Just before Thanksgiving break, Catalina Rincon (K-1-2 teacher and instructional coach), Stephanie Collins (3-4-5 Division Head), and Grace Reilly (8th grade science teacher and MS instructional coach), and I enjoyed a morning with parents sharing about ways in which teachers and our community are gaining a deeper understanding of the British Primary approach to teaching and learning.

We delved into a key British Primary Concept - Discovery. We read about, linked our reading to our own and our children’s experiences,  and discussed the why and how of:

• Inspiring Wonder
• Igniting Curiosity
• Nurturing Observation
• Embracing Questions
• Supporting Investigations
• Facilitating Communication
• Celebrating Learning
• Designing Reflection
• Emphasizing Constructivism
• Honoring Play

To wrap up the morning, Catalina, Stephanie, and Grace shared a few ways in which discovery infuses each grade level division of the school: 

Catalina: At K-1-2, we begin the school year with really simple things that children are familiar with, like bubbles. We let them play with them and ask What are you noticing? What are you wondering? We let their learning guide and take them. Our class just did a unit on worms. We did not have a set of ideas that these are things we want children to learn. It was really about What are the things that they want to learn? Where are their questions taking them? These moments of discovery happen all the time. You just have to stop and look and you are going to see them. It is naturally a part of everything the K-1-2s do everyday.

Stephanie: In science learners are coming up with their questions. They are forming their hypothesis and testing it. They are looking at the variables. Their learning is guided by Sig and she’s helping them really understand the scientific process and how you can go through that process but the foundation focuses on what the children want to learn about and they get to discover it. Discovery happens across the curriculum; for example, in writing we use mentor texts so we are using model picture books, chapter books, other students’ writing, teachers’ writing and they are looking at it and analyzing it. So, for example, a lesson on sensory images is going to be looking at a text that has strong sensory images but the children are constructing their own meaning around that. What makes a good sensory image? What makes a good hook for an essay? Essays can become boring so how are you going to hook your reader so they will want to read it? Discovery is happening all day, everyday at 3-4-5!

Grace: When we think about discovery it can be so easy, or we can be so quick to think about science class, Look discovery in science. Investigating. Observing. It happens there, and it happens in a lot of other places too. In middle school we are embracing who they are at that age and how they can build and share their understanding in a way that makes sense to them. Our students are coming out of the concrete thinking stages and developing brains that are more ready to think abstractly and we are hitting them with more complex conversations and topics about what’s happening in the world and has happened in the past. Our teachers are presenting multiple perspectives on something, typically using primary sources, so students are able to see what was happening, draw their own conclusions and come to their own understandings of these complex topics. 

It was a morning of discovering Discovery! Here are a few photos and a few Stanley faculty and staff quotes shared at the parent association morning:

Wonder is being alive. It makes you alive. It’s the juice of life. –Mona Akbari

When teachers allow children to play freely and discover their own interests, children become their own best teachers.  –Carolyn Hambidge

How we respond when kids are exploring and investigating is really important. We need to be careful not to intervene too quickly because we’re worried that it’s something that will send our kids down the wrong road.  –Sumant Bhat

The teacher is differentiating constantly. They’re always adjusting. It does look different for every student and that’s the role of the teacher too, to make sure every student is being accommodated for their particular understanding and for their learning and for how they make meaning. –Alex Meallet

I feel like the teacher is backstage. Turning on the lights, putting up the curtains, helping the actors to shine. So the actors can use their talents. They are in the center of the stage. They are the ones that are getting the knowledge and you are wanting them to shine. So I feel like the teacher is sitting next to their students, watching them, guiding them. You aren’t giving them direct answers; you’re helping them find the way to get those answers. –Sofia Cruz

I think about permanence of learning and also relevance. When a teacher just tells a student something, they’re just not going to remember it and internalize it as well as when they come to it on their own. Either you'll remember it much better because you went through the whole process to get to figuring it out for yourself, or if you don't remember it later you also know the process to get there.   –Nan Munger

There is a joy in being the expert in something and knowing and having discovered something. You don't really fully know until you’ve shared it. There's an identity that gets developed and you create this connection with the person that you shared it with. 

–Valentina Reiling

Reflecting is important because you get to know yourself more. Each child gets to know themselves. Until they really have a knowledge of who they are and finding out what they love to do and what they are passionate about, that's how wisdom grows. You can’t have wisdom without knowing yourself a bit and reflecting helps you. So often people do what they’re told in school but don’t reflect. I love how the children here are allowed to reflect on what they’ve done.  –Carolyn Hambidge

Kindergarteners were learning to snap their fingers and count out syllables. Later that day at the water table, some of them noticed that when their fingers were wet, they could not make the snapping sound that they could when their fingers were dry. The next day at the water table, one of the children noticed that as he brought his thumb out of his fist, it made a snapping sound. He kept trying it and discovered that as the water evaporated and his fingers became dry, the sound stopped. He then made the connection to the discovery from the day before: “When I snap like this, my fingers have to be dry. When I snap like this, my fingers have to be wet.”  

