Here is an issue parents have voiced in our forums since March:
Parents appreciate it when teachers attend very carefully to kids’ learning.
(For example: to some parents, respecting and responding to each child as an individual with his or her own learning style is important. All want their children to be highly skilled. Many parents have said that kids (and parents) particularly value innovative and exciting learning activities. Some strategies that parents identify as positive are looped or multi-grade classrooms, experiential hands-on learning, integrating learning into projects, lower teacher-to-student ratios, and supports for parents who struggle to help their children complete homework.
Parents also want their kids to learn, in school, how to be part of a diverse community. This includes having diverse friends, and being able to communicate and interact across boundaries. Parents have suggested that children should be friends, across program, language, and background, so that they benefit from each other’s diversity. Parents say they appreciate it when educators clearly care about kids, and when the school makes explicit efforts to create an emotionally and physically safe environment for children. Finally, many parents really want the school to teach kids a second language, from the earliest grades!)
How do you feel about teaching and learning at the Healey right now? What would you like to keep, or improve?