Little Red School House
and Elisabeth Irwin High School

A Pre-K-12 Progressive Education

Other News

News

Lower School Associate Cohort

Debra Jeffreys-Glass

From Lower School Assistant Principal, Debra Jeffreys-Glass:

In The Little Red School House, Agnes DeLima described the founders’ belief that “teachers are people too...primarily concerned with human values and eager to discover with the children how best these values may be fostered.” A core value for everyone in our community is the importance of becoming excited, lifelong learners who embrace every opportunity to grow and improve.

One way this value is modeled is hiding in plain sight – the associate teachers in each classroom who are living, breathing “teachers as learners” and “learners as teachers.” They use their daily experiences with the children and head teachers to hone their knowledge and skills as progressive educators and to fully “know” each student in their care. Through observation of our head teachers, they learn to “draw upon the student’s curiosity, purpose, and sense of adventure” to help create learning environments that nurture and support the children.

Just as we believe that our students learn best through active learning, our associate teachers are also engaged in learning by doing. They fully participate in the life of the classroom - they lead lessons, take part in family conferences, attend and contribute to grade-level team meetings. They bring new ideas, add to existing curriculum, and help shape the learning that takes place. As we encourage our students to keep a growth mindset – the idea that one learns through dedication and effort rather than a fixed “gift”– our teachers understand that we can always learn more and get better and better at what we do.

As in the early days of Little Red, many of our associates have had “other experiences besides teaching, some of these colorful and stimulating.” Associates have been experienced teachers from abroad, social justice educators, recently enrolled graduate students from around the US, career changers from the fashion, marketing, and publishing industries, yoga practitioners and musicians. They have led “varied and interesting” lives before making the leap towards becoming full-time progressive educators. As was true of the lead teachers Agnes De Lima colorfully described, our associates’ varied perspectives and backgrounds add to the richness of experiences that students will have during their time in the Lower School.

After their time here at LREI, our associates take what they learned about children, teaching, and learning out into other schools and educational contexts. Some will begin teaching in public and charter schools and some will move into associate positions in other independent schools. Wherever they land, their time here forms a critical foundation which they will build upon for the rest of their teaching careers. Sometimes their journeys will lead them back to LREI, as in the case of former associates and current LREI community members: Lower School teachers Diane Kidder, Jessie Kirk, and Alisa Soriano; Middle School teachers Suzanne Cohen and Megan Ashforth; and Associate Director of Summer Programs, Seth Eastman.

I invite you to take a moment to learn about our current cohort of Associate Teachers. One of these early career educators might someday become the next progressive head teacher leading your child’s classroom, or perhaps even someday leading a progressive institution as a Head of School.

Resources:

DeLima, Agnes (1942). The Little Red School House, New York, NY: Macmillan Company

Silberberg, M. (2017, October 24). Learning and Innovation. Retrieved from http://lrei.org

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Childcare During Family Conferences

The Lower School will be closed on both conference days (November 10 and 13).

Childcare will be available from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. for Lower School students.

This service is complimentary on a drop-in basis during your conference and $20 for the whole day.

Whole day childcare is limited to 20 slots per day so please be sure to sign up below.

Lunch and activities will be provided.

Please sign up here and email kmateos@lrei.org for any questions.

A note from Stomping Ground Photo:

SCHOOL PICTURE DEADLINE SOON!
ORDER your Pictures by Tuesday, October 31st for FREE shipping to School.

VISIT

shop.stompinggroundphoto.com
ENTER ONLINE CODE: LREI + First 3 Letters of First name + First 3 Letters of Last Name
(e.g. Victoria Jones = LREIVicJon)

HOW TO GET HELP
Email help@stompinggroundphoto.com. Please include the school and student name.

Come see the HS Play "Antigone"
Thursday, November 9th at 6:00pm
Friday, November 10th and Saturday, November 11th at 7:00pm
The play will take place in the PAC at 40 Charlton Street