A Day in the Life of Three Langley Teachers During Distance Learning

A Special Thank You During Teacher Appreciation Week

During this time of distance learning, The Langley School’s students, parents, and teachers are balancing new ways of working, learning, and interacting as they partner to bring the Langley experience to life from home. In honor of Teacher Appreciation Week, we salute our amazing faculty for their flexibility, creativity, and dedication as they adjust to this new method of teaching while providing our students with meaningful, engaging lessons. Continue reading

What Does STEAM Really Mean?

By Emily O’Grady, STEAM Teacher at The Langley School

It’s been about 20 years since the acronym “STEAM” was first used, and by now, we all know what it stands for. But what does it actually look like in schools? What does it mean for the curriculum? These are questions I get asked all the time when I tell people that I’m a STEAM teacher. The truth is, there’s no single neatly-packaged answer many schools have their own approach to STEAM education.  Continue reading

Seeing Through the Eyes of a Child: Confidence Isn’t Given. It’s Attained Through Accomplishment

By Peggy Laurent, Head of The Langley School’s Lower School

When you take the time to look, you see amazing things! In my experience, when you are lucky enough to view something through the eyes of a child, you get to see it with “fresh eyes” as we like to say at The Langley School.

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Setting Off the “Light Bulbs:” A Collaborative Two-Week Mini-Mester

By Shannon Eagan, Langley Middle School Social Studies Teacher

When offered the opportunity to engage our eighth-graders in a two-week, cross-curricular program requiring working with my amazing colleagues and incorporating field trips, outside speakers, math, art, technology, engineering, writing, and my specific discipline, social studies, my answer was a resounding “yes!” In my four years at Langley, one of a multitude of favorite aspects about the community here is the connectedness between the faculty and our collaborative efforts. It is all in the tireless endeavor to have each student achieve that proverbial “light bulb” moment. These moments happen when their excitement about learning consumes their conversations at home, in the lunchroom, and at recess. It seems to occur suddenly and independently the moment that they make powerful and intricate connections between a To Kill a Mockingbird quote and the persecution of the Rohingya peoples. The moment when they connect the study of genetic mutations and the need for design thinking. It is both exhilarating and motivating to collaborate with colleagues who all have the same vision to “set off the light bulbs!” Continue reading

Advice to Incoming New Students (especially new fifth-graders)

By Lucas F., Langley Sixth-Grade Student

My name is Lucas. I came to Langley in fifth grade. If you’re coming to Langley as a new student, and are nervous, I can help you by sharing my story.

I was nervous when I came into fifth grade. I didn’t know what to expect from everyone. I had only met a handful of people before my first day. I was scared to leave my old friends. When I came to Langley, that all changed. Continue reading

You Should Expect More Than a Well-Constructed Writing Assignment from Your Kindergartner

By Stephie Meadows, Kindergarten Teacher at The Langley School

Writer’s Workshop publishing parties are among the most exciting milestones for our kindergartners. Our classrooms buzz with excitement as students eagerly await their turn to wiggle onto the share stool and proudly present their published book to the class. The writing they share has been carefully selected after weeks of brainstorming, peer editing, re-reading, and “fancying up” for this anticipated event. Our kindergartners are guided through the true writing process and learn to successfully plan, edit, and prepare an original piece of work that is then bound into their very own book.

I’m always struck by the growth I see from one publishing celebration to the next. Students begin the year sharing a simple story with scarce letters on a page and transform within just a few short months into confident, capable authors. Our end-of-the-year party reveals five- and six-page “how-to” manuals that students have thoughtfully constructed to serve as a teaching guide for their friends. Students listen carefully as their classmates’ books teach topics such as how to make a pizza or how to be a sneaky little brother. These stories elicit many oohs, ahhs, and laughs from teachers and peers alike. Continue reading

Can We Make More Hours in a Day?

by Phil Petru, Assistant Head of School

I am sure you have thought to yourself, maybe more than once, “I wish I had more hours in the day.” I know I have. While balancing both personal and professional responsibilities, many times I find myself wondering, “Where has this day gone?”

I wish I had more hours in the day

I can tell you from personal experience that teachers are always trying to find new and innovative ways to maximize the instructional minutes during the school day. Excellent schools, like The Langley School, look for ways to balance the academic program (math, language arts, social studies, science, and specials) with our students’ well-being (structured and unstructured times for student interactions such as lunch, breaks, and recess). Though school schedules might look simple, they are really complex road maps that truly impact teachers’ decisions about their instruction. The length of the class period, the time of the class during the day (morning or afternoon), and the sequence of classes (does it come before or after lunch or recess?) during the day are just some of the considerations that teachers think about when planning lessons.

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You Don’t Have to Choose: Why True Success Depends on Academic Achievement and Social and Emotional Competence

By Dr. Elinor Scully, Head of School

The summer months usually afford educators an opportunity to catch up on their reading, both for pleasure and professionally. This summer was no exception for me, and one of the most gratifying aspects of my summer reading was to see the proliferation of more research supporting some of the major goals and objectives of Langley’s next strategic plan. Educators have long known about the benefits of social and emotional learning for students of all ages, but particularly young children. However, the research supporting the long-term interpersonal and academic outcomes for students who develop these vital capacities is becoming clearer.

Research related to The Fast Track Project, administered in schools in North Carolina, Tennessee, Washington, and Pennsylvania, reveals that the development of specific social and emotional skills can be tied to success in later life. (Brown, The Washington Post) Particularly, skills related to problem solving, successful peer relationships, empathy, cooperation, collaboration, listening skills, assertiveness, and kindness are linked with positive school affiliation, achievement, resisting negative social behaviors, and ultimately finding stable full-time employment in young adulthood.

“These findings add to a growing body of evidence—including long-term studies drawn from data in New Zealand and Britain—that have profound implications for educators. These studies suggest that if we want many more children to lead fulfilling and productive lives, it’s not enough for schools to focus exclusively on academics. Indeed, one of the most powerful and cost-effective interventions is to help children develop core social and emotional strengths like self-management, self-awareness and social awareness—strengths that are necessary for students to fully benefit from their education, and succeed in many other areas of life.” (Bornstein, The New York Times)

The Langley School has long been committed to developing these capacities in our students. Our new strategic plan, however, seeks to take our expertise in this area further and to develop a more comprehensive program to target these well-researched skills. I am often surprised when these skills are referred to as “soft skills” or “non-cognitive,” suggesting that they are somehow less important and even easily achieved. In point of fact, being able to regulate negative emotions, to deeply appreciate the perspective of others, and to simultaneously balance the ability to assert oneself and work collaboratively and effectively with others are not simple, “non-cognitive” tasks. They are essential, and most successful adults I know continuously work at perfecting the art of these so-called “soft skills.”

We are in the fortunate position at Langley to start building these skills with our youngest students on day one. Research supports that this is when to do it, by kindergarten for sure. We have a mission that sees the mutually reinforcing and equally essential dependence of academic and social and emotional skills. And we have parents who share in a commitment to raise academically sophisticated students, who act with heart and mind in equal measure. Schools should not privilege academic achievement over social/emotional competence and moral goodness. My summer reading, whether from The Huffington Post or The Washington Post, The New York Times or Kim Marshall’s excellent Educational Digest, reinforced once again that that is a false choice. And this new research reminded me that our mission at Langley to raise students who can lead lives of self-defined meaning and purpose requires we attend to these skills deliberately and comprehensively as soon as students arrive on our campus.