I would like to share the following feature article, which appears in the current issue of Saint David's Magazine. Written by our Lower School Head Hope Lippens and Assistant Lower School Head Nick Imbelli '98, it addresses how Saint David's School attends to our younger boys' social and emotional well-being.
Over the past two-and-a-half years, we have collectively, as a society and school community, faced challenges never before experienced. Each day, we are barraged by talks of a global pandemic, political discord, social injustices, and violence. Many adults have had a difficult time finding answers for themselves, so it is no surprise that children are struggling to cope with the stressors they are faced with each day. Even prior to the pandemic, research conducted by the Health Resources and Services Administration found that between 2016 and 2020, there was a 29 percent rise in anxiety and 27 percent rise in depression in children ages 3-17.
In 2020, the Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago conducted a survey of 1,000 parents around the country and discovered that 71 percent of parents reported that the pandemic had taken a toll on their child’s mental health. In the face of this black swan event, we cannot rely solely on traditional pedagogy and teaching methods to help our students navigate present day challenges, so as educators, what is the solution?
By staying true to our mission, Saint David’s is well-positioned to support our boys through the challenges of current events with a variety of intentional approaches throughout the day and through our Sophrosyne course. Our commitment to intellectual curiosity, moral introspection, critical analysis of ideas and issues, and a strong sense of community will guide our approach. We will ensure that our boys have the intellectual capacity to process new information, the emotional intelligence to understand and regulate their feelings, and the confidence that they are surrounded by a community where they are supported and safe.
To do so, we will focus on an adaptive model when it comes to lesson plans, classroom management, and social and emotional learning; one that focuses on where the boys currently are developmentally rather than where traditional benchmarks say they should be. We will foster a strong sense of community and inclusion with the return of communal lunches, parental participation in school events and traditions, and collaborations with Dr. Gay, and Ms. Pagan and Coach Morales, our co-directors of Inclusion, Diversity, and Community. We will encourage and support our faculty members in their professional development pursuits as we all learn new strategies to deal with the new normal. Most importantly, we will forge ahead as a community with patience, optimism, and determination, as we become collectively stronger in spite of the challenges faced.
.jpg)
At the root of a child’s success is a strong sense of self: self-worth, self-efficacy, self-confidence, and self-regulation. This sense of self develops through classroom teachings, social interactions, and opportunities for reflection. At Saint David’s, these teaching moments have always come on a daily basis, but in the coming school year even more emphasis will be placed on morning meetings to set goals for the day; closing circles to reflect on the day; recess as a time for social, exploratory play; and Sophrosyne as an opportunity to educate our boys. Sophrosyne, a class based on the ancient Greeks’ pursuit of excellence in character and soundness of mind, begins at the Pre-K level and continues through graduation. The core component of our Lower School Sophrosyne program uses language to enable boys to define and express their feelings, grow appreciation for others, and to build empathy. Social and emotional learning will be at the forefront of our teaching, because it guides the daily interactions of our boys and plays a large role in their future success.
Establishing a greater understanding of what specifically the boys now need from us as well as how to provide that to them requires a shift in our mindsets as the adults in our community. Educators often state that instilling a desire to be “lifelong learners” is a paramount goal. This tumultuous time has required us as adults to become more active models of the lifelong learning process. No longer can we rely solely on the same lessons or classroom management systems that we have used in the past. We must innovate and use the data from not just academic touchpoints but also social-emotional observations to personalize our practices to best suit the needs of the specific group of boys in front of us at any given time.
That is quite a feat to expect from teachers who are fully committed to their craft! That is why, in true Saint David’s form, we are not asking our educators to do this important and reflective work as islands. We have been cultivating a team of professionals of varying expertise so that our collaborative work becomes even more geared toward growing us as professional educators who are prepared and supported in our mission.
To continue our work of providing a supportive learning environment for all boys, our learning services department has been expanded in terms of staff and more defined communication processes within our teams. This has allowed us to better differentiate instruction for our learners as well as provide greater support to parents. During the 2021-22 school year, we partnered with Ramapo for Children, who provided professional development to our faculty that focused on strategies and techniques that support continued learning and reflective practices for all, including self-care for us as educators. In addition, the teachers and administrators learn from the wisdom and guidance of our psychologist, Dr. Michael Schwartzman, on how to better hone our practice. These additions to our talented and dedicated team increase the already tremendous dedication of Saint David’s School to its boys. Not the boys of years before. The boys of today, the boys of a post-Covid world.
In Dr. Marc Brackett’s book, Permission to Feel, he states: “A gifted child who does not have the permission to feel, along with the vocabulary to express those feelings, and the ability to understand them, won’t be able to manage complicated emotions around friendships and academics, limiting his or her potential.” As our young boys begin their journey toward becoming good men, we aim to provide them with a common language for social- emotional learning; the ability to recognize, articulate, and regulate their emotions; and the tools needed to navigate an increasingly complex world.
www.saintdavids.org
.jpg)
