Finding our Footing and Starting to Run!

In my new role as Academic Dean, I have taken on the responsibility to work with teachers, understand what is happening in their classrooms and help them to plan for professional development opportunities both within BPC and outside. This blog will be updated regularly to let the BPC community know what is going on in the Upper School.  

Teachers have been letting me know what is happening in their classrooms by completing an online form. The first batch of responses were astounding!  How lucky to work with passionate and skilled colleagues!  John Carlstroem always says we have the best faculty around, and the updates on the events in the classroom are proof.

More than a month has passed since school started, and students are finding their footing at BPC.  From learning the BPC birthday song to getting a handle on the homework load, and figuring out who gets to eat lunch first to learning how to approach teachers for help, students are getting the routine down.  

True to the claim that BPC is a Socratic school, you’ll find Socratic seminars in classes ranging from 6th grade study skills with new faculty member, Mr. Cotman; to 6th and 7th grade history class with Mr. Ogburn, discussing the Caves of Lascaux and King Arthur, respectively; and in 8th grade English where the 8th graders have been leading seminars and coming up with the Socratic questions on their own.  In all English classes, time spent learning history provides the context for the 6th grade text, The Green Glass Sea; 7th grade’s The Outsiders; and The Great Gatsby for the 8th graders.

BPC was initially seen as an arts school and the arts remain not simply electives--they are a major element of the BPC education.  The world language teachers have been integrating grammar lessons with storytelling--either stories of their own or that of others, often conveyed in poetry or song.  Students are well into producing their own scenes at all grade levels with drama teacher, Ms. Marziano.  Musical theory and practice are prominent in Mr. Kennedy’s classes, with ukuleles and “The Girl from Impanema,” as well as in Ms. Sumsion’s class--where even an online hockey game gives insight on rhythm.  Ms. Dutcher, the art teacher, is exploring watercolors with 6th graders, paper sculpture and mandalas with 7th graders, and abstraction and clay with 8th graders.

The students will be starting running in PE class with Mr. Branner.  At this point, I would say our students have found their footing; now, they are running intellectually as well!