Mission Statement
Blue Ridge School’s faculty specifically focuses on helping boys reach their potential through personalized, structured, innovative learning practices in a college preparatory, all-boarding community.
TEACHING AT BLUE RIDGE SCHOOL IS AN ART AND A SCIENCE.
A Teacher’s Guide to Blue Ridge School aims to explain our School’s philosophy and approach to effective teaching and learning while also providing context, helpful advice, and some things to keep in mind while performing the challenging, but eminently rewarding job of being a faculty member at Blue Ridge School in 2023–2024. Being a faculty member here at Blue Ridge is a multi-faceted role. It extends beyond the classroom and into the daily lives of the students.
This guide is for you. It is part policy manual, as all major academic policies are explained, but with some added context and background. We hope this guide will be helpful to you as you transition to this community!
Sincerely, THE ACADEMIC TEAM
Amber Wilkins
Assistant Head of School for Instructional Programs
Jack Warren
Assistant Dean for Curriculum and Instruction Science Department Chair
Alexander Keevil
Assistant Dean for Faculty and Instructional Programs
Director of the Fishburne Learning Center
Courtney Gardner
Registrar/Academic Associate
August 2024
A TEACHER’S GUIDE TO BLUE RIDGE SCHOOL
Blue ridge School
A BRIEF HISTORY
N
1910 THE BLUE RIDGE INDUSTRIAL SCHOOL OPENED ITS DOORS to students who lived mostly in the immediate vicinity of the campus. In the early twentieth century the area around the school was remote, and its residents were isolated from the rapidly changing world around them. Poor roads and little public support for state funded schools made regular school attendance almost impossible for most of the children in the area. In Greene County 35% of males of voting age were illiterate, and only 53% of school aged children were actually enrolled in school. When the Blue Ridge Industrial School opened, it was the crown jewel of an extensive network of Episcopal missions throughout several counties on both sides of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Establishing these missions, which provided health care, education, and other basic social services to these remote communities, was the life’s work of Frederick Neve, an Episcopal Priest who arrived in Albemarle County from England in 1888.
To lead the new school, Neve hired George Pickett Mayo, an Episcopal Priest who was instrumental in developing the school’s vocational curriculum and its original mission, which he explained in 1910 as: “To give boys and girls of limited means the opportunity to become practical and efficient men and women. Boys will be taught agriculture, fruit growing, stock and poultry raising. Girls will be taught cooking, sewing, and general housework. Our effort will be to fit both boys and girls for the ordinary duties of everyday life.” The school was successful in its first decade, and by 1920 boasted 100 students and 12 teachers. By the late 1930s, however, the original mission of the school was becoming increasingly obsolete. Better roads, coupled with improvements to the public education system, and the fact that many families who had once lived around the school were displaced by the construction of the Shenandoah National Park, necessitated that the school change its program.
During the 1940s and 1950s the school transitioned into a new phase, and its student body was composed mainly of boarding students from Virginia and the Mid-Atlantic who had been orphaned, or removed from the custody of their parents, and had no place to live. School Superintendent Dewey Loving, a graduate of the school, was in regular correspondence with social service departments across the midAtlantic who sought a stable placement for one or more of their children. More often than not, they could only pay a fraction of the tuition. In 1947 “Industrial” was removed from the School’s name and the institution became simply Blue Ridge School. By the late 1950s it was no longer financially viable for the Episcopal Church to operate the school, and it closed in 1961.
