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Joanna Hambidge, Head of British Primary Professional Development
Joanna's role is an outcome of realizing one of the pillars of our strategic plan is to ensure our long-term commitment to the British Primary educational philosophy. She is working with faculty and staff on regular professional development, collaborating with faculty to articulate the key tenets of our philosophy and working on a multi-year project to craft a book. Stanley is devoted to nurturing British Primary teaching and learning, and Joanna's work is key to its ongoing application in our classrooms and beyond.
Living British Primary Blog
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Learners Pause, Reflect on Their Learning, & Then Create
Posted by Stanley Communications on 5/2/2024 3:00:00 PMAs a culminating project for their second, fifth and eighth grade years, each student writes a speech to present to their classmates, teachers and families. Often students reflect on how they have changed, obstacles they have overcome, ways they know themselves better. They share gratitude for those who have supported them along the way and offer words of advice to their younger peers who will follow after them. This moment of creation is a final synthesis of their Stanley experience as they head into the next phase of their journeys as learners.Whether writing a continuation speech, building a diorama at the end of a unit on the National Parks, or designing a powerpoint presentation about supernovas during a deep dive into space exploration, students reach a true depth of understanding through these final processes of creation. They think through all their learning, determine the most significant parts, and make connections. They extend their thinking further to identify how to communicate their knowledge and insights beyond themselves. At Stanley, we believe that through this problem solving process of creation, learners naturally move beyond what they already know to develop something new. This final synthesis and creation reflects the highest level of thinking.At times, it can be challenging for students to pull back from the messiness of their learning process and see what they have learned. As BP teachers we ask students to pause, to reflect. We provide language and lenses to help students see all they have accomplished. We model questions to our students, such as, What have you learned? What is worthy of remembering and recording? What information can you use to support your conclusion? We help learners look for key patterns, themes, relationships and ideas and model how to evaluate and revise their growing understanding. We help learners understand for themselves what is essential and what is important, what new insights they gained and how those insights connect to their lives and their growth.The construction of a final product makes the journey that came before it more worthy as students personalize their learning. The act of creating in this way, infusing what they have learned with the heart of who they are, broadens all they can be. We talk through and practice these moments so each learner can truly share and shine.During the last week of school, we will gather to hear the voices of our students, young and old, as we celebrate their new depths of understanding and their uniqueness, and witness who they have become and are becoming in their journey as learners. -
Investigation: The Heart of the Learning
Posted by Stanley Communications on 3/14/2024 3:00:00 PMA K-1-2 teacher arranges buckets of bubble solution and colorful pipe cleaners on the deck outside the classroom. Soon seven children immerse their hands and different shaped pipe cleaner creations into the buckets. The children are so engaged in their discoveries that they hardly notice passers-by. The sounds of excitement are audible: “WOW! Look at this!” One child has bent pipe cleaners into a square and is trying to make a rectangular bubble. Two boys explore bouncing bubbles, noticing how the sunlight reflects on the surface. They go on to see if they can put bubbles inside of bubbles or even objects inside of bubbles. Three children work together to create the biggest bubble possible – twisting multiple pipe cleaners together into a huge circle. Each holds a part of the huge pipe cleaner circle as they dip it into the bubble solution. Ever so carefully, they stand in unison and run together to release the ginormous bubble.As learners, we reach a point in our curiosity when we need to act. The urge to explore, experiment, research, problem solve is too great. It is often a feeling we experience before we can even articulate this desire with words. We’re driven to find an answer. We observe and ask questions, we uncover and discover, finding answers to our questions through investigation. This learning is not linear – solutions are reached by trial and error, rethinking and retrying, clarifying and reflecting.At Stanley, we believe that investigation is important in our classrooms and in our lives. Through investigation, learners learn how to learn. Formulating questions, recording and interpreting data, articulating conclusions, posing additional questions, problem solving, applying concepts and skills, synthesizing, communicating – all these are at the heart of good thinking and learning. Authentic investigation encourages and positions us to participate in the heart of the learning process. Through investigation, learners realize that we are problem solvers who can imagine possibilities. We come to trust that we have the capability to answer our own questions. Classrooms filled with investigation create life-long learners.In our classrooms, we know that Investigation allows for revision of thinking and a willingness to take wrong turns. Sumant Bhat shares, “You think of one thing based on your own experience and then you realize it is more complex. That surprise drives you to want to learn more.” Investigating is engaging and meaningful. As learning becomes connected to our lives and the world, we form original interpretations and we reach novel conclusions.At Stanley, we know that Investigation cultivates the whole learner – our imagination, reasoning, intuition and expression. Investigation takes initiative, determination, open-mindedness and follow-through. We must adapt, deal with frustrations and persevere. We learn the value of listening to others and seeing through another’s eyes. We learn to communicate with others and, when we have findings or an end product, we learn to share as experts on a topic. During investigation, we develop many sides to ourselves. And, investigation leads to us creating identities for ourselves – not just as someone who has become an expert, but as someone who investigates.As the bubbles continue to blow and pop amidst the squeals of laughter, the K-1-2 learners engage in their experiments. Even 40 minutes later, the excitement continues. The teachers join in the excitement but hold back from adding their ideas. Instead, they actively observe and listen carefully, making note of how they’ll help students capture all that happened once they head back inside. After so much investigation, these learners will be eager to share what they found out! As learners tell the stories of their experiences, they will reach even deeper understanding. -
Discovery
Posted by Stanley Communications on 11/30/2023 3:00:00 PMJust 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
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Forging Relationships
Posted by Stanley Communications on 4/20/2023 3:15:00 PMAfter Spring Break, faculty and staff came together for our professional development day before welcoming students back to campus. We reunited over breakfast, sharing stories of our time away and ready to engage with the last couple months of school. In our first session of the day, we discussed and shared ideas on the BP value of the importance of forging relationships.
