Braver Math: A Spotlight on Aliza Gordon's 5-6 Math Class

One of our north stars at Friends School is getting more comfortable with discomfort. This comes up in the Quaker principle of continued revelation, where truth is continually revealed. This has come up in our commitment to direct communication and having challenging conversations, and it also comes up curricularly in the priorities of teaching critical thinking skills and asking students to sit with uncertainty. 

Things look different in Aliza’s math classroom this year. There are more whiteboards than ever before. Sometimes Aliza hands out a card to each student to put them in random groupings. If a student asks her for the answer to a question, she might not answer right away.

These are calculated and research-based choices. Aliza was inspired by the book Building Thinking Classrooms by Peter Liljedahl. He was motivated by the ideas of building thinking and engagement – and the importance of rethinking the roles of student and educator. With these choices, in Aliza’s words: “you’re mixing up the cultural expectations of a classroom in order to get kids thinking harder.”

More dry-erase boards give students a new way to try things, erase them, and collaborate. Visibly random groupings give students the chance to work with other students without predefined social or academic roles. “Students think they might be placed in ability groupings – like if they’re struggling, I would match them up with a student that could help them. But in our room, all students can learn together.” 

Aliza encourages students to answer their own questions. “Students often ask questions they can solve on their own. Students think that the ‘role’ of a student is to ask questions and teachers think the ‘role’ of the teacher is to answer them… Instead, this approach highlights the act of breaking down a larger problem into smaller steps – and asking questions to get students to see that.” Here is an example of how that might look: if a student is struggling with 636 divided by 12 and they don’t know how to start, Aliza gives them a sentence-starter. “Can you turn this into a sentence that starts with ‘How many groups…’ and then students would jump in with ‘Oh! How many groups of 12 fit into 636?’ And then I would say ‘OK! What can we do next?’”

It’s about getting messy, being willing to not know right away, and trying new things.That can be uncomfortable – but beyond sitting with discomfort, it is also playful, engaged, collaborative, and exhilarating. The premise is that “discomfort leads to empowerment.” This approach to learning connects to Aliza’s roots as an outdoor trip leader. In that role, she would gradually release responsibility to the young people on the trip. “They would know how to run the whole trip and we would be walking behind them watching.” Similarly, her math instruction gives students a guide. In her words: “I don’t want kids to feel ‘my teacher taught me so much’ – I want them to feel like they taught themselves so much.” In that way, it recasts the conventional role of a teacher. “I model for the students what it’s like to be confused.” 

“Until I felt validated by a researcher to do this, I always felt like there was something missing. Nell recommended the book last summer, and it came at the perfect time for me. I’m really grateful that FSP encourages me to try new things and become a more effective educator. It almost feels like the same amount of wanting students to get bold in their exploration of ideas, FSP wants for its teachers. It’s almost like building risk tolerance.”

“The biggest thing I’ve been trying to do this year that is different from other years is to assess thinking and engagement. We tend to assess in math ‘Can you accurately answer this math question?’ but now it is more about: How engaged are you? What percentage of the class are you actually thinking? Never before in my class have kids said ‘My brain hurts.’ That to me is a sign of success – that they want a break because they’ve been thinking so hard.” What about this type of learning would make a student say their brain hurts? Like a muscle sore from strengthening, their learning zone is expanding. 

This approach is about students thinking through what strategy to use to approach a problem – as opposed to repetitive mimicking of particular strategies. As a math student, you might remember getting a worksheet covered with problems that are all solved the same way: for example, an “equivalent fraction” worksheet. Students aren’t always told which tools they already have that they’ll need for what’s in front of them. Aliza is trying to help them become self-sufficient in determining the most efficient approach. In Aliza’s words, “My goal is for students to have the tools to apply their math learning to a variety of situations.”

“I had always bought into the myth that math is a disconnected set of facts to memorize, with rules and procedures to mimic. I now call that fake math,” says Pam Harris, math educator and speaker in the “Building Math Minds” conference which many FSP teachers attended virtually. Aliza has noticed that students feel better about starting things when they’re not sure they can finish – or trying things when they’re not sure they’ll get it right. Our math program is more rigorous than typical grade-level standards; this deep thinking is academically a much higher standard than the “mimicking” or “memorizing” approach.

This desire to empower students, by giving them more responsibility over their own learning, is connected to so many other aspects of life at FSP, including the recent middle school student-led conferences. 

Students are having an unbelievable amount of success, but Aliza wonders if they are all feeling the power of their success. This type of math feels playful for some students, but it doesn’t always feel that way to everyone. Like so many aspects of learning at FSP, it is the balance (and marriage!) of joy and rigor. As Aliza assesses her next steps, she is thinking more about student resilience, and finding the right amount of stretch for each student. In other words: how to make rigor feel more joyful for each student.  

The Stories Maps Tell: Third and Fourth Grade Map Unit

Pictured above: Third and fourth grade students working together on their recent map unit.

Maps tell stories, and the cartographer gets to choose what story to tell and how to tell it.  

Third and fourth-grade students delved into their unit on maps this spring. Early on, students began by looking at different types of maps of Maine and thought about the stories they tell. They traced outlines of Mackworth Island and then set out to create maps that told the story of their day's island adventure! 

Students worked together on compass work, learning about longitude and latitude, cardinal and intermediate directions, and different features of maps. A visual dictionary of landforms was created as well as maps of Maine.    

Students added Wabanaki place names to their maps of Maine. Casco Bay is named for a word that means "muddy waters", Chebeauague comes from a word meaning "almost separated" because of the tidal beach connecting Great and Little Chebeague Islands, and Sebago means "big still water". 

A visit to the USM Osher Map Library was a treat to get up close and personal with beautiful map-making artifacts. Students had the opportunity to see how varied the practice of map mapping and globe-making can be.  

And a later visit to Rine Forest provided a unique moment to use their newfound map skills. Students made a plan together for their hike. After looking at maps of local hikes, students decided on a visit to Rine Forest. They then decided to make a plan to eat lunch by a waterfall, and used the scale to figure out the distance to the waterfall. This had children working on adding decimals, and converting benchmark fractions to decimals. The fourth graders were explaining the difference between tenths and hundredths to their third-grade peers. It was a really great way for children to apply what they have learned in math to real-world situations, and it was a fun way to use their newly acquired mapping skills. Students felt very accomplished when they made it to the waterfall in time for lunch! 

