Our busy week!

Dear K-5 families,

I hope you had a festive Thanksgiving full of family, friends, and laughter.

Hot on the heels of last week's very exciting GrandFriend's Day return after many years' absence, we're excited to hold our Fall Student Step-Up Day on this coming Thursday for ECC through 6th grade. Like our Spring Student Sneak-Peek Day in May, this is an opportunity for students to spend some (or all) of the morning in the classroom of the next grade level up, connect with children and teachers they have seen on the playground and around the school, and put a "big picture" frame around their year as one step in the full path of their schooling. 

Teachers will be previewing Step-Up Day with students this week; they'll talk about what it's like to look ahead, to navigate new environments and adults, and to connect with old and new friends. They'll also debrief the experience with their students at the end of the morning. Teachers and admin will make sure all students get to the proper room that morning, and back again for lunch (Ks to 1st/2nd, 2nd to 3rd, 3rd to 4th/5th, 5th to 6th; the two groups that do not move are current 1st and 4th grade students, who play host to the Ks and 3rds respectively).

In a similar vein, Family Step-Up Tour for grades K, 2nd, and 3rd is this Friday, December 6th. This is a chance for families with students currently in Kindergarten to see all of grades 1-5, in 2nd grade to see our Upper Elementary program (grades 3-5), and in 3rd grade to see 4/5 and also the Middle School. Please RSVP to Paula Farmer if you have a child in K, 2nd, or 3rd and would like to participate (please note this is not for families with children in 1st, 4th, or 5th).

Also, tonight from 6-8p on the University Campus, the Middle School division will host an admissions information night. Families of 5th grade students who are stepping up to the middle school next fall are encouraged to attend, along with anyone who is interested in learning more about our middle school program. Please register here if you know you'll attend.

Finally, I want to make sure you're aware that this Saturday our middle school will host a "Parents' Night Out" for ECC-5th grade families. From 3-7:00p middle school students will provide childcare here on campus for students from the ECC and elementary school. The cost is $30 per child, $50 for two sibs, and the money raised will go toward the middle school travel fund. I encourage you to bring your child(ren). It's an opportunity to enjoy a childless evening and support our middle school at the same time. There will be outdoor activities, crafts, and a movie. An early dinner will be served. Contact Middle School Division Head MaryBeth Ventura  with any questions, and sign up with Julie Walton in the school office. 

See you in the classrooms!

Zaq

Planning K/1 Child Visit Day

Today at lunch, the K/1 team -- Claire, Kyla, Lyssa and Ben -- met with Paula, Laurie and myself to begin planning next month's K/1 Child Visit Day. We began by looking at last year's program (which itself was an enormous step forward from the previous year's event), and discussed the positive aspects of the program that we want to keep, as well as those areas we think can be refined and improved.

The basic structure of the event, which we revised last year, will stay the same: we begin with open classroom exploration, move on to a short circle, and then have an extended "work period" in which children are free to roam the room and engage with various materials, during which time each child gets guided in a short 1:1 assessment with a faculty member. The work period closes with a circle and story read-aloud, and then an outside recess before parents pick up the kids.

Perhaps the most significant shift we discussed is the content of the 1:1 assessment through which we run each student. We together looked at a long list of areas in which we might want to assess these small four-year-olds -- gross motor, fine motor, following directions, visual patterns, visual matching, visual memory, imitation, delayed gratification, cooperative play, and early academics -- and agreed that last year's assessment was too heavily focused on early academics, in areas of both early literacy (sound/symbol correspondance, letter names, etc) and number sense (1:1 correspondance, rote counting, etc), given the age and development of the prospective students.

One aspect of the event we won't be changing is that Julianne Hughes, K-5 art teacher, will have projects available for the parents in the Art Studio during this event. Giving parents something to do while they wait (especially one in the artistic realm) is a great tool for distracting them from their concerns, while also providing them an opportunity to get to meet other potential families who might join our K/1 program next year.

Step-Up Tour and differentiation

Today we had 40-50 parents of currently enrolled students go on a "Step-up Tour" at TBS, in which they were given opportunities to observe in the classrooms at the next grade level. I was charged with leading the ECC parents, beginning with 30 minutes in the K/1 classrooms, and then moving into the 2/3, 4/5, and middle school classrooms.

One of the questions I was asked during the tour stuck out: given our mixed grade classrooms in the elementary division, how do we ensure that children in the upper grade of each classroom are getting the challenge that they need, besides time as mentors and coaches for the younger students? This question resonated with my understanding of a historical narrative that parents of students in the youngest of a three-grade Montessori group tend to be very satisfied, b/c they can quite literally see the challenge available in the classroom; parents of students in the middle of a three-grade Montessori group tend to be somewhat satisfied, b/c they can still see the challenge available in the classroom; and parents of students in the oldest year of a three-grade Montessori group are sometimes dissatisfied with what they perceive as a lack of challenge.