Our Vision, Mission and Values statement reads: “We value relationships. We recognize that positive relationships are fundamental to student learning and to the successful operation of the school.” Here are a few of our words:
Why are positive relationships important?
Having people who are there for you is the essence of life, and love.― Joanna Hambidge, Head of British Primary Professional Learning
Relationships give us purpose and meaning; they inspire us to be more and do great things.― Valentina Reiling, 3-4-5 teacher
Positive relationships are grounding. You have these people in the world you love so much and they love you. It allows you to take risks and grow.― Jon Gottesfeld, 3-4-5 teacher
We are unreliable narrators of who we are. We tell the stories of ourselves that we want to tell. Without other people we can’t build an accurate story of who we are.― Sam Pfeiffer, 3-8 Fellow
Positive relationships enable people to be their whole selves without judgment.― Jackie Rose, 3-4-5 teacher
Positive relationships fulfill the human need for connection which is the purpose of life.― Sophia Cruz, K-5 Spanish teacher
Relationships are foundational. They are everything.― Kathy Muller, 7th grade Language Arts teacher
How do we forge positive relationships with learners?
As a teacher I always want to be present, for my students to see me and think, “There’s Valentina, and she loves me and she’s comforting and supportive.” We offer consistency and predictability. We do things a certain way and we speak a certain way, and that feels safe. I think being generous with our presence, fully being there with our students, is how we forge positive relationships with learners. They know when we are.― Valentina Reiling, 3-4-5 teacher
Slow down, watch, notice.― Andrea Arnold, K-1-2 teacher
We are curious, continuing to learn more about who someone is and where they are now and what they’re thinking.― Joanna Hambidge, Head of British Primary Professional Learning
We are unassuming. You can get into habits with people you know or, when you get to know someone, you might assume how they feel or assume how they’re going to react to something or assume what they’re thinking.― Sam Pfeifer, 3-8 Fellow
In a truly great relationship you’re willing to have difficult conversations.― Jon Gottesfeld, 3-4-5 Teacher
When teachers create lessons that are engaging and exciting and feel meaningful to kids, it also helps forge a positive relationship. “Here’s someone in front of me who has the capacity to help me be excited and learn new things and discover new capabilities that I wasn’t sure I had.” I think that makes a big difference to a kid being respectful, wanting to listen, wanting to engage.― Nan Munger, 6-7-8 Art teacher
We explain the “why” with what we’re doing. “Here’s why this is happening and this is why I want you to know this.”― Kathy Muller, 7th Grade Language Arts
We allow relationships to grow. Relationships are ever evolving and ever changing. People grow and change and become better versions of themselves.― Nicky Arja, 3-4-5 teacher
As we enter these last months of school, we find ourselves busy with so much to do: class trips, musicals and shows, final projects and presentations, ceremonies and celebrations. At Stanley, we know that at the heart of all this is our relationships with each other. During our professional development session, we were reminded of the importance of slowing down to be with each other, to connect, to share stories, to see each other.
We are grateful for the relationships with each member of our joyful learning community, and we remember Carolyn’s teaching on how to forge relationships in this last stretch of the school year.
Trust, listening, understanding where the other person comes from – their passions and interests, giving strength to each other, encouraging growth, being a friend, sharing creativity and passions, apologizing, listening to their point of view, sharing positivity, asking, “What can I do to help?”― Carolyn Hambidge, Founder -
Constructivism
Posted by Stanley Communications on 3/2/2023 3:00:00 PMKindergarteners 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!
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Start with Strengths
Posted by Stanley Communications on 1/19/2023 3:00:00 PMSusannah 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.
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Reflections on How We Learn Best
Posted by Stanley Communications on 12/8/2022 3:00:00 PMHere 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.