Learning How To Research: Social Justice Year End Projects

Pictured above: Parents and students at the "Year End Projects - YEP" community share.

At Friends School of Portland, seventh and eighth-grade students just wrapped up their year end projects. They took time to identify and research an interest and take action on that issue in our wider community. Opioid addiction, English language learners, video games, deforestation, feminism, Native American erasure, and climate change were among the many topics students investigated.  

Students first identified an interest and wrote their first essay. Then, students made connections and interviewed an expert in the field. Students took their action step next: volunteering at a local organization, an organization visit, and creating awareness-raising materials. These opportunities gave each student a chance to get to know their topics more fully. Students then wrote their second and final research essays.  

"I was really focused on the solutions like needle exchange and medications at first. Now, approaching people with compassion and treating each person like a real person is what I think matters the most."

"Learning English is harder than I thought and more important than I realized. My first language is English and I've learned Somali at home. I didn't realize how hard it would be to learn English if you were a kid new to the country.” 

“I realized that ski communities are having a really hard time addressing climate change.”  

“I was really interested in deforestation. I read different articles about forests around the world. And after I wrote my first essay, I talked with Eben Sypitkowski, the Nature Conservancy’s Director of Land Management. We talked a lot about the health of Maine’s Forests. By the end of my project, I was really learning about solutions that people are investigating to combat invasive plants and climate change in the Maine forests. I’m pretty excited that my dad and I are going to plant a few trees at FSP this spring too. I really like making this place a little bit better.”  

“I researched unwanted horses. I talked with Education Director at MSSPA and volunteered at the horse farm, It Takes Two. Horses take a lot of work and care. When I volunteered, I helped feed horses and get them ready for lessons with younger kids. I wanted to learn more about horses and what happens to them if they aren’t in a place that takes good care of them.”  

Students had a chance in April to share with peers, younger children, and their families about their projects. Seventh and Eighth-grade Humanities teacher, Pete Nowak shared: “The project showcased so much important learning: students connected with experts from the outside world, managed a variety of tasks and deadlines, coupled skills they've been practicing with personal passions, and gained a deep enough understanding about their topics to be able to think flexibly and change their minds.”

The community share was relaxed and gave way to small engaged conversations. Students really had the opportunity to share what they had learned about a topic of their choice.  

Strategy Teams: A Next Step In Our Strategic Planning Process

Pictured above: The Collaborative Visioning Session held on Saturday, March 18 in the Meeting Room at FSP.

On Saturday, March 18, we held a Collaborative Visioning Session with sixty people in attendance. That morning was a time for interaction, catching everyone up, and engagement with the content generated so far – as well as imagining possibilities toward a five-year vision. Nine faculty members and five administrators were there, as well as our school’s founding teacher Mary Tracy and the two previous heads of school, James Grumbach and Jenny Rowe. One parent heard a lot of alignment in what was reflected and how the room responded; she also wondered who wasn’t in the room and how we can continue being purposeful in seeking further input and direction.

Saturday’s agenda started with an overview of the strategic planning process so far, and then moved into an overview of the content generated by that point: the Strategic Planning Design Committee Retreat, the Strategic State of the School, Community-wide surveys, individual conversations, the board retreat and meetings, admin team meetings, and faculty meetings – as well as feedback and recommendations from our accreditation visits from New England Association of Schools and Colleges (last year) and Friends Council on Education (in 2019). At that time, we had distilled all of this input into these categories: Campus and Financial Stewardship and Sustainability; Cultivating DEI and Belonging; Social-Emotional Support/Growth; Faculty/Staff Well-being, Professional Growth, and Retention; Programmatic Identity and Alignment; and External Connection and Partnership. For the last hour of the Saturday event, small groups envisioned five years from now at Friends School.

Since then, our administrative team, professional facilitator Courtney Bourns, and Strategic Plan Design Committee spent a few weeks synthesizing the themes and questions that arose and shaping vision statements. Small strategy groups have now been formed to research, collect data, and gain a better understanding of the ways in which we might achieve our goals. In the coming months, there will be times for faculty, administration, and the board to triage, pace, and operationalize these strategies.

We are coming to the close of this phase when we’ve been taking in lots of ideas. I’ve enjoyed getting to know people in many ways and hearing so many ideas during the beginning parts of this process. As we move into the next stage, please know that I am interested to hear what’s coming up for you.

Please continue to stay up to date on our process here on our website.

A Culture of Joyful Learning: Playful Rigor

Pictured above: Fifth and sixth-grade students toasting to their Harlem Renaissance unit presentations.

The word rigor, ubiquitous in mission statements and admissions literature, is meant to convey high standards for intellectual engagement. Its largely negative companion definitions (stiffness, strictness, fever-induced cold-sweats) reinforce the misapprehension that for academic work to be deep and challenging it must also be painful. In fact, the opposite is most often true. Children of all ages engage in their most rigorous work THROUGH play and playful learning. More rigorous thinking practices such as evaluation, analysis, and creation are the ones that students more naturally engage during open-ended, playful moments: thinking tasks, creating a project together, writing and performing a skit, articulating a hypothesis and supporting it, and open-ended play. 

To be clear, “playful” does not mean “comfortable“. In fact, this kind of rich learning requires students to grapple with ideas; it can feel messy, uncertain, and decidedly uncomfortable at times. But it also requires that students feel safe enough to take risks. And so a supportive community is not antithetical to rigorous learning, but a prerequisite for it. When we do it well, the deepest and most meaningful learning is engaging and satisfying, and, very often, joyful.

Though it looks different at different developmental stages, playful rigor isn’t the purview of one age group. Four-year-olds engage in analysis, evaluation, and creativity through their open-ended group play. Eighth-grade students do it when they engage with a question using the scientific method. Many of you are familiar with our play-based early childhood program. Below are a few examples of older FSP students engaging in “playful rigor” at their developmental levels -- developing deep thinking through engaging learning experiences, with a large helping of discomfort, giggles, and goofiness.

