Weekly Message from Head of School 2023/06/11-2023/06/17
Dear Keystonians,
Warm Friday Greetings!
Connections
After school on Thursday, we celebrated the efforts of teachers in our NEXTeacher Program. Run by the Digital and Innovative Learning team, this program is a professional growth framework for teachers looking to enhance their student’s experience through innovative teaching practices. The teachers presented their projects and celebrated their accomplishments and learning. Keystone has a remarkable system of care, learning and support for its faculty and in the next year, these systems will be further enhanced with the establishment of the Teaching and Learning Office.
This group will be a group of colleagues who work across the school ensuring coherence and alignment of our students’ learning, a robust system of professional growth, learning and assessment for our faculty. This unit will grow and evolve out of our existing Dean of Faculty and Dean of Curriculum Offices looking to continue to improve our practices of recruiting, supporting, and retaining the best, experienced, expert, and diverse faculty on the planet.
The best teachers in the world seek connections and continual learning and growth. We are so fortunate to cultivate an environment here where learning is part of our community's fabric.
Yesterday I was invited to participate in a discussion forum with Principals at the Shunyi Jiaowei Training Center about empowering technology in our schools. Given that this is my area of scholarly research, I was excited for the opportunity to share and learn with my fellow principals. Having spent the earlier part of the week visiting schools in the Sishui region of rural Shandon Province, it was easy for me to reflect on an enduring truth about technology in education: the purpose of technology-rich learning environments must always be about increasing connections.
Teacher to Teacher connections
Teacher to Student connections
Student to Student connections
Student connection to knowledge, data, and information
Teacher connection to knowledge, data, and information
All these connections have the power to accelerate and deepen learning, but it is the human-to-human connections that are most important. When we talk about technology in education, too often we focus on access to resources—we have all heard people say “all knowledge is at the tip of our fingertips” as they wave around their mobile phones. That is true. But the real power of technology is how you use it to accelerate human connection and learning.
Yesterday with the Principals, I used the example of a projection system. I was delighted to see kindergarten teachers in rural schools expertly using projections systems no less functional than the ones we use on our campus at Keystone. This type of technology, once a luxury for only the most well-resourced schools, is now ubiquitous. And, the principals and I discussed, it is often used just like a chalkboard. One of the principals reflected that it was a relief to be at a discussion about technology that was not about all the technology that their school could not afford, but rather about how to best use what we already have. A teacher standing up in front of the room reading a fancy PPT is not always the best use of educational technology, and ultimately—I joked-- is just saving chalk! At the same time, it is easy to imagine all the ways that something like a projection system can increase the student-student connection and teacher-to-student connection. For example, with a projection system, students can quickly share their own work to gather feedback and insights from their teachers and peers, teachers can delegate feedback on an assignment to a student as they walk around the room learning more about how the individual students are doing. At Keystone we enjoy extraordinary resources for learning, and we know that compels us to leverage those resources not only to continue to optimize teaching and learning on our own campus, but to share that learning with others.
As we enter the final two weeks of this school year, and look towards the next, we reflect on connections. This will be the theme for 23-24, Keystone’s 10th school year and will invite us to continue to connect with each other, to our past, to our future and to the broader local, national, and global communities of which we are a part. Everyday Keystone’s school mission reminds us that connection—to learning, to each other, and to others-- is our responsibility and calling.
Yours,
Emily
