, and testing, to come up with a schedule that fosters deeper learning, collaboration, reflection, and student well-being.
 
Some of the major implementations are advisory or homeroom time first thing each morning, longer class periods, and an occasional flex period that allows students to work together across disciplines and divisions. And it is so exciting to see it in action. A teacher told me just today that at least once at the end of each period, a student says, “Wait, class is already over?” amazed that 85 minutes have passed. Our first flex periods involved a school-wide design thinking project, and it was wonderful seeing students of all ages working together to make their school even better.
 
In doing our research, we realized that It’s not that longer classes, by virtue of being longer, lead to better learning. However, much research has been done on how the brain learns, and teaching with the brain in mind just takes longer than what the traditional class length allows.
 
So, how does the brain learn? How can we create an optimal environment that prepares our kids to succeed both in the academic realm and in the world outside? We know that students learn more effectively when they feel safe to take risks, when they make personal connections, and when they are encouraged to think critically, to ask questions, and to find solutions.
We also know that people do not learn as effectively when they are listening to someone standing up in front of them talking at them. Hmmm. So what’s wrong with this scenario? Here I am doing exactly what I’ve just said is ineffective. Therefore, I’m going to mix it up a bit and make this presentation more interactive and, therefore, more meaningful. One way to encourage our students to take risks is to model that behavior, showing them that we are all learning and growing. And so I’ll take a risk by trying a new technology.
 
You’ll see on the screen a list of values: family, friendship, riches, long life, peace, popularity, wisdom, beauty. There are many more values that I could list, of course, but consider these eight for a moment. If you could choose three of these values for your child to internalize forever, which would they be? Think about it for a moment, and then find someone near you whom you don’t know and share your thoughts. Finally, text your top choice to the number listed on the screen, and we’ll see what happens. The poll only allows for 100 entrants, so you may get a message saying it is full.
 
Clearly, we are in agreement on what values are most important [both evenings, family was chosen the most by far, followed by friendship, peace, and wisdom]. And it’s not just because we want to raise kids of good character. It’s because social emotional education is a strong predictor of academic success. And this is because creating a positive, inclusive environment where kids feel safe means that they will be will to take risks in the classroom, on the stage, or on the athletic field. Your children, our students, need parents and educators to provide inspiration, imagination, joy, optimism, humor, love, support, firmness, safety, clear values, and -- perhaps most important -- respect. With our collective support, our children’s youthful aspirations can soar into adult accomplishment.
 
Okay, moving to the next question. We’re going to play a little Name That Tune. I’m going to play the opening lines of a song, and I want you to text the name of the song or what it’s from. If you have no idea, take a guess.
 
Those opening notes are from the hit Broadway musical Hamilton. I don’t know about you, but this soundtrack has been playing nonstop in our household, and my husband and I, much to our children’s chagrin, sing it constantly. Why has it become such a phenomenon?  
 
Part of the appeal is that the musical takes the story of our Founding Fathers and tells it through contemporary music, such as R&B, hip-hop, and rap, and with a multiracial cast. As creator Lin-Manuel Miranda says, “It’s a story about America then, told by what America looks like now.” You may have heard the recent story on NPR about how students in New York City are researching primary documents related to our nation’s founding and coming up with their own creative responses. They then have the chance to perform their creations on the stage at the Richard Rodgers Theatre (taking risks) before seeing a matinee of the musical.
 
I guarantee that these kids will know and remember more about the inner workings of this time period in history through this experience than they would had they simply read the information in a textbook and listened to their teachers spout information. Why? Because they feel a connection to the material. The brain learns better when it makes connections. At Dawson, teachers are creating curriculum that allows for just this: students are finding connections across disciplines, across grade levels, and between their school world and the “real” world around them. And these connections help them to remember information, analyze information, understand problems, and develop solutions.
 
My final activity is this: think back to your own experiences in school. Can you remember an assignment or a project that got you particularly excited? Think for a moment, then share with your same partner from before. Finally send a text using one word (one word only!) to describe what was so great about that particular project. How did it make you feel? What did you gain?
 
I’m willing to bet that the things that stay with us from our school lives are not the facts that we memorized or the information that was simply told to us but the experiences where more was asked of us, where we had to dig deep to find understanding, where we had to assess resources for their reliability, where we had to grapple with issues and design possible solutions. That’s real learning, and that’s what teachers at Dawson do every day with your kids.
 
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