First and Second-Grade Math Fluency

In math, first and second-grade students are working on building an understanding of the way that numbers relate to each other– how they can be broken apart, put together, or manipulated to add and subtract ever larger numbers. If you walk into one of the 1-2 classes during math time, you will almost always see pairs or small groups of children sprawled out on the rug in various corners of the room, fully engaging in math games that are stretching numeracy muscles and helping students to build a deep foundational understanding of our number system. Two favorites are “Oh No 20!” and “How Close?”.

Third and Fourth-Grade Mapping

Third and fourth-grade students study maps as a way to engage with their essential question “What is the power of a story?” Through their study of maps, they explore the idea that a map tells a story with a particular point of view (typically the cartographer’s), and that maps can be tools for celebrating, centering, or silencing just as stories (and history) can. This unit requires incredibly rigorous thinking for third and fourth-grade students, but they are able to engage at this level of intellectual sophistication precisely because it is introduced in playful ways. As part of the unit, Lindsay’s third and fourth-grade class traveled to Mackworth Island yesterday to practice mapping and begin some of these conversations. Here’s what Lindsay wrote to parents upon their return:

It might not look like normal "instructional time", but these kids were learners and teachers all day long. They were industrious, thoughtful, careful, brave, silly, and sensitive. They negotiated, solved problems, made decisions, persevered, and helped one another. Kids got to shine their light in new ways, and we all have new ways of knowing and honoring each other after days like this.

Fifth and Sixth-Grade Harlem Renaissance

This winter, Allie has taught a social studies unit on the Harlem Renaissance to her fifth and sixth-grade classes. From the first day, the students engage in playful inquiry. Decorating the room with black velvet tablecloths and silver feathers, Allie transformed the fifth and sixth-grade classroom into a museum of the Harlem Renaissance, filled with primary documents (maps, photos, copies of The Crisis, eg) and jazz music playing in the background. Rather than beginning the unit with a lecture or textbook article telling them to know or what to think about this movement, students responded to guiding questions and engaged with the material to begin to build for themselves an idea of what the Harlem Renaissance was, why it happened, and what its importance to our history and culture is. The work that students did required deep and complex thinking, but the mood in the room was decidedly playful.

Seventh and Eighth-Grade Year-End Projects (YEP!)

As they have since the earliest days of FSP, seventh and eighth-grade students have just completed culminating projects (now known as “Year End Projects”). The projects ask students to identify an issue of social or environmental justice about which they are particularly passionate; conduct background research and craft an essay on the problem they are exploring; interview an expert in the field; engage in an “action” related to the problem they have chosen; write a second essay that incorporates further research, their interview and action experiences, and proposes a “solution” to the problem; and present their work to parents and classmates. In the weeks leading up to the presentations, the far end of the middle school wing was a hive of focused, passionate activity and early-adolescent joyful rigor.

How We Take Care of Friends School of Portland:What Does It Look Like When We Are Good Stewards

Pictured above: A view of Friends School of Portland taken by Kelsey Kobik Photography.

At Friends School of Portland, Quaker values are the framework that is instilled in our actions and decision-making for both small and large choices. We often reflect on how we strive to teach children each day to be careful, conscientious, and thoughtful about caring for their belongings, and our school building and land. As thoughtful, caring adults we all strive to make decisions at both the programmatic and administrative levels with our head and heart that we can put into action.  

What kind of bus do we want to purchase? 

Where will we invest our money? 

What kind of school building will we build? 

What type of plate will we use at our school event?

What type of elective might we offer for Middle School students? 

These are questions that come up in teacher meetings, Board Finance Committee meetings, Annual Auction planning meetings, past Building and Capital Campaign Committee meetings, and everyday conversations at FSP.  

Our school is still young in its 16th year. We have taken care to think about the ways that we can care for the resources that we have and the spaces and places around us. We think about this in both big and small ways.  

In 2015, we moved into the building that we call home -- the first Passive House school building in Maine and just the third in the country. In 2018, we began a small endowment which is invested in the Friends Fiduciary Quaker Index Fund.  

Each school year, we print off a few large mailings with Franklin Printing who are one of the 100% wind-powered printers in the state.  

Each day, we compost paper towels and on days with bigger events we make sure to purchase compostable plates and flatware.   

Before February School break, students, teachers, and faculty took time to “Love Our School” during an all-school stewardship assembly. Cubbies, desks, hallways, overlooked closets, and even the space for the downstairs printer was cleaned up and attended to.  

Every day, we make choices and take actions. We give care and tend to what is needed. We don’t always get it right. But we strive together to find the ways that we can best take good care of the spaces and places around us. 

I Notice, I Wonder: A 1-2 Class Study of Biomimicry

Pictured above: 1-2 Assistant Teacher, Aila leading an "I Notice, I Wonder" activity with a zoomed-in burdock plant at the launch of the biomimicry study.

Katie Nowak and Xanthe Charov, first and second-grade teachers, designed a new unit with their students investigating biomimicry. Each class began with a “I Notice, I Wonder” activity, viewing a zoomed in burdock plant the natural inspiration for velcro. 

“I notice… the curved ends.” 

“I notice… the poke at the top.”

“I notice… the curves connected.”

“I notice… the curved stem.”  

“I wonder... why it goes out diagonally?”

“I wonder... if it is hair?”

“I wonder... why it looks like velcro?”

This initial activity led students to “notice and wonder” with many images of inventions that were inspired by nature. Over the course of the unit, children talked with students studying biomimicry at USM, asked questions and investigated together, and created their own inventions addressing everyday problems with solutions found in nature.  

Here is a little insight into a few of the favorite lessons: 

Students looked closely at adaptations, including camouflage. Working in "nesting pairs," children designed and built a nest that took into consideration location and durability using resources found in the classroom habitat. Then they "lay" their eggs and colored them to be well-camouflaged in the nest. 

Classes read An Egg is Quiet and A Nest is Noisy, to provide background knowledge and spur discussion. Students were interested to learn how resourceful birds are when building nests in the urban environment (they use plastic cups and straws?!) and why female birds are not as colorful as their male counterparts (they need to be hidden while sitting on their eggs).

Students also experimented to demonstrate how bird bones are hollow (and therefore light) but also strong enough to support a wing, by stabbing a potato with a straw and covering the end of the straw to trap the air (as happens in a birds' wing to give it strength), or leaving the end of the straw uncovered to let the air escape. 