A reconfigured board of trustees led by Rev. Dudley Boogher of Charlottesville, set about deciding the School’s
future and weighed three options: shut the school down entirely and sell the property, become a junior college, or become a new kind of boarding school for boys. They settled on the third option citing increasing reports from those in their networks that the older, traditional boarding schools were focused on becoming more and more academically intensive, and were chasing after a shrinking group of only the very brightest students. Parents who wanted a college prep boarding experience for their sons but with a “standard” academic experience didn’t have many options
The “New” Blue Ridge School opened on September 14, 1962 with 6 teachers and 66 students in grades 8–10: 43 came from Virginia, 22 were from other southern and mid-Atlantic states, and one was from the Panama Canal Zone. The first annual operating budget totaled $124,760. After a rocky first year, the new school quickly found its footing under the leadership of Headmaster Hatcher Williams who was a prolific fundraiser and tireless champion of the unique mission of the school: a place where the faculty and programs focused on the “average” boy and helped him to unlock his talents and potential. By the end of his tenure Williams had grown enrollment to nearly 200 and the endowment to over $1 million.
In its more recent history the School has established several marquee, mission aligned programs that continue to distinguish us from our peers and complement our academic program. In 1993, The Fishburne Learning Center opened with the mission of supporting boys with mild to moderate learning differences to give them the support and accommodations needed to be just as successful as any other student in a college prep setting. To take advantage of the miraculous campus and increase opportunities for learning and recreation outdoors, the Outdoor Program was formally launched in 1998 and continues to grow. New
mountain biking trails attract regional and national attention to the School as do championship caliber athletic programs, particularly basketball, football, and lacrosse. Most recently the School launched a character education program, a highlight of which are grade level Rites of Passage Expeditions (ROPES) each spring.
Perhaps the greatest change at Blue Ridge School has been the growing diversity of its student body. While never explicitly a “whites only” school, it is impossible to understand the founding of a new prep school in the south in 1962 outside of the context of the ongoing school integration battles of the era. Blue Ridge School hired its first Black teacher in 1970 and the first Black graduate was a member of the class of 1975. Today, approximately a quarter of the student body are students of color and over the last twenty years, the number of international students has grown to average around one third of the student body and we are proud to enroll students from well over a dozen countries. In 2021, the Board of Trustees adopted a statement of Diversity, Equity, Justice, and Inclusion, to guide the School in the years ahead.
While the School has witnessed enormous changes throughout its history, what has always remained constant is a fidelity to its mission, and the success that its programs have had in transforming the lives of many young people for the better. What has made this possible throughout each stage of Blue Ridge School’s history have been dedicated and passionate members of the faculty and staff. ▲
Our curricular philosophy
BLUE RIDGE SCHOOL OFFERS AN ACADEMIC EXPERIENCE unmatched by any school. At the heart of our curriculum is our mission to prepare young men to thrive in college and in life. Students are challenged by a rigorous, but supportive and engaging college prep. curriculum delivered by a passionate team of educators who know what their students need to be successful, and who embrace the philosophy of relational teaching and learning. To best facilitate these relationships, individualize our instruction, and give each boy opportunities to succeed, no class has more than 12 students, and our average class size is 8. Every Blue Ridge Boy is known by each of his teachers but also by advisors, hall parents, and coaches, who play to his strengths and develop his weaknesses.
While college readiness is a top priority, it is not the only thing we want for our graduates. Above all else we want them to grow into men of character who have developed the skills necessary for success in the 21st century. We want our curriculum and programs to produce young men who are confident in their scholastic abilities and who will use them to lead lives of purpose. We do not want graduates who spent high school simply memorizing and repeating a lot of stuff with earning high grades and SAT scores as the ultimate objective. Instead, our curriculum undergoes regular revision and evaluation so that it can be effective in achieving six important aims beyond just college readiness. After graduating from Blue Ridge our students will be:
• Critical thinkers,
• Effective communicators,
• Artistically literate and appreciative of the visual and performing arts,
• Stewards of the natural environment,
• Aware of the diverse cultures, societies, and religions around the globe
• Empowered to live independent and healthy lives.
