Dear parents and students,

The campus is buzzing with our faculty in full swing as they set up their classrooms and are excited about the first day of school! In preparation for the year, faculty members in all divisions participated in professional development which supports their work not only in the areas of social-emotional learning and wellness, but within the programs of their individual classrooms as well.

Preschool and Lower School teachers attended a Responsive Classroom © workshop which was designed to deepen their understanding of the RC model they practice at BCD regularly. Those RC strategies include:

  • ·       Interactive Modeling
  • ·       Teacher Language
  • ·       Logical Consequences
  • ·       Problem-Solving Strategies
  • ·       Developmental Awareness

Our teachers spent a day of study, role-play, and reflection on each of their practices and styles. They were able to walk away from the in-service reaffirming their commitment to the tenets of the Responsive Classroom© curriculum and energized by the work they completed as a team of diverse teachers invested in a common goal.

Middle and Upper School teachers attended the Developmental Designs workshop offered by Origins ©; a middle school social curriculum which stems from Responsive Classroom’s © program. A recurring question throughout our faculty meetings last year considered how to continue building a community that uses common language and practices which uphold best BCD’s core values: originality, quality, respect, sustainability, community, wellness, and citizenship.

Both professional development workshops focused on this overarching question. The training also helped teachers to identify and understand clearly the developmental bridges our students cross between grade levels. The faculty’s common goal is to make those transitions as seamless, developmentally appropriate, and supportive as possible.

Developmental Designs’ “Three Rings of Student Achievement” include a supportive community, social-emotional competency, and motivating instruction. As the middle and upper school faculty worked together with the Origins © facilitator throughout the training, all discussion and reflection stemmed from the four basic concepts Origins © identifies as “adolescent needs”: relationship, autonomy, competence, and fun. Like their preschool and lower school colleagues, the middle and upper school advisors ended their training committed to implementing the knowledge gained in all of the work they complete this year in their classrooms, the hallways, and during our co-curricular programs.

Over the course of the next three weeks, your child’s homeroom teachers or advisor will be connecting with you to make sure that the start of the year has gone well for your sons and daughters. Of course, I am always happy to meet with you as well. I look forward to the year ahead and invite you to visit BCD’s classrooms throughout the year. You are always welcome!

Kind regards,

Carmen