Another popular lesson was our "owl hearing test," which revealed how humans (with symmetric ear placement) have difficulty identifying where a sound originates when the sound isn't clearly coming from the left or right side of them (but somewhere in the middle). Students were blindfolded and had to guess which direction the sound was coming from. They also learned how an owl's asymmetric ear placement improves its hearing and is a beneficial adaptation.

After exploring biomimicry inventions, students had the opportunity to design and build their own inventions based on the adaptation on an animal of their choice. 

An archerfish word finder

A pillbug portable bed that rolls into a purse 

A jackrabbit cooling headpiece

A sharkskin mitten cover

An octopus suction cup

A pelican beak spoon 

The inspiration was vast and each invention was unique in solving an everyday problem! 

Critical Friends Groups: A Tool For Teacher Professional Development and Sustainability

Pictured above: Kindergarten teacher, Carie, with students out at the Outdoor Classroom on a wintery day.

Approximately every fourth Friday, faculty members meet in three groups (the administration comprises a fourth group) and when 3:30 pm hits, they emerge from these intimate subgroup meeting areas with bright eyes, sometimes laughing, and usually taking longer to leave than normal.

Critical Friends Groups are a National School Reform initiative, a peer-to-peer form of professional development started in the 1990s. The “Friends” in CFG is not Quaker, though I did first experience CFGs at a Quaker retreat at Pendle Hill. And though the word “Critical” can be intimidating, the experience is anything but – it is validating and empowering, though it does often push people out of their comfort zones. These small communities consist of at least five adults who commit to looking seriously at their educational practice and making changes or revisions, using a structured interaction (called a protocol). As the first stage, a foundation of trust and intention is built by a facilitator.

FSP's first cohort of nine teacher facilitators were trained last summer to lead CFG protocols. For each monthly meeting, the facilitator meets ahead of the main meeting with someone who will present a classroom/professional dilemma or share student work, to help them hone the question they would like to ask their CFG. As someone who has participated in CFG communities for three years prior to coming to FSP, I know that this pre-meeting can be valuable in its own right. Sitting with someone who listens intently to help the presenter clarify what their dilemma or growth edge actually is can be groundbreaking. Taking the time to find (or excavate) our true question can be as important as answering it.

The facilitator then chooses which protocol will work best with the presenter’s topic. At first, protocols can feel socially unnatural for a variety of reasons. In many protocols, presenters have a certain number of minutes to share their topic. Most involve careful question-asking that starts with clarifying questions and moves into probing questions. In some protocols, presenters are asked to move their chair away from the group and take notes while the group discusses what they hear and what they think. Almost all protocols end with the presenter reflecting back what they just received from the group. And the closing debrief is essential. The biggest difference I find between a CFG protocol and a regular discussion is how careful participants have to be about listening/witnessing versus suggesting or projecting themselves onto the topic. A powerful holding takes place, due to some combination of the time constraints (facilitators literally use a timer and keep the protocol moving) and also due to the emphasis on echoing and asking thoughtful questions. Protocols have come to feel like a baking recipe to me: if the directions are followed precisely, then something magic comes out of the oven.

We have used CFG protocols as a whole faculty, at our January in-service day during a leadership style activity. FSP’s Racial Justice Accountability Group used a CFG text protocol when discussing a book this January. At their best, CFGs expand possibilities, lead to best practices, and deepen relationships.

Pete Nowak, seventh and eighth-grade teacher, said: “I think I connect with different people in different circumstances by means of different channels. The CFG process has opened new channels or pathways to people I already enjoyed an existing relationship with and, in doing so, has made these relationships more dynamic and vibrant.”

Fifth and sixth-grade teacher Allie Miller, who trained last summer with National School Reform and has supported our school’s launch of CFGs, shared her thoughts on the value of CFGs at this precise cultural moment: 

“Teaching through a pandemic has been a uniquely difficult experience and many of the (very necessary!) safety measures taken also meant that teachers had fewer opportunities to collaborate. Bandwidth was limited and a lot of time and effort was put into pivoting how we taught. Fortunately, now, we are in a place of increased normalcy in schools; I see CFGs as a crucial part of teacher support as we leave the early days of the pandemic. CFGs create a much-needed space for educators to connect, problem-solve, and feel seen and heard by their colleagues. We also hope, in turn, that this work will positively impact our students' experiences, too.”

Bandwidth has two primary definitions. The way we often mean it at school is the energy or capacity to deal with or rise to a situation. Bandwidth is also defined as the volume of information that can be sent over a connection in a measured amount of time.

Critical Friends Groups exist at the intersection of these two definitions: they are a tool for increasing our professional stamina and sustainable energy for the work we do, by maximizing the human connection possible within constrained periods of discussion.

In deepening connections, building trust, reducing isolation, and empowering problem-solving, CFGs have proven to be a valuable lynchpin in FSP’s professional development plan for the coming years. The hope is that CFGs will continue to promote faculty and staff sustainability and enrich the experience of our students.

SeaChange: Darkness and Light in the Gulf of Maine, Interview with Lee Chisholm and Otto Wolyniec '16

Middle school students with Lee Chisholm at the SeaChange: Darkness and Light in the Gulf of Maine art installation.

Seventh and eighth-grade science classes recently visited Maine Maritime Museum in Bath and toured the new art installation with retired and beloved FSP teacher - Lee Chisholm. Sea Change: Darkness and Light installation was inspiring and students were left in awe. The project was led by Anna Dibble, Joe Hemes, and Lee Chisholm who are all connected to the FSP community. Many FSP graduates made contributions to this exciting exhibit including: Mira Hartmann ‘21, Anna Siegel ‘20, Bianca Peterman ‘14, and Otto Wolyniec ‘16. 

Lee Chisholm and Otto Wolyniec ‘16 sat down to chat over Zoom about their recent involvement. Here are a few of the highlights and thoughts around this exciting exhibit. 

Pictured above: Otto Wolyniec ‘16, Development Director Brooke Burkett, and retired 7-8 teacher, Lee Chisholm

Lee: Anna Dibble was the artist who made this exhibit come to fruition. I met Anna when she moved from Vermont back in 2018. This project had its beginnings back in the fall of 2018. The US had recently pulled out of the Paris Climate Accords and I put out a call for artists to help with paper mache to create a 7-foot codfish. Anna answered that call and with 350 Maine, we held a codfish funeral on the steps of City Hall in Portland with youth speakers.  

