Dear Families,

 

One of the mandates we have as a progressive school - and a school that continues to innovate - is to bring real life into classrooms and our classes out into the world. For us this also means bringing the day to day of school clear and available to you, our families. Progress reports, which come out tomorrow, are one way to build that connection. Another is the week of visits that’s coming up later this month. I want to take this opportunity to give you some encouragement and to preview the kinds of things you might see when you come. 

 

 

The daily experience of students in a progressive classroom is mysterious to most adults whose own childhoods were spent in more or less traditional schools. Witnessing the many ways teachers engage their students and draw them in to authentic conversation, debate, and problem solving is something that is hard to replicate with a second-hand account. Also, while middle school is largely about students finding and forging their independence, it’s also the last few years that parents have this close a seat to the daily life of children. They will only get more private, more independent, and their daily lives will unfold more and more out of view. I encourage you to take this opportunity as you have it. Here's what you will see:

 

 

 

“At a time like this when everyone is thinking in terms of world problems, it is sometimes hard to keep our minds on the small problems of the day to day life of our children. Yet the way that the foundations of democracy are build is by daily habits of recognizing the rights of those who differ from ourselves.” -Elisabeth Irwin, “Our Symbol of Democracy”

 

Teachers create classroom routines and structures to foster student relationships, to give them practice sharing and comparing ideas, negotiating their differences and appreciating each others’ strengths. You can expect to see students in groups, and the teacher acting as coach - nudging conversations, guilding dialogue, managing and reinforcing norms of respect.

 

 

“The new type of teacher shares experiences with the children rather than imposing tasks upon them.  This means that the age-old conflict between the interests of adults and children is minimized, and the relationship to authority through adolescence and adult years is not spoiled by the feeling of revolt that is so often engendered by the old school of discipline.” -Elisabeth Irwin, “A Real Life Plan”

 

Students talk - to their teachers and to each other - more often than the teacher talks to them. The role of the teacher is to create, as Elisabeth Irwin would have said, a rich environment. You can expect to teachers providing intriguing problems and provocations, books and essays to compare and contrast, materials to manipulate, and products (an experiment, or a song) to create. 

 

 

“Above all things, the progressive schools believe that childhood is a part of life and not just a preface to something more important, and that at every age children should have a chance to respond to the romance and adventure of the world around them.” -Elisabeth Irwin, “Fitting the School to the Child”

 

You will see students allowed to take risks and follow paths of their choosing. Teachers studiously avoid ‘rescuing’ students from wrong paths at the outset, or providing too much correction early on. Teachers convey respect and confidence in their students by letting them respond authentically and fully to ideas, the environment, and to each other. Fallacies and errors are uncovered, not simply by a teacher’s red ink, but through conversation and debate.

See you in school,
Ana