Constructivism is reflecting on experiences and actively creating an understanding of the world. It is asking, “How does the new fit with my previous knowledge and understanding?” As we “construct” or build meaning, we play with ideas, concepts, connections, words, definitions, and materials. We explore from different angles and perspectives and form new connections. Then we revise and play around some more! In addition to interacting with our environment and people, we interact with our own thinking. We reflect on our experiences and our evolving thoughts and then make sense of it all. Constructivism is at the heart of our BP philosophy. With a constructivist approach, we know that learners understand deeply. Constructivism is how Stanley teachers believe children learn best because it is, in fact, how we all learn best.

In a constructivist classroom, learners are doing the doing, whatever that doing is! Learners are engaging, immersing, interacting, thinking, synthesizing, creating, asking questions, putting together ideas. Learners are hypothesizing, investigating, exploring, grappling, revising, facilitating, paraphrasing. They are engaged and active. As Grace Reilly, 8th grade science teacher, shares, “Teachers are giving space and students are taking up the space. The teacher might be facilitating, but the students are the ones doing the talking, thinking, learning and doing.” 

The teacher, though, does not take a passive role. The constructivist teacher is a mentor, a consultant, a coach. a facilitator, a mediator, a prompter. The teacher is orchestrating. The teacher is creating the open container for discovery, and holding a vision with flexibility. We thoughtfully design the learning experience and environment. We create an invitation for students to enter into learning. We think about the experiences and materials, choices and time needed to build upon and extend a learner’s understanding of the world. We make sure the environment is open and safe and welcoming for learning. Katie Boston, 3-4-5 teacher, describes, “When you construct anything you’re going to build, a bridge or a sandcastle, it takes planning and some trial-and-error, and a strong foundation, and then some flexibility, and time. As a teacher you need all of that. You're developing this plan, and trial and error, and flexibility and a strong base - generally this is where I'm going, then just time.” 

Constructivism places the student at the center of the learning. In doing so, constructivism allows students to learn how to learn! Students learn to wonder, observe, ask questions, investigate, communicate, create, and think critically. As Nan Munger, Middle School Art Teacher, shares, “When a teacher just tells a student something, they’re just not going to remember it and internalize it as well as when they come to it on their own. Either you'll remember it better because you went through the process to figure it out for yourself, or if you don't remember it later, you know the process to get there.” 

Within constructivism, learners develop confidence and trust in themselves. A learner puts all the pieces together and builds their understanding. Being in that active state of creation is empowering. Constructing the stories that we want to tell, the meaning in our lives, and developing a vision of where we're going builds agency. 

A K-1-2 teacher had just finished a math unit on patterns with her kindergarten math group. They had been studying growing patterns by creating their own pattern shapes that were symmetrical. Using a mirror, they were seeing if their patterns were the same on both sides. Then, they started building up with their patterns rather than out. The teacher described her surprise. “I was not expecting that. I was expecting them to build out, but they actually started building patterns in space and they were symmetrical! They took a skill and they were applying it to something totally new that I didn’t even fathom. I knew that they understood what patterns meant, how to apply it and how to transfer that knowledge and create from it.”

Within constructivism, a-ha moments happen for learners when they take what they know and apply it to something new. This transfer of knowledge is powerful for them. It is powerful for us! 

Susannah Marais was at lunch with her class when one of her students asked her, “Who’s your favorite in the class?” Susannah responded, “All of you are my favorite for different reasons.” Naturally, one student asked, “What’s your favorite thing about me?” Susannah replied that she loved that they were friendly to everyone. Curiously, another spoke up, “But, what’s your favorite thing about me?” Susannah shared that she loved that they liked to make their friends laugh. Susannah spent the rest of lunch sharing her favorite thing about each student.

While January is a time when we often focus on our shortcomings, making resolutions to improve ourselves, at Stanley we believe that one of the most powerful choices we make as teachers - as people - is to start with our strengths.

Elena Aguilar, in her book Onward, writes, “Focusing on strengths, assets, or ‘bright spots’ is an extensively researched approach in psychology, organizational change management, and neuroscience - and researchers in all these fields agree that focusing on the positive not only feels good but also works when you’re trying to change or you want others to change.”

Stanley teachers know that starting with strengths is about more than just supporting change. As K-1-2 teacher Emily Sprayregan explains, “Every single person wants their strengths to be seen. It just naturally makes you feel good and makes you a little more open and vulnerable.” 

For Stanley teachers, starting with our students’ strengths is at the heart of our relationships. It is how we build trust and see our students for who they are. Katie Russell believes that starting with strengths comes back to storytelling. She notices that our teachers continually ask, “What story are we focusing on – what are we telling ourselves and others about the person or situation in front of us? Are we helping learners find and tell stories about their strengths?” Stanley teachers notice and articulate students' strengths to guide our teaching and to help students recognize and use their strengths.