A key question for any school to answer about its curriculum is, “What makes it rigorous?” For far too many schools rigor is defined simply by the volume of work that students are expected to complete. Blue Ridge School strives to measure the rigor and efficacy of all of our curricular programs by asking whether they challenge the young men in our care to meet high, but achievable expectations. In developing our curriculum accordingly we build self-esteem through repeated successes in the classroom, on the playing fields, and in the arts. The result is that our students begin to realize their true potential and to discover their passions.
As an all boys school, the Blue Ridge campus is a space in which some of the negative but pervasive versions of masculinity that have resulted in a behavioral health crisis among boys in America today can be forcefully challenged, and in their place students can develop positive, healthy versions of manhood and adulthood that are centered on our School’s Code of Conduct. ▲
Who is the Blue Ridge Boy today?
VER THE LAST DECADE, seemingly the toughest question on campus to answer has been: “Who is ‘The Blue Ridge Boy?’” It is a question we discuss internally, and it is one that multiple VAIS accreditation teams and outside marketing professionals have asked us to answer. It’s not an easy question to answer, although certainly not for lack of trying. Why it is so difficult to pin down a quick, easy answer is the fact that the profiles and backgrounds of the boys with whom we work, and who have been successful here, are wide and diverse. Historically there has been an understanding that Blue Ridge School serves students of “average” academic ability. This has always been, and continues to be true. But Ideas about what “average” is, and the connotations that come along with that word, as well as how intelligence is defined and measured, are always changing, and have changed significantly since the school opened. “Average” today does not mean to teachers, parents, and students what it meant in 1962 and it is perhaps no longer the most accurate word to describe our student body. No one who works with our boys would say “they’re just average.” Each one is remarkable in some way. BRS has also been a fantastic school for students who are “below average” academically and for students who far exceed “above average” and have gone on to some of the most elite universities in the country. What they all have in common is that each of these boys benefited from our program, often different aspects of it, and all in different ways, but some combination of the things we do here helped each boy tap into his potential and become a better version of himself. A “Mission Appropriate Blue Ridge Boy,” therefore, is any student who will benefit from our carefully constructed programs in academics, residential life, athletics, the arts, and other co-curricular programs, and who because of those experiences will be set up for academic and social success in college and in life. ▲
Boys learn best from people with whom they have a personal relationship, people who undeniably want them to succeed.”
— Mr. William “Trip” Darrin, Headmaster
EFFECTIVE TEACHING AT BLUE RIDGE SCHOOL
WHILE TEACHERS FROM many backgrounds with many different approaches have been tremendously successful at Blue Ridge School. Five themes emerge when thinking about the most impactful Blue Ridge School teachers:
• Relationships
• Engaging, meaningful, and authentic assignments and assessments
• Setting high expectations while providing a high level of support
• Clear Communication
• Self Reflection
RELATIONSHIPS
Perhaps the most powerful data to emerge from the numerous studies of boys education over the last twenty years is this: that boys will learn from teachers who they know care about them and who are invested in their success. They are much less likely to learn when they feel a teacher dislikes them, doesn’t know them, or misunderstands them. Relationships are not just a nice byproduct of teaching, they are the vehicle through which effective instruction is delivered. According to Dr. Michael Reichert, an expert in this field, “Boys experience their teachers before they experience the lessons they teach.” In the largest study about relational teaching in boys’ schools to date, Dr. Reichert concluded that:
“The boys we studied described no single type of ‘effective’ teacher. Some shared stories of being uplifted by their teacher’s humor, passion, and care; others related their positive responses to highly structured, demanding, ‘no nonsense’ teachers …. In sum, the boys in our Teaching Boys study indicated their willingness to engage in classroom work, to suspend prior resistance- to try- for teachers to whom they were able to relate.”
It is the responsibility of the teacher to continuously “take the pulse” of, and manage, each relationship with each student; it is the teacher who has the primary responsibility for the maintenance of the relationship, even when the student is “at fault.” There are many strategies for cultivating strong relationships and for repairing relationships when there has been a breach. For a detailed, excellent look at relational teaching and learning in boys schools, it is highly recommended that BRS faculty read: I Can Learn From You: Boys as Relational Learners by Michael Reichert and Richard Hawley (2014).