At that time, Anna was visionary in reaching out to Bigelow Labs. An art installation “Majestic Fragility” was installed in the Fall of 2021. That installation would not have come about but for the group of far-seeing scientists, imaginative thinking, and openness to the arts that we encountered at Bigelow. It was this combination that often and uncannily leads to good things happening at the right time and with good people. 

Then, the Maine Maritime Museum reached out and they were interested in a few pieces from the Bigelow Labs. This really led to a new and more ambitious concept… “SeaChange: Darkness and Light in the Gulf of Maine.”  

Otto: Lee approached the conversation about the installation on one of our semi-annual calls. He first talked about an idea of a turtle being at the center. I was pretty hooked on this idea. Although, the turtle never came to fruition.  

I worked on various paintings. One of the banners that I worked on focused on the negative aspects of climate change. The harsh realities of climate change: mass migration, casualties, oil spills, flooding. 

And then this summer, the project was coming together in a space on Congress St. I did all the painting on the windows to share the project. I also created "Sam Cod" which might turn into a mascot or at least has a lot of potential for a bumper sticker.  

I really enjoyed working with Lee and then Bianca too. Bianca was a chance meeting. I had been painting on the windows to share what was being worked on and Bianca walked in the door excited to see Lee and me and get to work. 

Lee: It was really exciting to see Otto's work. Anna Dibble knew of Otto’s work and appreciated him as an artist before he was even helping. And then to have this chance encounter with Bianca. Good people, doing good work. FSP has really been a presence and a force in this project.  

The motivation for this project was to have a vehicle to push back in the fight against climate change. Everyone has an awareness in varying degrees of what it is like in the ocean and the Gulf of Maine. Because of the urgency of what the scientific community shares, we need more awareness. Our question is really: How can we be a force for good? 

The banner that Otto painted of flooded homes is shocking but beautifully done. It’s not just another photograph, it is good art. We need to reach people through good art.  

Cashes Ledge is this mountain in the Gulf of Maine 80 miles from the coast of Portland. It is 30-40 feet from the surface, which means it is bathed in light, giving rise to the deepest, densest kelp forest in the entire Gulf of Maine. This underwater forest provides a nourishing foundation for an intensely rich marine habitat. With this art installation, we wanted the experience to be uplifting. Both metaphorically and literally, Cashes Ledge is uplifting, so we endeavored in this exhibit to bring it into visibility, into conciousness. Even as the Gulf of Maine is seriously challenged, even as the world is seriously challenged we asked ourselves: what can we do? And the answer seemed clear - strongly and lastingly protect Cashes Ledge, and as a first step toward this goal, use art to inform people of its existence.

Seventh and eighth-grade teachers, Nicole Favreau and Pete Nowak took their students to see the exhibit as it tied into their study of plastics. “It was inspirational for students to see. They have known Lee as a teacher, a passionate teacher. But it is quite something for students to see Lee as a person working in the community around what he is passionate about,” shared Pete.   

An eighth-grade student shared, “When you walk into the exhibit, the first room is striking. It is dark and pieces of art are put in your way to disrupt your path purposefully. It is a trash apocalypse. And then you walk into this light-filled room that is beautiful and holds the hall of protectors. I’ve learned specific facts about plastics in the ocean but this was different. All the pieces that people made were amazing.” 

The Maine Maritime Museum is open daily from 9:30am-5pm. SeaChange Darkness and Light in the Gulf of Maine opened this Winter 2023 and will remain open through December 31, 2023. It got rave reviews from the FSP 7-8 science classes and is well worth the visit! 


What are the environmental impacts of producing, using, and disposing of materials?: A Study of Plastic with the 7-8 Science Classes

What are the environmental impacts of producing, using, and disposing of materials? This is the question that seventh and eighth-grade students have begun to investigate in their Chemistry of Materials unit. This struck their curiosity about how different materials have different properties, which affect their usefulness and impact on the environment.  

Students' anchoring question they are investigating is: What is the best choice for making single-use drink containers? 

First, students investigated the physical properties of elements, including aluminum, copper, carbon, and iron. They have been able to use this lab to gain a better understanding of the materials: glass, plastic, and aluminum. Students examined the data about each material including the percentage recyclable, pollution created in the process of making the product, cost to produce, and how many products can be made out of a single ton of material.  

Students' next steps in their investigation have led them to put their knowledge to work and impact change in their community.

Students are surveying the ways that we at Friends School use single-use plastic items and the ways that we could recycle, reuse, repair, reduce, refuse, and redesign our usage. Students are creating two proposals for the FSP board to review around a ban on single-use plastic items for events and every day use of trash bag liners. Together, students are taking a closer look at the ways that we can collectively be better stewards of our natural world.

What if the Quaker SPICES are Choices Instead of Values? Educators New to Quakerism Professional Development Training Reflection with New 3-4 Lead Teacher, Rachel Fischhoff

Pictured above: Rachel pictured with third and fourth-grade students and their eighth-grade buddies at our recent "I-Kid-Arod" assembly.

Friends Council on Education offers workshops for educators new to Quakerism. At Friends School of Portland, our goal is to offer all teachers and staff new to Friends education the opportunity to attend this training via zoom or in person.  

This February, our new 3-4 teacher, Rachel Fischhoff, attended the training at Pendle Hill in Pennsylvania. As the only Friends School in Northern New England, we benefit from this unique opportunity to meet with other educators and administrators teaching at Friends Schools across the country. It is an opportunity to compare experiences, ask questions, and make connections with our strong (but small) Quaker school community.  

Here are a few of Rachel’s thoughts:  

What is something that you learned that you didn’t know about Quakerism?

There was a lot of conversation around the origins of Friends Meetings and historical Quaker figures. I didn’t realize that Bayard Rustin was a Quaker! I also didn’t realize that there were programmed and unprogrammed Quaker meetings. I knew that FSP has its founding roots from Portland Friends Meeting which is unprogrammed. But I didn’t realize that there was another version of meeting.  

I was also really curious about what practicing Quakers thought about Quaker schools. I was struck by the conversation about how there are so few Quakers in the world that Quaker schools are really a beloved way to sustain Quaker values in the world.  

