Curriculum Night
October 6, 2023
"I got up, I got dressed, then I went to work. Got my education digging in the dirt."
- Mike + Ruthy of the Mammals (and of the Inaugural Rumpus!) Listen to 'the Farmer'
This week, the adult community gathered in the Amphitheater in the spirit of the school's founding families. This annual event stems from the school's very beginning, and the first words shared by one of Randolph's founders reflected the priority of partnership with parents that remains paramount today. Jerry Pomeroy said, "In a teacher’s cooperative, the parents must understand clearly what the philoshophy is, since those parents who see the educational program as different from the one they wish do not have the right to change it. They do have the responsibility to question, to suggest and to participate. Therefore, articulating the educational philosophy is important for parents and teachers." Randolph has evolved in 60 years, including our analog community's recent embrace of digital tools like this one and narrative report websites. The intent behind these tools is inspired by our ongoing work to illuminate the unseen ways that children are learning and growing in this unique environment. As Curricular Steward, Amy's title is intention and her role is complex. Her leadership in this realm strengthens the links between the brilliant people that are here and the land they get to do this work on. Those links are the ones that nurture our children, and Amy expressed in clear and certain terms, how our educational philosophy and our school culture today reflect those founding values; in other words, she continued the work of our founders in "articulating the educational philosophy for parents."
From there, we were introduced to the other folks who form and strengthen links here at Randolph. DeeArah joined and shared about her work here at Randolph this year, supporting our teams (including us office folks) in strengthening our practices and expanding our mindfulness around access. evan asked us to think about a potato and describe its features before sharing with us the many varieties of potatoes dug from the garden that day. We all got a chance to experience links to the land in a couple minutes, and got a sense for the infinite possibilities that emerge from it in the course of a moment, a day, a week, a month or over many years. Siobhan shared how her observations about how our children experience the library have informed some of the changes implemented this year. One constant thread through her time here has been a commitment to curating opportunities for our kids to practice being independent. “I want them to be able to find a book themselves, not to need an adult to access it,” she explained and connected this to other time-honored practices at school like carrying our own backpacks. Nina reflected how art links individuals as a community and how this year has started with identity as a theme. From self-portraits to ‘me’ boxes, to cohort-inspired self-portraits and our upcoming all-school masquerade parade. And Nina also shared that greeting our children each morning at drop-off is a special time, offering grace to those who find that time to be a hard one. Michael stepped right into his seat in the amphitheater, with all of us parents sitting just like our kids do with him, and he invited us right into his program. He sang a new tune they’ve been working on with the kids that draws on everyone’s experience at the Rumpus, and illustrating how he engages our whole children by linking music with their real, lived experiences and in their natural habitat.
And then parents went off with cohort teachers to crystalize how living and learning works at Randolph. Teachers welcomed parents into spaces (indoors and out) and into the rhythms, routines, and practices our children are part of. Parents embraced teachers and left feeling more connected to who their child is at school and how they are experiencing their world. Curriculum Night is one of many windows into our world that teachers create for us. As a parent, I am grateful for their efforts to include me in this part of my children’s lives. As their Director, I am grateful to the parents in our community for their open minds and open hearts to this particular way of educating our children, and for their supportive and enthusiastic embrace of my team.
A common parent refrain from the evening: "I wish I got to do this stuff when I was a kid." Perhaps this is why we're all here.
And then, there's the moments captured by teachers that put our children into the context and the environment in which they are learning. Take a stroll through some images from last week, and ask your child to tell you about was happening.