Dear Arts & Letters community,
January is always an exciting and action packed month for us. In the cold of winter (in most years), we have our bi-annual Roundtables (1/25 for 6th grade; 1/26 for 7th grade; 1/27 for 8th grade). Today, I'd like to share a bit of the rationale for doing Roundtables, and what it means to us. It is important to remind you that you are ALL invited and we hope you can share in this celebration of learning of our children.
January is always an exciting and action packed month for us. In the cold of winter (in most years), we have our bi-annual Roundtables (1/25 for 6th grade; 1/26 for 7th grade; 1/27 for 8th grade). Today, I'd like to share a bit of the rationale for doing Roundtables, and what it means to us. It is important to remind you that you are ALL invited and we hope you can share in this celebration of learning of our children.
Here is the link to sign up to attend:
WHY DO WE DO ROUNDTABLES?
Roundtables is based on a simple belief, which is that students should have the opportunity to share, reflect on, and discuss the work and learning they have done over the course of a semester, and they should do it with an audience that knows and cares for them. Roundtables is also an opportunity for our visitors to use the same metrics that our teachers use to look at how prepared our students are as they progress, be it high school, college or the next grade. Sadly, this is a belief that is not in practice in most of the schools in our nation. While all New York City public school children’s reading, writing and math skills are assessed many times throughout the year by state and city-sponsored standardized tests, at Arts & Letters, we believe that learning is broader and more complex than the snap shots that these tests give us. Learning at Arts & Letters also encompasses Egypt, the consequences of slavery, trees, the design of playgrounds, the study of ecosystems, animal behavior, the secret lives of snails and worms, problem solving strategies in mathematics, independent reading of books we love, and musical composition, just to name a few.
In many other schools, students are taught to study hard for tests and share their work only with their teachers, and occasionally their parents or a peer. Too often teachers are taught to keep their doors closed and make sure that students do well on the tests and behave. Students and teachers are rarely asked to reflect upon their work and are never expected to present it to other teachers, students they do not know, school leaders, family members, or (especially) “strangers.” In fact, most students would be too scared to expose themselves to the public like this and most teachers would be too nervous to “put it all out there.” However, we know that developing flexible thinkers requires a combination of success, failure, joy and discomfort. Roundtables is a practice that helps both the students and adults of Arts & Letters be better and more flexible thinkers. Revision and reflection are very important to us and they are central to this practice.
Sadly, when each day we are asked to do more and more with less and less, slowing down to listen to our students discuss their learning becomes a political act. We believe that our students deserve the time and energy of their parents, schools and communities. These two ingredients are essential in the raising of young people who are strong, caring and flexible thinkers who will be stewards of a vibrant democracy.
In the end, Roundtables is a celebration of student learning in all of its shapes and sizes. We hope that as a member of our community, you will participate in as many Roundtables as you can. Each time, we learn new things about our students and teachers, and get new opportunities to connect with others, and think about something in a new way. Please do come, and tell your neighbors and friends to sign up as well!
We hope to see you soon,
John O'Reilly and Allison Gaines Pell, Co-Directors