What was it like meeting other Friends School teachers and administrators? 

There were people at the training who held a bunch of different roles: assistant heads, division heads, teachers new to Quaker schools but not to teaching, teachers brand new to Quakerism and teaching, and graduates of Quaker schools just beginning teaching. When I was talking with other teachers, we talked about classroom dynamics a lot. When I spoke with administrators, it was a similar conversation just on a different scale. We were talking about spaces, school culture, and connecting threads between classrooms. I also had a really interesting conversation about discipline in middle school and Quakerism.  

What is a new practice or way of thinking that you would like to bring back to your work at FSP?

The Executive Director of Friends Council on Education, Drew shared his wish that Friends Schools would teach testimonies as practices instead of values. He spoke about how the testimonies are all action words that can guide our choices. I was really intrigued by this and I left thinking about how I might think about the SPICES as actions.

We talked about the underpinnings of ideas that were radical in Quaker schools when they were introduced but are now more widely accepted like asking deep questions, collective decision-making, and the autonomy of children. I appreciated delving into some of the theological underpinnings rather than thinking about it as the education tool of the moment.  

Anything else?

There was a lot of conversation around meeting for worship. It was pretty interesting to hear about different models, and different questions that are coming up at different schools. I think that I am more curious than I was before to ask myself, “How do I help kids consider if they have a message to share during meeting?”  

The whole professional development training just had a really good tone. It was at Pendle Hill, so it was just dominated by people in their practice. There was so much good energy around. I am glad that I had the opportunity to go!  


Building The Foundation: Lessons in Stewardship in Preschool

Pictured above: Preschool students playing outdoors on a rainy winter day at the tree fondly known as "Yoda's Hut."

Bird Land...

Yoda’s Hut...

The Gulch...

The Corner Spot... 

These are a few of the places that have been named over the years by preschool students at Friends School of Portland. Children learn intimately about the nature they are surrounded by. Ashley Blake and Jonathan Ewell witness this foundational experience every day in preschool at FSP.      

Ashley shared a few of her thoughts about how children’s experiences, at an early age, in the outdoors form the foundation of appreciation and deep love for the natural world. 

“Preschoolers explore new spaces in the forest and find their own connections, in developmentally accessible ways, to the natural elements around them. They practice being observers and thinkers. Children play with each other and find shared joy with peers, construct meaning as they think and talk about what they see, build curiosity and dig deeper into finding out more, and learn to move carefully and thoughtfully as they do. 

“These magical moments in the forest are rich, developmentally appropriate, and joyful. It is very often that children will recall moments, in the forest, that felt meaningful to them. The children will request that we visit their very special and favorite natural spaces. These places matter to them because they’ve had an opportunity to build up a love of them. These experiences are a valuable and necessary first stop on the path to lifelong environmental stewardship. I believe that these experiences become the fertile soil from which they can grow into more intentional action. 

“At the heart of environmental stewardship is an appreciation and deep love of our natural world. As children stop to notice and wonder about our outdoor explorations, they are building that foundation. This is done with intentional slowness and through the lens of simplicity.”

Sustaining Culture and Community

Pictured above: Seventh and eighth-grade students in morning advisory with Spanish teacher and Advisor, Dareth.

At FSP, all teachers spend significant time at the start of school working intensively on getting to know one another, building community, understanding identity, and creating our classroom agreements for the year.  This is the foundation on which we build open communication and welcoming and respectful classroom communities.  It is the foundation students need to take the risks necessary to learn.

Though the initial work of building community takes about six weeks, sustaining that community is an ongoing process. This takes place in the whole-school rituals that sustain our community– Monday Meeting for Worship, Wednesday All School Community Meeting, and Friday Assemblies.  Classroom communities also engage in regular rituals. Each morning, teachers hold morning meetings in which students hold silence, greet one another, and welcome each other into the classroom.  Meeting times are also used for sharing news, holding silence, playing team-building games, or working together to solve issues that arise.

Teachers spend time each week (and often each day) building community and supporting students around social-emotional skills as opportunities arise.  This week, for example, one teacher worked with students to manage a conflict they were having.  Another led a class discussion about how to better support everyone to feel respected and valued.  Another worked with a student on giving a clear message to classmates. A class spent time revisiting its agreements.  A pedagogical approach that asks students to co-construct learning in community also requires ongoing work on the skills of negotiation, problem-solving, and approaching learning using the lenses of justice and equity. 

Nurturing a learning community in which each person can both share their own Light and recognize the Light in others takes daily work. It takes a recognition that progress is not linear, and that it is through asking questions, taking action, reflecting on our practices, and doing better the next time that we will continue to grow individually and as a community.  It is through this daily practice and close attention to our interactions at all levels that we can sustain FSP’s culture and community.

Strategic Planning: You Are Invited

As we wrap up the first phase of our Strategic Plan process, we are poised to embark on the second phase. 

You are invited to our all-community Collaborative Visioning Session on Saturday, March 18 from 9:00 am to noon!

At this event, we plan to share a synthesis of the discoveries of the first phase of our strategic planning process, reorient to our strengths, engage in visioning conversations around the key strategic questions that have emerged so far, and launch what we’re calling Strategy Teams, the next opportunity to get involved between late March and early May. The role of each Strategy Team will be to gain a deeper understanding of an assigned strategic priority area, lift up important questions about the issue, gather and digest relevant data, and begin to define the goals and objectives for that priority area.

Come on March 18 to hear community responses to the question “What are our strengths?” and start pursuing answers to “How can we elevate these strengths, using our values as our guide?” We are seeking a wide range of vantage points at this visioning session, whether you have known our school since its inception or are new to FSP.

RSVP below to attend by Wednesday, March 15. 

Childcare will be available, please indicate your family's needs when RSVP’ing. 

FSP Graduate Spotlight: Catching Up with Bella Burnap '16

Bella ‘16 leading Art Club afterschool at FSP.

What are you up to now?

