FWCD Board Members Visit Classes

We are always well served to have new eyes placed on something we know well, whether that is something we have written that needs a “proofer” or something we are building that needs an inspector. 

As educators, we at school get a big gift from having non-educators sitting in on a morning of classes every year. Those non-educators are members of our FWCD Board of Trustees. At least once a year, all of our classrooms are open for driveby or extended visits for the Board members. All of our faculty and staff are available for hallway conversations. 

I personally have a seat of some privilege on these visit days. I get to host a sort of base camp and hear the impressions of those Board members fresh out of classrooms and conversations with teachers and staff.

The impression I hear most often is a variation on the theme of “Wow.” We have amazing educators up and down our halls, in our gyms and on our fields, in classrooms and studios. Repeatedly, Board members report on an Upper School history class that captivated them, or about an assembly speaker, or a PE class, or a kindergarten lesson, or a Middle School Awesomeness Initiative session. Their reports reveal a simple truth from a new perspective: Our faculty and academic leaders are phenomenal at creating learning experiences that all of us who are not faculty have to admire and appreciate. 

2022’s fall Board visit day was no exception. Their feedback, paraphrased below from my notes, speaks loudly:

French felt truly immersed.

World History was dynamic. Students were fully engaged with one another. 

PE in the Round Gym was joyous.

The teacher showed incredible dedication to teaching.

The teacher was really passionate. (“Passionate” was used to describe multiple teachers.)

I felt the efforts toward inclusiveness by seeing the books she chose. 

Teachers were connecting with all sorts of children.

He brought both energy and knowledge. 

The teacher generated a roundtable discussion that went from fact-intensive to higher-level thinking. 

The student presenter was so excited to tell classmates about what she had learned.

The teacher had such a resource in the “institutional memory” she could invoke. 

Such eager hand-raisers in Lower School.

The grading rubric was so focused on getting students to lead the conversation. 

The teacher had such rapport with the students. 

I saw so many happy children. 

I saw great art everywhere.

Those of us who see FWCD educators in action every day benefit from the reminder that what we are so accustomed to is genuinely exceptional; what our students experience, day in and day out, is inspiring.