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The Privilege of Seeing Possibility
Posted by Stanley Communications on 11/10/2022 3:15:00 PMIn our TK and K-1-2 classes, the dramatic play area is a dynamic place. One week a child might be a shopkeeper, the next week, a veterinarian. Children pretend, imagine, and envision what’s possible. At Stanley, teachers know the power of seeing possibilities.At Stanley, we provide opportunities for students to explore who they are and who they can become. We choose to use a lens of abundant possibility, one where we see each child as made up of many sides, endless paths and unlimited potential. For K-1-2 teacher Emily Sprayregan, seeing possibility in a learner means, “seeing where they are, appreciating where they are, while also recognizing all they’ve yet to acquire.”Stanley teachers believe in each student and have bold expectations for our classrooms. Laura Gibson explains, “I think it’s the job of the teacher to be the visionary and to really believe in the vision. To be able to say ‘this is possible.’ The way we get there is going to be different because each kid is unique and what they need is different. But the possibility is there. To have that strength and assertiveness and vision and experience is the teacher’s role.” At times this means that as teachers we must help students create a new vision for themselves. As Grace Reilly knows, “Kids are so quick to put themselves in boxes: ‘Oh I don’t do musicals.’ ‘I’m not a math person and I’ll never be a math person.’ Seeing possibility is helping to see that one can grow out of those boxes and that they’re not actually inhibiting the path forward.”Sometimes helping students take ownership of their own potential simply takes “spotting it, catching them in the act or drawing connections, really being present to notice,” as Randy Jones, Middle School Teaching Fellow, describes. We know that having curiosity as teachers allows possibility because we are open to what our students bring to us, who they are and how they are thinking. As Laura explains, “Seeing possibility starts with just seeing in general. Really trying to see a person and reflect back to them what you see. I think possibility comes out of that, if you’re really observant and present and able to say, ‘I see you.’” At Stanley, teachers know that at times, seeing possibility is trusting what is, and allowing it to unfold without judgment of what it could be.At Stanley, teachers focus on what we say, how we say it, when we say it and our body language – the subtleties of language that create shifts in our students. The ways we communicate create our students’ own ability to see possibility in themselves and in others. Rosamund Stone Zander and Benjamin Zander in The Art of Possibility share, “Speaking in possibility springs from the appreciation that what we say creates a reality; how we define things sets a framework for life to unfold.”At Stanley, we focus on the learner being an active agent of their growth, taking responsibility for their impact on materials, on people, on the world. With this comes a need to support kids as they venture outside of their comfort zone and take risks in their learning. Kiayan Reuter, K-1-2 Teaching Fellow, shares, “I think the important part is getting kids comfortable being uncomfortable, where there is that potential or possibility that they never thought of. It doesn’t always look the same for every child but when you’re asset-based you find the tools or the language to give them the courage or bravery to take the step that they didn’t anticipate.”Emily shares, “I think if a child sees that you see possibility in them, they will see it in themselves very naturally.” Ultimately, our goal is to create students that see possibility in themselves and take responsibility for their own learning and contributions to their communities. We know the powerful impact we can have as teachers who see possibility in our students - the power to create responsible learners and leaders and doers in their world.Seeing possibility is optimistic, hopeful, encouraging, supportive, it’s our ultimate belief that a learner can learn and become more. Carol Ann Tomlinson in her book So Each May Soar: The Principles and Practices of Learner-Centered Classrooms beautifully states, “Still, we are better teachers as we become more and more able to say about every learner in our care, ‘there is so much potential in this young person that no one has yet seen. I am privileged to work with this child, first to help her realize whole new ceilings of possibility and then to help her push beyond those ceilings as well.’”Many of you have had the opportunity to meet with your child’s teachers for our Fall conferences. During these conversations throughout the year, you will hear the many ways that we see possibility in your child. And, the privilege is ours. -
We Prepare Teachers
Posted by Stanley Communications on 10/6/2022 3:15:00 PMThroughout its 50 year history, Stanley British Primary School has had a deep commitment to teacher preparation. The second sentence of our school’s mission statement reads: We prepare teachers to implement our vision, mission and values and we share our educational approach with the larger community. Over 500 teachers have spent a year at Stanley learning to teach in the British Primary Way. Today, a remarkable 40% of our 90 current faculty and staff have been trained at Stanley!After two years of Covid taking a toll on the field of teaching and as schools nationwide are experiencing shortages causing some states to drop requirements for being a teacher, the importance of supporting teaching at Stanley and the field of education at large has never been greater.Over the years, teacher preparation has undergone a few iterations and today, those interested in learning to teach at the Stanley British Primary School currently have two options: The Stanley Fellows Program or The Public Education and Business Coalition Teacher Residency Program.A year and a half ago, we (Joanna and Sumant) began interviewing countless faculty and staff who went through teacher training at Stanley as