By Doug Norry
February 17, 2022
We’ve had a successful transition to our new protocols this week. Many students have removed masks for recess and outside times, while others have made a different choice. On Monday, I spoke to all classes about being “quietly respectful” of everyone’s choices. Not surprisingly, teachers have reported that students have been doing a good job with this. Ms. V is also reinforcing this message, and discussing this transition, in her Reflections classes in Lower School.
We didn’t wait too long to take our first field trip of the year. Accompanied by Mr. Dowd, Ms. Heysha, Mr. Hughes, Mr. Spencer, and Ms. Via, our eighth-graders visited the International Civil Rights Center and Museum in Greensboro earlier this week. This trip is an extension of our 8th grade Social Studies curriculum, which focuses on 20th Century America. In Mr. Spencer’s words:
Throughout this powerful field trip, students made connections to events that we studied in class such as Jim Crow Laws, Brown v. Board of Education, and Freedom Rides by seeing artifacts and reenactments as well as hearing stories from our guides. When we discussed the trip in class the next day, a common theme for many students was that their experiences on the field trip – whether it was seeing the actual counter where the first sit-ins took place, robes belonging to the Ku Klux Klan that were found by a member’s grandchildren, or photos of Emmett Till in the museum’s Hall of Shame – gave them a deeper realization that the events that we learn about in Social Studies and Language Arts are real events from not long ago involving real people who, in some cases, were not much older than they are today.
Looking ahead, we hope that you’ll carve out some time next week to appreciate the wide array of videos that many students are making as part of Science Week. Additionally, you’re invited to join us for next Friday’s virtual All-School Assembly, when Ms. Heysha will shine a light on what our students have been learning during Black History Month.
