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Looking Ahead: Sharing a Toolbox for Virtual Teaching and Learning

As we settle into the summer with an eye to the upcoming school year, our faculty are participating in a series of professional development workshops, led by Jamie MacNeille and Nora Sundar. Reflecting upon and sharing what worked best in our spring distance learning platform is helping us to evolve the delivery of our curriculum in ways that amplify relationships, increase student engagement, and promote student agency regardless of the platform--virtual or in-person.


During yesterday's "Toolbox Share," faculty shared new tools and techniques they employed to attain several educational outcomes, among these: an app that enables boys to write, illustrate, and narrate - in Spanish - books about animals, which they can then share with each other; iMovie tutorials that boys can rewatch to deepen understanding and practice new art skills; circle talks where boys come together to share their thoughts and feelings; podcasts that engage boys' imaginations and speak to different learning styles and interests; and use of breakout rooms to support small group collaboration.

I've always been impressed by the ingenuity, creativity, and dedication of our faculty, but never more so than during this past spring. Their generous give-and-take sharing of new best practice approaches yesterday underscores their collegiality and deep commitment to our boys' education and well-being.

As I've written previously, this upcoming school year will require us to be nimble and able to pivot quickly from in-person, to hybrid, to virtual learning. In fact, throughout the year we will always deliver a simultaneous live streaming session of in-person classes, forever linking tech and pedagogy.  This is a good thing; we know that when done correctly, the marriage of technology and pedagogy can boost learning. In so doing, we are making an investment not only for these unusual times.  Moving forward, this approach will augment and enrich our program of studies, increasing the student ownership and intrinsic motivation essential to building lifelong learners.

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