well as speaking with teacher training programs around the country. The feedback and lessons learned helped refresh the Stanley Fellows Program in an exciting and mission aligned way. Overseen by the Director of British Primary Teaching and Learning, the Fellows program has placed a greater emphasis on the British Primary philosophy, provides an avenue for master British Primary teachers to be leaders and teach coursework to fellows, and aims to attract individuals who have been historically underrepresented in the field of education.This year, Fellows work four and a half days in the classroom alongside a mentor teacher, and meet regularly with their mentor and advisor to discuss their classroom experience and the next steps in their development as a teacher. The time in the classroom is augmented by engaging in a professional learning community (PLC) every Tuesday afternoon from 12:15-2:45p.m. with other Fellows, the Head of British Primary Professional Learning, and other master British Primary teachers. During these PLC times, Fellows reflect upon and discuss the time in the classroom and focus on key British Primary concepts such community, diversity and agency. The foundation and lens for the BP Fellows is the mission, vision and values of Stanley. Fellows are also given two hours each week to observe in different classrooms and engage with short meaningful assignments for the next week's PLC gathering. Fellows are supported to feel successful in their first year teaching at Stanley, and then to take what they have learned to continue their teaching career at Stanley or at other schools across the globe.The second pathway of teacher training at Stanley is to be a resident inThe Public Education and Business Coalition Teacher Residency Program. Residents work in the classroom four days a week and have a Stanley mentor teacher. They engage in coursework with the Public Education and Business Coalition one day a week and complete several assignments, such as a child study and a unit plan. They have a PEBC advisor and at the end of the year receive their Colorado Teaching License. If accepted into the PEBC program, residents have the opportunity to use their coursework to get credit towards several different Masters Programs.
This year, we have four wonderful fellows/residents who are profiled in the Bulldog. Randy Jones ‘01, Sam Pfeifer ‘13, and Caitie Chicester are a part of this fellow program while Kiayan Reuter is a part of the teacher resident program. And we are grateful to the advisors and mentors for each of them who have helped make this experience so meaningful and impactful!If you know someone who might be interested in this type of program or if you’re interested in finding ways to support teacher training at Stanley please reach out to Sumant or Joanna! -
Creating the Rhythm of Routines and Rituals
Posted by Stanley Communications on 9/8/2022 3:15:00 PMWhen walking through our campus and classrooms in the middle of the year, one might notice students knowingly forming a circle on the rug after coming in from recess to be ready for mindfulness, one student organizing the art shelves at the end of the day and another watering the plants. British Primary teachers know that time invested at the start of the year creating routines and rituals is necessary to create a strong culture and foundation for learning the rest of the year.
In your child’s first weeks of school, they have been immersed in lessons and activities to create, practice and reflect on classroom and schoolwide rituals and routines. In the beginning of the year we are learning to live and work together. Teachers and older students in the class share and model the routines and rituals, and then we fine tune and practice some more! Your child may have voted on the song that will remind them it is time to transition. They might have illustrated posters titled “Classroom Promises.” They will begin to remind each other that they can sit on the spinning disc on the playground rather than stand.
As Paula Denton and Roxann Kriete share in The First Six Weeks of School, “Students must know how to leave the room without interrupting the teacher or other students… They must know how loud ‘indoor voices’ can be...They must know something of their classmates’ strengths and fragilities. They must know how to ask each other for help. They must know how to get into groups quickly and efficiently with the materials they will need. They must know how to put the special drawing pencils back in the art cans so that they will be there for the next student who needs them.”
When learners know expectations, routines, and rituals, they feel safe to take risks. When children feel safe and know what to expect, they can focus on learning. Children rely on the simple, the predictable, the consistent parts of our days and weeks. These rituals and routines create a rhythm for coming together and moving apart throughout the day. They are comforting to us when things feel complicated; they ground us when we are ready to tackle more complex and creative challenges. There is something sacred in these repeated actions that mark the beginnings and ends of our days, the ways we move throughout our classroom, the words we speak and communicate with each other.Ralph Peterson in Life in a Crowded Place: Making a Learning Community, explains, “Ritual has a centering effect…I do not search for the right words to say or worry about what to do next. My body knows what to do… Ritual allows teachers to use one of humankind’s most prized forms of expressing meaning and creating order.”Most likely as your family has transitioned back to school, you too are finding grounding in the routines that help smooth the busyness of the earlier mornings and full afternoons and evenings. Your children bring their rituals of home with them to share with us at school, and perhaps you are beginning to hear about those that they are creating at school. Together, these simple, predictable, and repeated actions of our days create meaning in our lives and allow us to say as a Stanley community, “This is who we are, and this is the way we do things here.”