Back-to School-Nights: Critical Thinking to the Fore

In my second year here, I thought I could be a little more adventurous and so I tried something different in two of the divisions.  With the help of 21st century technology (using a text message poll for mobile phones), I asked parents in the Lower and Middle Schools to respond to the question, “What is the most important aspect of your child’s education at USM?”

You can see their texted responses in the attached Wordles (view LS here, MS here). I do think it is interesting how certain words rose to the top among parents in both divisions. Critical thinking took the lead by far, but love of and for learning, confidence, compassion and collaboration were all strong finishers. These common themes align perfectly with the USM Mission Statement.

In the Upper School, I also have a role as a school parent (my son is now a sophomore).  As I visited classrooms, I was reminded how flexible our students need to be – changing subject matter every 45 minutes.  It is one reason I am so enthusiastic about the Freshmen Compass 9 and the Sophomore Humanities programs, which provide a series of interdisciplinary links between History, English, Biology, World Language, and Foundations of Art courses.

I hope you all found these Back-to-School Nights as informative as I did.  

Speech from Preprimary Back-to-School Night

Speech from Upper School Back-to-School Night