ENGAGING, MEANINGFUL, AUTHENTIC ASSIGNMENTS AND ASSESSMENTS
One of the great strengths of Blue Ridge School’s faculty and curriculum is its ability to spark a newfound interest among many of our students in the subjects we teach. Students, everywhere, but especially at BRS genuinely want to know the why behind the school work they are asked to complete: “Why are we learning geometry? Why are we learning about
the 18th century? Why would anyone read Shakespeare? etc. … Connections to the real world, the present day, and to the lives and lived experiences of our students will increase their interest in, and engagement with, our classes. Blue Ridge School teachers realize that every year a decent number of their students will show up to class without a pre-existing love for the discipline being taught. It is therefore incumbent on the teacher to demonstrate why the subject is important, worth caring about, and worth putting effort into. When students can see the value in the subject, and their teacher’s passion for it, they will invest their time and effort. Project Based Learning, because of its focus on student driven inquiry, and the creation of an original public product which gives the student a feeling of ownership over his work has been one of several strategies that teachers have successfully deployed in the last several years to facilitate more engaging, authentic, and student driven assignments.
SETTING HIGH EXPECTATIONS WHILE PROVIDING A HIGH LEVEL OF SUPPORT
Great accomplishments at Blue Ridge School whether in the classroom, on the playing fields, on the stage, etc … are often the result of high expectations. It is important to set the bar high for our students, athletes, performers, musicians, and student leaders, but simply setting high expectations is easy, and too many schools and teachers pat themselves on the back simply for doing that. What sets Blue Ridge teachers apart and makes them so impactful is that they set high expectations as a first step, but then think deeply about how to scaffold, structure, and support each student so he can meet those expectations and feel confident, rather than fail to meet them and feel demoralized. While not always evident, BRS students generally want to be challenged and engaged. While they may like the teacher who assigns little work and gives little feedback, they don’t respect and won’t remember that teacher.
CLEAR COMMUNICATION
Many of the conflicts that develop in classrooms between teachers and students are the result of poor communication, or of expectations that were not clear. This is especially true when it comes to grading. Teachers must be
clear and upfront with their expectations for student work and conduct. When a student feels surprised by a low grade, or doesn’t understand it, it can lead to withdrawal from the class. Similarly, if a student doesn’t feel like he understands exactly what he needs to do to earn the grade he wants it can lead to frustration. Clear communication from the teacher to colleagues, parents, and a student’s advisor is also essential. If a student is struggling in a class, for example, the teacher should make sure it’s not a surprise to anyone. Regular conversations with grade level teachers to compare notes about a student are always valuable.
SELF REFLECTION
Setting aside time to reflect on what has worked well in the classroom and what could be improved upon is a hallmark of great teachers. For some, this reflection happens formally through journaling, or in meetings with colleagues, for others it’s informal and might happen while driving or going for a jog. The International Boys’ School Coalition conducted a study and released a report about Mastery Teaching in Boys Schools and found that one of the most common themes among those identified as master teachers was that not one of them felt like or believed that he or she was a master teacher. Instead, each of these teachers displayed a commitment to continual evaluation and revision of his or her work and was continually asking the question “How could I make this lesson/assessment/interaction etc. … even better? What works really well in my practice and what would I like to improve?” This cycle of constant revision and reflection is an important element of growth for any teacher. ▲
Grading and assessment
OVERVIEW AND GRADING SCALE
Assessing student work and assigning letter grades to it is one of the more challenging aspects of teaching anywhere. Assessment is essentially how you collect and then measure evidence of learning and achievement; it is part science and part art. There’s no perfect formula that works for every teacher in every class. No matter how hard we try, there is always a level of subjectivity in the grades we assign our students, and grading can be awkward because, essentially, you have to make judgments about your students. In some ideal world we would just provide extensive feedback that students would internalize, reflect on, and then use to improve, all for the sake of learning. We operate, however, in a world where letter grades matter and they are of great significance to students, college admissions offices, and to parents. Like many schools, Blue Ridge uses the A-F grading scale to evaluate student work in each course:
A 100–90: Superior
B 89–80: Good
C 79–70: Average
D 69–60: Poor
F 59 and Below: Insufficient to earn credit
Strong Assessments at Blue Ridge
The key to assessment is that it should be varied, occur at regular intervals, and it should allow students to demonstrate their level of mastery of the content and skills being taught in the class. Assess what you value. If you value critical thinking and creativity, but your assessments are asking students to restate information that they memorized, it may not be an ideal assessment for your class and for your goals. Our assessments should de-emphasize rote learning and stress learning by doing and by thinking A crucial part of college preparation is to develop and nurture thinking skills and communications skills, such as listening, reading, writing, and speaking. When students feel a level of ownership and pride in their work they’re likely to take it more seriously.
