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The Three Beliefs that Guide Brandeis Students
Jenny Rinn, Director of Lower School
I wanted to share with all of you the words I’ll be sharing at the Lower School Back-to-School Night this evening. Enjoy!
I wanted to share with all of you the words I’ll be sharing at the Lower School Back-to-School Night this evening. Enjoy!
Our aim at The Brandeis School of San Francisco is to raise ethical children who think critically, who lead lives of learning and purpose, and who will achieve great success in high school and beyond. Toward that end, we have three beliefs that allow students to thrive academically, socially, and emotionally so that they graduate as leaders in their communities and stewards of democracy.
1. Challenging academics and masterful teaching are at the core of what we do. We believe that all students deserve a school that stretches, supports, and inspires them. Brandeis students benefit from an academic program that emphasizes small-group instruction and maximizes time with expert educators.
We have intentionally designed our schedule so that students have more opportunities to work in small groups at their just-right levels.Literacy BlocksIn every grade level, there are large blocks with lead teachers, residents, and learning specialists working at the same time with small groups of children to develop competencies in literacy. In second through fourth grades, we’ve enriched our reading program by adding weekly lit circles in which students have the opportunity to read books critically and discuss them in-depth in a small group setting to develop literary discourse.MathWe continue to align math in the lower school to allow for cross-grade groupings and high-ability differentiation. In addition, residents, math specialists, and learning specialists are working alongside general studies teachers to provide the people resources necessary for students to work in groupings with academic peers.Pinwheel ModelWe piloted the pinwheel-class model in which students in each grade level are divided into three groups that rotate through Hebrew, specialists’ (art, music, maker-education, and drama), and general studies classes. The results are farther-reaching than our initial vision. Not only have we preserved the integrity of the Hebrew language program, but teachers leading materials-heavy courses, such as art and maker education, have more access to students as they learn to manage content-specific materials that require more instruction and greater supervision. And students get an opportunity to participate in small group instruction and projects in general studies classrooms with two master teachers. The mom of a second-grader stopped me the other day to say that her daughter is delighted with the pinwheels. As her child put it, “It’s like the best part of camp except you are learning!”
2. Student-centered, inquiry-based, and real-world learning are the future. We believe that children make meaning through thoughtful and critical engagement with the world. Following millennia of Jewish tradition, Brandeis students begin with questions to construct their own understandings and become critical and connected thinkers. The school gives students agency in their learning by allowing them to design their own meaningful projects so they can see a purpose for their learning. Our students engage with real-world challenges that prepare them for a rapidly-changing future.
The essential questions that guide the fourth-grade curriculum illustrate inquiry-based learning that develops critical thinking skills
- What makes a sustainable system?
- How does change happen in a system?
- How are human and natural systems interrelated?
- How do our choices affect us, our community, and the world, now and in the future?
These questions teach our students the value of thinking about the impact of their choices on others and the world in which they live, competencies that will benefit them long after they leave fourth grade.
3. Ethics and spirituality are good for our children and for our world. We believe that the challenges of this century will require ethically fluent and spiritually grounded leaders. At Brandeis, spiritual development is taught as a facet of social and emotional learning, and as a means for engaging with and making sense of the world. Jewish ethics are woven throughout the school, forming the core of our students’ work of designing a better world.
Why is this important? I was talking to a former colleague at dinner on Friday night, and she declared that students don’t need to spend time learning information anymore because it's all at their fingertips. They can Google anything. But with the advancements in technology, humans will have to get better at being human. In this digitally connected, socially disconnected era, it is increasingly important to make room for face-to-face interactions. While we may be able to rely on technology for information, technology cannot take on ethical inquiry and humans cannot do it either without empathy for one another.So human connection and ethical fluency are more important than ever. At Brandeis, we use the Seven Ways We Learn and Work Together to guide us in civil discourse and practice social-emotional skills. I've left a copy for each of you in your chairs this evening. I invite you to spend some face-to-face time with your family reading through this guide together.
Here’s to a year of strong academics, future-focused learning, ethical creativity, and unimaginable possibilities!
