Upper School Observations


School began on August 31st with a host of getting acquainted orientations and team-building activities, including a Field Day event and a welcome-back barbeque. The intention, as always, is to ease into teaching and learning by building relationships and community, clarifying health-safety procedures and academic expectations, and revisiting the school’s cultural norms or “The 5 B’s” as they’re affectionately known: Be Reflective, Be Responsible, Be Scholarly, Be Supportive, and Be Respectful.

To reinforce excellence in action, Upper School Principal, Ms. Schultz has been visiting classrooms and sharing her observations with the Upper School community. In a recent summary she reported seeing students actively engaged in ethics discussions; brainstorming ideas for their identity poetry assignments; practicing grayscale drawing techniques in Art; learning about time signatures and woodwind instruments in music classes; and distinguishing primary and secondary research sources in Global Studies. Others were practicing their conversational Spanish pronouns and using a Google Jamboard for identifying English cognates. In math, students were studying the linear growth of a geometric tile pattern and justifying geometric shapes and concepts to skeptical partners. A lava lamp was being used for a chemistry class demonstration, and AP Statistics students were determining the chances of survival on the Titanic based upon the type of ticket a passenger purchased. These are just a few of many great examples she mentioned.

Was your coursework that interesting when you were in high school? It’s clear from the many observations and testimonials shared that teaching and learning at Paul Cuffee School can be challenging and fun!