My response to the question in the moment was that there are times when the ideas and work that are being presented are pitched to the more competent students, and that rather than assuming that the work is all directed at the "middle of the pack," or youngest, or least competent students, there will be times when some students are watching and seeing work that is within the zone of proximal development for the older or more capable students, and that a different version of that work is what is appropriately suited for them - and, that seeing another child take on work beyond what one can do is a strong motivator for learning the necessary knowledge and skills (though of course we have to be careful that kids don't "shut down" when they try something beyond their abilities). This answer was nicely complimented by one that Kyla O'Neill, K/1 teacher in Blackberry Creek, gave during the teacher panel at the end of the tour that it is the work of the teacher to carefully consider the development of each child and design experiences that are engaging for all students.

What I wish I had added then, and have been thinking about since, is that much of the time, the instruction and activities are designed to allow for inherent differentiation according to the understanding of the children. For example, the process of writing number sentences to document a student's thinking about a particular problem ("if each person has two arms and two legs, how many limbs does this group of 11 students have in total?" is one I witnessed in a K/1 class last week) can contain single digit addends representing each item to be counted (1+1+1+1...), single addends that represent groups of counted items (2 legs per person, and 2 arms per person, so 2+2+2+2... or, 4 limbs per person, so 4+4+4...), or many other various regroupings that "stack" ideas of addition (5 boys have 4 limbs each (4+4+4+4+4=20), and 6 girls have four limbs each (24), so 20+24=44). What you won't see is a teacher telling children "Here's the RIGHT way to solve the problem", because there is no one right way; having a developmental approach means taking the time to have each child express his/her understanding, and give them opportunities to see how other children express their understanding, and encourage them to experiment with those more complex strategies.

This is different from the use of structured differentiation in our classrooms - when teachers ask a child to approach a certain piece of work, perhaps in a certain way. Using the example above, a teacher might ask a specific child or children to use groupings to write a number sentence using only double-digit addends (such as 20+24), or not using the same addend twice (4+8+12+20), or even using multiplication (4 x 11), based on the teacher's assessment of the child's understanding of number sense and operations. In both cases, the child is being appropriately challenged at the developmental level, rather than by standardized markers of "product".

Admissions season begins!

As every family of a child who attends TBS knows, admissions season is an important time of the year. By providing tours, open houses, information nights, parent panels, and other avenues to learn about TBS, we hope to help families make informed decisions about whether their family's views on education are a good fit with how TBS works, and if our classrooms are a place where their child(ren) will flourish.

Last night was the first EBISA school fair, and this morning we hosted the first of almost a dozen tours on the University Ave campus. We review our admissions process over the summer every year, to ensure that we're maximizing our communication and improving our process; the structure of this year's tour closely followed the structure we used last year, which included a major revision from prior years. We begin with running participants through the See Think Wonder thinking routine, based on a three minute observation in a K/1 classroom. Mitch then gives an overview of our approach to teaching and learning, and our definition of being a learning community. A 45 minutes tour then follows, with parents spending the majority of time in the classroom level at which their child(ren) would enter.

The tour concludes with a 35 minute teacher panel, during which a teacher from each grade level (K/1, 2/3, 4/5, 6-8) helps answer questions from the group. The questions that prospective families ask are always fascinating, as they give us a window not only into what we haven't covered in other parts of the tour, but also into the bigger topics that they are thinking about and discussing. Questions asked this morning included:

-How does a teacher get to know a new child, and how long does that take?

-How does a teacher serve a range of children, from "high" to "low" end?

-What is the pattern of teacher tenure, and when are teachers viewed as "master teachers"?

-How does the school provide professional development for faculty?

-How does the school transition in children who have Montessori and non-Montessori backgrounds?

-How does teacher-parent communication work outside of the formal twice-yearly conferences?

Planning for Child Visit Days

One of the most exciting parts of the year is when new applicants visit the school. It's incredible to meet the children (and their families), learn who they are as learners and people, and get a sense of how they will fit into our existing classroom populations. Holding these visits is a major project that involves all of our faculty and most of the administration in a variety of ways; at three grade levels we hold weekend events, and at three others we integrate children into the classrooms for a half day.

The three grade levels that have weekend visits are the Early Childhood Campus, the K/1 program, and the 6th grade program. At the Early Childhood Campus, families will be coming on Sunday the 13th, between 9-11. These young children, some of them new to school for the first time, are paired up 1:1 with a faculty member, who spends 20 minutes engaging with the child in carefully selected works and activities that provide data on the child's physical, cognitive, emotional, and social development. Parents and administrators have a chance to talk outside the classrooms during this time, and talk about everything from the child to the setting to the program, and more. At the K/1 level, students will visit campus on Saturday the 12th between 9-10:30. This year we are expecting 34 students; we'll split them into two equal groups and send them into the K/1 classrooms for a morning of activities and play that, like at the ECC, are designed to help us gather information about the children on areas such as their gross and fine motor control, collaborative play, and early literacy and academic skills such as letter recognition and pattern making. Julianne will be hosting an art making class for parents in the atelier during this time, and current parent ambassadors will be available in the Depot for conversation about their experiences at TBS. At the 6th grade level, our 4/5 and 6th teachers will lead the students through a 2.5 hour session on Saturday the 12th that includes a powerful self-image activity called Grow Your Garden from Positive Discipline, math and language arts classes that will engage the kids socially as well as intellectually, and artistic and team-building activities. As you can imagine, the time and energy put into designing these visits - and the process of discussing the data that we gather during them, as well as reviewing the files of all of the children - is a major undertaking for faculty.

