About Us
Words from the Head of School
Visible Learning
Jenny Rinn, Director of Lower School
Dear Brandeis community,
When I became director of lower school at Brandeis, I realized that I would experience a learning curve as I assumed a new role in a different educational community. This position would require me to be both leader and learner, and I knew I would need my own teacher for my learning to be purposeful in my leadership. I needed someone to help me prioritize, synthesize, brainstorm, and reflect so that I could grow into my role with intention and set goals that would best serve the community at our school. I have been fortunate to find a talented coach who thinks of education as I do—a philosophy best stated by John Dewey: “Education is not preparation for life. Education is life itself.”
In one of our recent sessions together, my coach asked me to create a visual representation of each of my professional goals. She handed me a stack of children’s books for inspiration and sent me on my way. My first thought was that I didn’t have time for such luxuries as art, but knowing that there is a purpose to each of her assignments, I embarked upon the process anyway. A few weeks later, I dedicated a Sunday afternoon to visually documenting each of my professional goals, the benefits of which I could not have foreseen. Creating the images compelled me to think about each goal individually, as well as the threads between them; it was like putting pieces of a puzzle together to see the complete picture. This visible learning process has also resulted in making my goals more relevant in my daily life as a leader at Brandeis. Documenting my goals has put them at the center of my decisions; my goals have become my guiding principles that ground and shape my daily work rather than ideals on the periphery of my practice.
What is visible learning and why is it important?
Inspired by the innovative educational philosophy that originated in Reggio Emilia, a small city in Italy, visible learning is a research-based practice for fostering learning in groups through documentation. Learning is a visible activity that develops a person's intellectual capacities as well as one's individual and group identity as a learner. The method involves observing and documenting learning, because both making and seeing documentation confirm learning as valuable. There are five key principles of visible learning: that learning is purposeful, social, representational, empowering, and emotional.
Why is visible learning relevant at Brandeis?
When you visit the homepage of the Brandeis website, you will read, "Together, we nurture creativity and curiosity, celebrating the connections that engage students with learning, with each other, and with our world." In order for teachers to foster connections that engage students with learning, they first must recognize those connections. When the meaning that students make out of their learning becomes visible, teachers are in the best position to further their students' education by expanding their knowledge. For example, if a student articulates in writing the steps he or she took to solve a math problem, the teacher can see how she or he approached the problem and then build on that to further the student’s understanding. In that example, documentation supports individual learning. However, if that documentation is shared with other students, it can benefit others’ learning, as well. As Carlina Rinaldi, president of Reggio Children and professor of pedagogy at the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, states:
The construction of knowledge is a group process. Each individual is nurtured by the hypotheses and theories of others, and by conflicts with them. Conflicts and disturbance cause us to constantly revise our interpretive models and theories of reality, and this is true for both children and adults.
How can you support visible learning at Brandeis?
As an adult in a leadership position at Brandeis, it is my obligation to model and inspire the type of learning that would best serve our community at large. Visually documenting my professional goals has been an individual process, thus far. Knowing that the construction of knowledge requires sharing ideas among a group of people, I invite you to take a look below at my learning made visible (and you can click on the images to enlarge). In the spirit of partnership, transparency, and embracing the collective responsibility to serve our students at Brandeis, I welcome you to share your thoughts and responses with me. The original drawings will be displayed outside my office along with post-it notes for you to answer the question, "What do you see?"
Thank you for joining me in building a community of intellectual curiosity, social development of knowledge, and supporters of learning as life itself.
Warmly,
Jenny