Right now, I am taking a year off from college.  I finished my second year at Colorado College and I am now applying to transfer schools.  I am looking at bigger cities.  My first year at college was virtual and my second year was a mix. The pandemic forced me to pause for a moment, to deviate from my original plan, and to slow down.  I have really changed the course of my life right now.  I hadn’t imagined that I would be working in aftercare at Friends School, running an Art Club, and substituting as needed.  I have a bunch of new interests that I didn’t know I had. I’ve been looking at programs in college for education and child psychology.  I have seen the challenges of teaching and also the rewards of it this year.  It is something that I am really considering and a path that without this opportunity to slow down may not have opened for a long time. 

Favorite Memory of FSP:

I’m just going to list a few memories as so many come to mind.  The eighth-grade trip, the Appylimpics, and my preschool teacher Lea Sutton.  

We went to Washington DC on our eighth-grade trip and I just remember how much fun it was to spend time with everyone outside of school.  We made and shared meals together.  

The App-y-lmpics was a legendary assembly.  Jonathan just made it so special!

And Lea, I vividly remember her teaching us how to fold a blanket with a friend.  It was just such a kind moment.  It really comes to mind when I think about my time at Friends School. 

Celebrate with Us as We Catch Up with the First 100 Graduates

A tradition in FSP early child hood programs is to celebrate the 100th day of school. Now, we are counting our way to an exciting milestone at FSP. This June, the 100th student will graduate from Friends School of Portland! This spring, we will be spotlighting and catching up with our first 100 graduates.

Are you an FSP grad? Want to share your favorite memory? Want to share what you are up to after your time at FSP? Reach out to Brooke Burkett, Development Director, by email (brooke@friendschoolportland.org) or phone (207) 558-6214.

Friends School of Portland's Incoming Board Members

Every school year the Friends School of Portland Board of Directors undertakes a process to find new members to replace those who are stepping down and to expand our collective talents and experience. Last school year, the FSP Governance Committee intentionally made changes to our recruitment efforts with the goal of diversifying our membership. Instead of relying primarily on the existing community connections of our present Board members and the Head of School, we instituted a more formal nomination process to broaden the circles in which we find new members. As we try new processes and shift how we recruit new stewards of FSP, we recognize that we still have work to do. 

We are thrilled to share four new board members who will help continue our important work. Our new members bring a wealth of expertise in education, child advocacy, school management, Quaker faith, and diverse life experiences to the Board; they will undoubtedly enrich the collective wisdom of the Board as we guide the school in the coming years.

   

It is with great pleasure that we introduce the newest members of the Friends School Board of Directors:

Kathy Beach is a longtime member of Portland Friends Meeting. She is a retired nurse-midwife, having practiced in Portland for 33 years. She still enjoys getting to know families with young children. Her grandniece, Cosette, has been at FSP for 2 years and is in kindergarten this year. Kathy and her husband Chris live in South Portland. 

Fritz Weiss worked in Vermont in public schools helping them become better at educating students who struggled with emotional and behavioral challenges. He helped launch three new schools, two as part of the team and one as a parent. He retired and moved to Portland in 2019 just in time for the pandemic. Fritz has been active among Quakers in New England for many years. He served as the presiding clerk of New England Yearly Meeting for four years from 2015 – 2019.

Galen McNemar Hamann attended Earlham College which sparked a love of Friends Education 

and a 20-year career in Friends Schools. While at Moses Brown School, as the Director of Friends Education, Galen got to know Friends School of Portland faculty through professional development. That was an impetus for visiting the school on Mackworth Island on a day that 

she had the good fortune of seeing the Itidarod reenacted on the snowy hills. After serving as 

the Assistant Head of School at Virginia Beach Friends School, when Galen returned to New 

England, she was eager to support Friends School of Portland: the vision, the faculty and the hands on Quaker Education she had come to know. Galen now serves as the Middle School 

Director at Thayer Academy and lives with her wife and 3 children in Braintree, Massachusetts. 

 

Luc Nya is currently employed by the State of Maine as Children’s Behavioral Health Program 

Coordinator. He has a deep interest in early childhood education and has loved and supported 

the Friends School of Portland from its inception. He is thrilled to join the FSP Board. When Luc 

is not volunteering on a nonprofit board, he loves to garden. He lives in Saco, Maine. 

Learn more about our full board on our FSP here...

Parenting for Peace: Calming Strong Emotions with Resonant Language

Parenting for Peace is an FSP tradition with the mission to bring outside speakers and thinkers to our community so that we can be a community of learners together and make our implicit shared values more explicit, integrating our values further with our practices at school and at home. Typically, we host a Fall Parenting for Peace event for faculty and families, while our Spring event is open to our wider community.


This Fall, about twenty-five parents, faculty, administrators, and board members joined Peggy Smith for a series of workshops. Peggy is a former teacher and founder of Open Communication, an organization that teaches Nonviolent Communication, a method designed to increase empathy and improve quality of life among both people using the tools and the people around them. Together, we spent three Thursday evening workshops learning about “Calming Strong Emotions with Resonant Language.”


The phrase “resonant language” originates with the image of two cellos, one in its case and one being played. The cello in its case will start resonating with the sounds it hears, a “warm accompaniment.” Relational language strategies help us turn to each other (and ourselves) with more warmth. We can choose how we resonate and how our resonance can help others. 


When we accept with kindness how the person we are talking to feels, making resonant guesses, we can gather more information and stay in better relationship. At their essence, Peggy’s strategies and teachings were all about “empowering people to be the authority on their own reality.” We can play an active role in each other’s lives, as partners, parents, colleagues, family members – by helping others calm their own nervous systems. And we can also do this for ourselves! 


More detailed participant takeaways below will offer a glimpse of the strategies and new ways of seeing that came out of this course. A huge thank you to Peggy Smith for her generous, candid, funny, and heart-warming teaching style.


“Nonviolent communication takes time and practice. It is using relational language and strategies to hold your own feelings and needs and honor those of others. In this way we find a path forward to deeper understanding and empathy of one another, especially in conflict resolution.”

 

“This workshop helped me examine and be aware of my habitual responses to life and to others in my life. I especially appreciated the sections that gave examples of empathy blockers and the four chairs of thinking/responding. They were great mirrors for myself and I appreciate having some new lenses and language tools to practice and create new habits of response--ones that will generate greater harmony in others and in myself.”

 

“I loved the practical and simple (but not necessarily easy) strategies such as to pause, name the feeling or need, rather than focusing on resolution or on brushing past the situation… What a wonderful teacher and group of participants!”

