March 23
Dear Families,
Despite our physical distances, I have been heartened to see the FSP community actively reaching out socially, educationally, and perhaps even spiritually in ways we perhaps had not imagined before.
Though we are not at school, each of us is in full learning and teaching mode. Teachers are learning to navigate new ways of connecting with their students and parents; parents are finding themselves in a teaching (or at least at-home classroom management) role. Students are figuring out as much as adults, as their home lives and school lives merge.
I imagine that for all, this situation evokes a sense of exploration, fear, possibility, exhaustion, and sometimes isolation. My deepest wish is that we can remember we are part of, and engage in, myriad communities. My own family, with members from Montana to Mexico, had its first Zoom get together last night, many of us with dogs in lap. This morning, 15 heads of Friends schools around the country met virtually to share their thoughts and questions. This is truly a time to--what's the opposite of self-quarantine?--identify and celebrate the threads that run between us.
As an administration, we're putting our hearts and intellects into gear as we wade into planning for the next month and months. Thank you to those who are sharing with me their changing financial realities. I hope it helps to share the burden; it will also help us to plan the best ways we can support your family now and into the next year.
Please take care of yourselves so that you can take care of your kids. We're by your side in this.
Sincerely,
Jenny
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Jenny Rowe
Head of School
As we enter the second week of our work to create entirely new systems for curriculum, instruction, assessment, and connection, we continue to look to the FSP mission and the Quaker values of Simplicity, Peace, Integrity, Community, Equality, and Stewardship to guide our work.
Last week's goal was focused on the immediate closure of school. We prioritized setting up communication with families, getting initial learning materials for review and simple projects into the hands of families and students, and finding simple ways to keep classrooms connected in the near term.
As teachers completed these initial tasks, we also began a longer-term planning process centered around the following questions:
How will we connect our students as a classroom community over the longer term?
How can we structure schedules and at-home learning to best support families with very different needs and capacities?
How can we help to provide quality, relevant learning experiences for students learning at home during a closure of several weeks or more?
How will we continue to distribute materials? How will we assess student learning and give feedback to students and families on work as we move forward? How can students get questions answered as they arise?
We are working through these questions as quickly as we can, but please know that this is an entirely new and evolving process. Our priorities for this coming week are (1) better supporting students and families with both structure and flexibility around schedules and assignments, and (2) piloting the use of digital tools for "class meetings" of various kinds online.
The Nitty Gritty for This WeekBeginning this week, classroom teachers will be sending an optional daily/weekly calendar for families and students to use to structure at-home learning for the week. This week's activities will include something from each specials teacher.
As of today, are beginning use of Google Classroom for workflow (assignments, student-teacher communication) in grades 5-8. Look for more information in teachers' weekly update emails.
The 3-4 team will be rolling out Google Classroom more gradually for their students, beginning with assigning students gmail usernames and passwords. This represents a shift from our typical tech policy in these grades. Please refer to classroom emails for more information.
The 1st-2nd grade team is currently working on a longer-term workflow and instructional routine that is developmentally appropriate for 6-8 year olds and will be testing different strategies this week. They will be gathering information from families during conferences to inform this work. Please stay tuned for more information coming from those classroom teachers.
Teachers at all grade levels will be piloting online meetings with students this week--individual, small group, and whole class--as we sift through the best approach for keeping classes connected, helping students and families who need more structure, and figuring out how to offer academic instruction from afar.
Classroom teachers will be holding phone or online parent-teacher conferences in the next 1-2 weeks. This is a great forum to ask questions and give feedback about what's working and what isn't for your family. Teachers will compile feedback to share with me as we continue rolling out and revising our at-home learning plan.
A clarification about the bins: We created the "bin system" last week as a way to get first-wave materials out to families and to create a structure that can be used going forward for materials that can't be sent out digitally (like reading books, workbooks, etc.) and for families that don't have access to a printer. That is not our only system for distributing materials: we will continue to send work out digitally when possible, as well. Please be in touch with your child's teacher if you have questions or concerns about materials.
How you can help:
Please know that we understand first-hand how hard this is for families; FSP teachers and staff are facing the same challenges you are: balancing having children at home, caring for loved ones, and doing our own jobs. This is hard, and it will be messy, but know that we are in this with you, and we are doing everything we can to make at-home learning work as effective as it can be for each of our families.
Please read all group communication from teachers and staff, especially the weekly email coming out from teachers Sunday or Monday and the e-bulletin each Monday.
Please communicate any questions/concerns/feedback directly to your child's classroom teacher. This is more important now than ever. Direct communication from families will help us figure out how to meet the often very different needs of students and families and to know how/what to adjust as we move forward.
If you have the time and expertise, please help your children to keep connected to their friends. Zoom card games, emailing, and even good-old-fashioned phone calls go a long way.
Most important, please know that whatever you are doing for your child(ren) right now is enough. If it is helpful for you and for your children to follow the schedules and complete all of the work, then that is the right thing. If it is better for your family to throw out the schedule and create your own learning experiences, then that is the right thing. Children are wired for learning, and they will learn, whether they're following a formal curriculum or not. They may be learning how to initiate their own play, or how to make breakfast, or how to push through boredom, or how to be patient. Whatever it is that your family needs to do right now will be the right thing for your child(ren).
Sending love to each of you and holding you in the Light,
Nell
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Nell Sears
Director of Studies