Bookends

Since the COVID outbreak and in the years following, time seemed to move differently.  I would say things like, the other day – and I really meant several weeks ago.  Likewise, I struggled to place things cleanly on my mental timeline – like did my daughter play in a certain lacrosse tournament two summers ago or was it three.  In conversations that I have had with friends, the pandemic has impacted others in the same way.

My son, Nate, now a senior in high school, just returned from spring training with his high school baseball team at Dodgertown in Vero Beach on Thursday.  As I was waiting to pick him up at Logan, I realized that it was four years ago that I was in Vero Beach, picking him up from spring training, that year with his Cardigan Mountain School team.  It was on that trip – Thursday, March 12, 2020, that a number of sporting events, like March Madness and The Players Championship were cancelled, and in my mind, was when I realized that COVID was going to be a very big deal.

Clearly, COVID was a really big deal and unlike other events that float on my personal COVID timeline, my son’s spring training at Dodgertown was a clear maker of the beginning of major alterations to life.  Now, four years later, Nate is safely back from Dodgertown, Logan was packed with people and the CDC has removed almost all COVID related protocols.  While my personal time-line during the COVID years might never be fully accurate, it looks as if my son’s spring training trips will serve as bookends for the pandemic.

At least I hope so!

Seeing is Believing

Sad to say, but as my children have grown older, it is harder to find times when our whole family can be together.  This week, we were fortunate to schedule a mini-vacation in and around New York City.  We had a great time seeing a show on Broadway, walking all over lower Manhattan, and experiencing a wide range of culinary treats.  Throughout the visit, we noticed the significant difference between life in New York City and what life is like in New Hampshire, which led to conversations about what it must be like to live in New York.

Our family is lucky to have the opportunity to travel and to experience a way of living that is different.  It is my belief that experiences such as this help me and my family to better understand the world in which we live.  When I used to teach 6th Grade Geography, I would frequently tell the students in that class that if I had unlimited resources, their class would be a yearlong trek throughout the world experiencing the places firsthand, that we could only read about or see in movies.  While technology has allowed students to experience more of the world without leaving the classroom, it can never replace actually “being there.”  

In the wake of COVID, BHS teachers are once again taking students on field trips with increased frequency. In the future, I envision opportunities for BHS students to travel outside New England – perhaps even internationally.  For now, I am excited for our students to, once again, have the opportunity to experience learning beyond our campus. 

The Sound of Silence

Usually, when our students are in “The Forest,” an area of wooded landed just past our campus, there is an abundance of noise that can be heard all the way back to the main school building.  When I hear this, it brings a smile to my face, as it is the happy noise of middle school students enjoying our Outdoor Program.  This Friday, however, students were stationed throughout The Forest and the only thing that one could hear was the sound of birds and the wind in the trees – and the occasional snapping sound of a stick burning in a fire.  

This Friday, all students in grades 6 through 8 participated in our annual Winter Solo.  After a brief organizational meeting, students went off to their individual places in the woods with a ferro rod and an aluminum foil packet of food they made earlier in the day.  The typical chatter and clamor of Outdoors was replaced by focused industriousness.  It was truly a sight to behold!

Once all the fires were extinguished and the students emerged from The Forest, they beamed with pride and self-satisfaction.  While they certainly were not in the wilderness, nor were the weather conditions treacherous – our students were challenged, and they provided clear evidence of their learning.

I can’t recall the last time that I was so pleased by the sound of silence during Outdoors!

Is this on the test?

“Is this going to be on the test?”  For many teachers, having students ask this question ranks highly on the list of pet peeves.  It really is a loaded question, as teachers worry that answering in the negative somehow means that what is being said is unimportant or inconsequential.  Likewise, an affirmative response may put too much emphasis.  For the most part, teachers are generally “peeved” because the question has undertones of anti-intellectualism.

I wish that I could say that students at The Beech Hill School don’t ask this question.  Unfortunately, they do, and quite frankly, assessment and feedback of understanding through tests and quizzes are essential elements of learning.  So, querying a teacher about the relative significance of a topic is not the worst that one could do – indifference would be much worse.

Lately, however, I have been struck by the number of ways that students engage in their education at BHS that is not formally assessed.  For example, last week we held our Winter Carnival.  A cadre of students, with the assistance of Mr. Holt and Ms. Marklin, planned, organized, and administered the events of the week.  The students dreamt up the themes of the daily dress and they orchestrated an amazing afternoon of activities on the final day of Winter Fest.  They were given the agency to own the event, and they did.

Similarly, this Friday we held our annual Invention Convention, which is the culmination of the 7th Grade Solutions class.  There is nothing on our students’ transcript that says “Solutions Class” – yet every year our students put forth a great effort to develop creative solutions to their everyday projects.  In the last 5 years, The Beech Hill School is proud to boast that two of our student inventors were invited to the National Invention Convention in Detroit, Michigan.  This year’s inventions were, like past years, creative, unique, and a culmination of great effort.  The students learned a great deal through the process, yet there was no test and no grade.

In the end, we have found a good balance between formal assessment and reporting at BHS, while inspiring our students to pursue and protect their curiosity.   For far too many, middle school becomes a time when curiosity is replaced with anxiety and a perceived need to perform.  At The Beech Hill School, attending to this balance is just another reason that our students thrive.

Grappling with Discomfort

When I was in high school, I wrestled.  I did not grow up wrestling, rather it was something that my football coach suggested that I do to improve my athleticism.  Wrestling is different from any other sport in which I ever participated, and I learned a great deal about the sport and myself during my competitive years.  My senior year, our team had T-shirts made with the slogan – “pain is just weakness leaving the body.”  For those that have wrestled, this likely seems quite normal, even tame, and for those that have not, it may seem a little radical.  Ultimately, enduring grueling training is ingrained in the culture of the sport, so that the match is never as hard as the practice.

Lately, our Skills classes have been exploring the connection between learning, the brain, and emotions.  As we continued to explore this topic, it became clear to me that discomfort, to some degree, is a regular and necessary part of the learning process.  Unlike wrestling culture, however, students, in general, don’t tend to champion the idea that learning should have a discomfortable component.

Truth be told, for several years I used the hash tag - #learning is fun – for BHS posts, because our students truly enjoy all of the hands-on projects and activities.  However, it is not as fun, and does not make for a good Instagram post, to watch as students build strong learning habits.  In every class, every day, students are required to use their planners, organize their binders, and complete other tasks that, eventually, become strong habits of mind.  It is this daily attention to the acquisition and maintenance of skills that is hard for most adolescents.  Throughout their time at BHS, our students are intentionally challenged and supported as they develop these necessary life skills.

This work is not glamorous, but it is critical.  Unlike the joy that comes from having one’s arm raised in a wrestling match, the joy that comes from improved learning skills is gradual.  Through the years, however, I have witnessed the great pride that our students exhibit as they begin to reap the benefits of their new skills.

Perhaps I will make a t-shirt extolling the virtues of organization, like “organization is just loose papers leaving the cubby.”  I will report back if this takes off…