The way we scaffold and differentiate for learners builds on our students’ strengths. Our teachers know what each student needs to be their best selves and we adapt lessons or expectations accordingly. We might write for a student who has a passion for words but has challenges putting their vision on paper. We might help a student who has a vivid imagination visualize, and perhaps diagram, a math problem. Or, we might help an energetic and passionate student focus by asking them to take a lap before beginning a project. We not only support learners in accessing their strengths, we draw upon these strengths in the classroom when we ask our students to teach others. Our classrooms do not have one or two teachers; they are filled with thirty teachers!

Our teachers encourage learners to lean into their strengths to overcome challenges. We know that when we help learners see the impact of their actions from a place of strength, we are empowering them. We are showing them that they have agency. Peter Johnson in his book Choice Words: How Our Language Affects Children’s Learning, explains, “Drawing children’s attention to their successes and showing them how their decisions and strategic actions were responsible for them increases children’s perceptions of their ability.”

Ultimately, we believe that it is important to start with strengths because it honors the students in our care. 3-4-5 teacher Jon Gottesfeld reflects, “Maybe we’re not told enough about these wonderful gifts that we have. In the end, where we lean into our lives is into our gifts.” British Primary teachers believe that knowing our strengths allows us to contribute to a cohesive whole that we help create, whether it’s in our classroom, or in the world.

Chris Belanger and Kelsey McGuckin have created a lovely birthday tradition in their 3-4-5 classroom. They begin by asking all the other students in the class to share positive qualities, talents and strengths of the birthday child. This student watches as hands wave in the air. They watch the board fill up; the student is a Lego-builder, passionate about animals, an inclusive friend, they notice when others are hurt . . . Once the board is covered, the class reads the list aloud altogether and ends by loudly proclaiming, “And so much more.” 

Starting with strengths changes us. It impacts how we see the world, and ourselves. Let’s resolve to begin 2023 by loudly proclaiming our own strengths and the strengths we see in each other so that we can enrich our relationships, confidently face challenges, and ultimately change how we see and live in our world.

Here at Stanley, learning unfolds in our classroom guided by teachers who have passionate beliefs about how our students learn best. This past week, the 3-4-5 classes demonstrated a culmination of months of learning with their Invention and Toy Convention. This joyful and uniquely “Stanley” celebration and the process of learning that led up to it truly capture what we believe about how learners learn best. 

A learner learns best when learning is meaningful. 3-4-5 students began their invention design process by brainstorming problems that come up in their lives and in their world: waking up on time to get to school, getting laundry down the stairs to the washing machine, helping grandmothers get their medicine quickly. Here at Stanley, we believe that learners are motivated to learn from experiences that are connected to their lives, culturally relevant and authentic. Learners learn best when they are interested and care about what they are learning. 

A learner learns best with choice. 3-4-5 students were encouraged to think big. While teachers were available to brainstorm and to provide resources, students ultimately chose the direction they went with the invention they wanted to create. Here at Stanley, we believe that learners are naturally curious and are motivated when they have some ownership over their learning and are able to make decisions about how and what they learn. When learners are allowed some autonomy and time to explore, experiment, problem solve and enjoy their learning, they are invested in their learning and actively participate. 

A learner learns best when doing and thinking. These 3-4-5 scientists grappled! There were inventions that were redesigned and rebuilt up to the day of the celebration. Students explored first hand how the dynamics of simple machines brought their inventions and toys to life . . . or didn’t, and then they tried again. Here at Stanley, we believe that learners grow in understanding of how the world works from the continual interaction between an experience and how the mind makes sense of the experience. Learners learn, building upon what they already know, by organizing experiences and making sense, or meaning, of what they encounter, developing schemas for how the world works and constructing meaning. Learners learn most effectively as a result of their own effort, action and struggle to understand. For learners, particularly young children, their doing and thinking, and making sense of their world, what is happening in their lives, is often done through play. 

A learner learns best from interacting with others. Working in groups of two or three, 3-4-5 students became design teams. Ideas were shared, compromises made, mistakes and frustrations felt and successes celebrated. Here at Stanley, we believe that as learners communicate, collaborate, exchange points of view and solve problems together, they learn. As learners discover with mentors, they learn. As learners interact with kind, inclusive people, they learn. They observe others and then try it out for themselves: skills, strategies, habits of mind and heart, compassionate ways to care for themselves and others.

A learner learns best when devoting time. 3-4-5 students began their unit on simple machines in the first weeks of school, engaging with toys to learn the beginning ideas of these concepts. Over the last three months, students explored and delved deeper into these ideas, experiencing them firsthand through experimentation. Here at Stanley, we believe that in order to learn, learners need time to explore, practice and eventually build expertise. How we choose to spend our time reflects what we value and leads to new growth experiences. 

The 3-4-5 Invention and Toy Convention brought together parents, K-1-2 and 6-7-8 students, and administrators. It was a joyful celebration honoring some of our strongest British Primary values. At Stanley, we believe that a learner learns best when engaged within a rich process of learning. When learners are engaged, they do not have to be made to learn, they want to learn. They put in energy, even if it’s hard. When learners are intellectually and emotionally involved, they are happy to focus, dedicate time and persevere. They become joyful, lifelong learners prepared to make a positive difference in the world.