Why do we hold weekend visits for ECC, K/1, and 6th? For the youngest students, because schooling can be so new, giving them time to have the space to themselves helps build a feeling of comfort. At the K/1 and 6th grade levels, it's simply a matter of pragmatics - the impact of 30 students visiting the class over the course of the nine days we do child visits would mean averaging more than 3 student applicant visitors a day for two school weeks! Because the 2/3, 4/5, and 7/8 levels are not natural transition points, we tend to have fewer applicants at those levels, so having students visit in the classrooms for half the day is much more manageable. Applicants not only get to experience life in a TBS classroom, they also eat snack and/or lunch, and begin to forge social connections through the structures of the work as well as time at lunch and recess with host "buddies".

At some schools, the teaching faculty do not participate in the admissions process in the deep way that they do at TBS. Instead, the administration hires outside teachers to come in and run the assessment day, and makes the admissions decisions without consulting teachers. We believe that by including teachers in every step of the process, from reading files to working 1:1 with student applicants, our faculty is empowered in the process, and thus feels ownership of the school in a unique way. They are also able to begin to form the teacher-student connections that are so important to the work that happens in the classrooms. When a child shows up at a new school in the fall, the presence of even one familiar face can make a world of difference in how s/he transitions into the day.

Parent Step-Up Tours

This week we hosted two step-up tours for current parents. On Wednesday we had parents of current K-7 students; as luck would have it, all of the student from 2nd through 6th grade were doing math first thing on Wednesday morning! After the tour and faculty panel, the parent of a current 1st grade student pulled me aside to tell me the following story: When her group made it up to the 6th grade classroom, the teacher was called out of the room for 10 minutes. Without prompting, the student who has the Teacher's Aide position stood up and began class - reviewing the homework, and organizing the students to begin discussing the assigned reading. As the parent told me, "What could have been an utter disaster was instead an incredible moment."

On Thursday we had hosted 30 current ECC 4 families. Thursday's tour started with 40 minutes in the K/1 classrooms. In one, students were celebrating "cake day", and doing a variety of math and cooking activities. They created bingo charts, an activity that combined mathematics and literacy; they worked on separating three cakes into equal slices for 18 students; and they used color charts to design the color of the icing they wanted for their own cupcakes, before actually creating that icing and using it (and other toppings) to decorate their cupcakes. In the other classroom, students made a Y-chart (What does it sound like? Look like? Feel like?) about jazz while listening to Miles Davis and Thelonius Monk, and then moved among several different stations to make art in response to different types of jazz.

After a tour of the rest of the classrooms, parents returned to the K/1 level for 30 minutes of conversation with the K/1 teachers, followed by 30 more minutes with a teacher panel of K-8 faculty. Questions ranged from "How do you address differentiation?" to "Are you happy teaching here?"

Tour season has begun

Yesterday (10/6) we hosted the first prospective parent tour of the year on the University Campus. Today we hosted the first one on the Early Childhood Campus.

Like other aspects of school life, the rituals of tour follow a certain seasonal consistency - they happen almost every week from October through January - and there's only so many things to say or do on a tour - talk about school mission and philosophy, see the classrooms, have a chance to ask questions, and explain the application process. Right?

In order to try to have our tours reflect our school's emphasis on constructing understanding in the context of lived experience, and even be an educative experience for the participants, a few weeks ago Mitch, Andrea, Paula and I began working on revamping our University Campus tour. We started with the throughlines that we have for the school - "How is learning together different than learning alone?" and "What do rigorous thinking, learning, and understanding look like?", and discussed how a tour could be structured to engage the participants in the ways faculty engage our students in the classrooms. The result was a restructuring of the event that shortened the standard introductory conversation to a quick framing of the key ideas of throughlines and thinking routines, and then having participants engage in the See, Think, Wonder thinking routine about a first round of classroom observations. Only then did we have a longer administration-driven conversation about the school's philosophy. Administrators and Parent Ambassadors then together guided groups of parents around campus and into various classrooms, winding up back at the Depot for a conversation with a panel of teachers - which we know, from feedback in previous years, is always a highlight. The result, at least based on the feedback on the exit surveys, was that the participants felt activated and engaged as learners, and not just observers, and that they walked away with not only insight, but also understanding, of how we are trying to put our school's mission into action, and our views on the educative process.

Thanks to Ann Kim and Helen Yoon for volunteering as Parent Ambassadors. Please talk to Paula if you'd like to get involved.