 

“There is a less transactional way of living available! … I can learn to ask for what will support me and hear better what would support others.”


“I have taken a similar class in the past dealing with conflict resolution and found Peggy's approach to nonviolent communication refreshing and new. Peggy came across as very insightful and engaging. Her class has given me more options and tools for dealing with conflict(s)... and how to self center in an effort to strengthen connections.”

 

“Remarkable new way of thinking about every day interactions. I found the conversation stimulating and thought-provoking and will certainly be attempting (with baby steps) to integrate this into my life. Many thanks for this eye-opening experience.”

Note from Megan, Enrollment Director

Pictured above: Seventh and eighth-grade Middle School Ambassadors with Director of Enrollment, Megan Campbell, at our most recent October Open House.

This fall has been one for the books. I have been taking it all in as I transition from my role in the classroom to Director of Enrollment.  

We continue to thoughtfully bring back traditions, and continue with new ones that were facilitated by COVID. In October, we held our first in-person Open House of the school year welcoming not only prospective families but Middle School Ambassadors too! We had put this tradition of middle school students hosting campus tours on hold in 2020. This is a wonderful leadership opportunity for middle school students and provides a unique perspective for families eager to learn more about FSP. 

Our ambassador training consisted of practice tours and a special lunch where students learned a few interesting facts about FSP and had the opportunity to ask questions about the Open House. It was a delight to work with middle school students in this capacity. They showed up bright and early at our Open House to take prospective parents and students on tours of our school and answer their questions about what it is truly like to be a student at FSP. 

 

A few students shared highlights of their experience as ambassadors: 

“It was nice to give back to the community and to show all the parts of the school that I love.” -Eighth-grade student

“When I was new, somebody gave me a tour. It was so fun to be a part of that cycle for someone else!” - Fifth-grade student

“Giving a tour with another student was fun–getting to hear about their perspective was so cool!” -Eighth-grade student

“Because I’m new this year, not only was I teaching people about the school, but I was learning more about it from my friends.” - Sixth-grade student

“My favorite part was talking about the parts of the school that I really like, and seeing families get excited.” - Eighth-grade student

We are hosting a series of Virtual Information Sessions which you can learn more about on our website. Our next Open House is Saturday, January 7th, from 9 am-noon, and I look forward to having Middle School Ambassadors welcome new families again!

Learn more about upcoming Admissions Events here: https://www.friendsschoolportland.org/admission-events

New Friendly Face at the Front Office: Jenni Casas, Office Manager

Pictured above: Jenni and a kindergarten student noticing that they are wearing matching mushroom boots!

In June, I began welcoming friends and families to FSP in the front office. It was lovely to settle into the office manager role during the more quiet Summer months. I remember feeling very nervous about what the hustle and bustle of Fall would bring; now that I’m in it, I love the busy school days. 

It feels very special to get to know the students. My heart lights up when I hear, “Hello, Jenni!!” and get waves from the hallway. I love hearing about new dogs, exciting weekends, a delicious cookie, and all of the little bits of news I get from students.  

It has been so fun to see faces that I recognize from my many years of baking at Scratch Baking Co. in South Portland. It’s lovely to reconnect with those families. A lot of the babies I would see regularly at the bakery are now Middle Schoolers!      

More recently, I worked for Preble Street as the Teen Center Kitchen Manager. I was lucky enough to spend a lot of quality time with Ann Dodd-Collins, a Portland Friends Meeting member, while working at Preble Street Teen Center. It was often just Ann and me in the kitchen sharing about our lives while preparing and serving lunch for about 50 youths. We talked a lot about books and knitting, and she piqued my curiosity about Portland Friends Meeting and Quakerism.

I have found Friends School of Portland to be a pretty magical place. During the quiet moments of the day, I take time to look at the pine trees that surround the building and feel a little more grounded and at peace. I’m excited to see and experience the flow of FSP in all the seasons. And I look forward to meeting you when you next stop in at Friends!

Counting to 100 Graduates: Conversations with Alumnx

Pictured above: Eighth-grade students back in 2016 sitting together on the old logs in the courtyard. A big shout out to this class who are now on to their adventures after high school!

This year, we will celebrate a big milestone for FSP -- 100 graduates! Just in the last few months, we have had 5 graduates join our summer camp staff, 3 graduates join our AfterCare team, and 1 graduate joined our Strategic Plan Design Committee. There is a satisfying and joyful “at last” feeling now that our dear alumnx are starting to come back to us! 

Over the summer, I interviewed a few camp counselors on what it was like to find themselves back at FSP. What had they missed? What did it feel like now?

 

“Coming back as a camp counselor reminded me how special the Friends School is. For example, how it gives kids the opportunity to be themselves and feel valued. I didn't realize how much I miss this feeling of welcomeness that can't be found everywhere. I enjoyed helping (the youngest campers) interact with each other the same way Friends taught me to treat others.” -Tess McNally ‘20

 

“There’s a definite value to having space in the woods. Not just a playground, but having space in the woods. I have vivid memories of being in that overhang under the stairs – we spent a lot of time there during AfterCare.” - Addyson Babcock’19

 

“I felt most nostalgic on my first day as a counselor for the FSP camp… I felt the warmth and love of the FSP community again. I felt this most at the end of the day during camp meeting when all of the groups come together. It reminded me of Meeting For Worship and Assembly during the school year. Friends School was and is still a second home to me.”

-Molly Katz ‘21

 

“(Being back) is weirdly similar but also different. It’s a foreign place to me but also I’ve lived here. Putting the board on two or three swings was a nostalgic moment for me. It’s the weird stuff that’s super fun that’s very FSP, that you wouldn’t find other places.” 

-Avery Rhoads ‘18

“Being back at FSP definitely made me feel very nostalgic. It’s kind of wonderful to see what has grown out of the FSP that I knew since I’ve been here -- the new wing, the gaga ball pit, and the trails are all things that make the kids so happy that didn’t exist when I was at school! It feels like the school has grown up, in a way, from its original roots.”

-Maya Denkmire ‘17

"It feels great to be back. It's a very full circle moment. I feel so honored with the opportunity to give back to the community that made me who I am today. FSP, it's the same in all the best ways but with more people!"

-Bella Burnap '16