TRENDS IN GRADING
Like every school in the United States, the trend at Blue Ridge has been that the average grades in our courses, and our GPAs, are on the rise. The “A” is overwhelmingly the most common grade at Blue Ridge. While this is concerning to some, it should not be viewed as an inherently bad development, and there is no need to suddenly start lowering our grades just for the sake of it. As assessments have
changed, particularly with the adoption of some of the elements of project based learning, grading in the traditional sense is a challenge. For example, if you ask students to use self reflection, or self or peer critique as a means of assessment it can be a powerful learning tool, but how do you put a mark of “A, B, C” on something like that? Additionally, with all of the structure and support Blue Ridge School and our faculty provide, it wouldn’t make sense to see large numbers of struggling students and many grades of D and F, like you would at other schools. Increasingly, students and parents are viewing C’s as “bad” grades even though on our scale a C indicates average performance
What is essential when it comes to grading is that every teacher be able to clearly articulate what the letter grades in his or her class mean. Does earning an “A” mean that a student has truly mastered the content and skills taught? Does it mean he has turned in all of his assignments, done test corrections, and attended meeting periods? Is it somewhere in between? Effort and participation grades play an important role in many of our gradebooks—and for these means of assessment to be effective, it is essential that you clearly define what effort and participation look like in your class and are able to explain how students are performing relative to that definition.
ZEROES IN THE GRADEBOOK: NO EASY SOLUTION
Perhaps the only thing every teacher will agree on regarding this topic is that they have strong feelings about zeroes in the gradebook. On the one hand, it makes sense that if a student does not complete or submit an assignment then he should not be given any credit. On the other hand, in a 100 point grading scale, a zero has a disproportionate amount of power. A few zeroes early in a semester can be so demoralizing and overwhelming that some students will simply give up on the class, realizing that mathematically it could be nearly impossible to rebound. All that is certain is that this is a tricky issue that will not go away. Different approaches may make sense for students at different grade levels or in different classrooms. We have an obligation to study the “zero issue” and understand the implications of zeroes in our gradebooks. In the meantime to whatever extent possible, we try to limit the number of opportunities for zeros with the tools we do have at our disposal including: required meeting periods until the assignment is completed, open and frequent communication with advisors and parents about missing assignments, as well as extended offerings of support from the Fishburne Learning
Center. For further reading and more context about this conversation, see:
“Do No Zero Policies Help or Hurt Students? https://www.edutopia.org/article/do-no-zero-policieshelp-or-hurt-students (Edutopia)
LATE WORK POLICIES AND GUIDANCE
Our general guidance on missing work has varied by grade level and is as follows below. The philosophy is that younger students be given a bit more leeway with late and missing work while older students are held to a higher level of accountability. This approach has worked well for many teachers, but like many things here, you have discretion to modify and tailor it to the needs of your students and what you feel will be in their best interest. Perhaps most importantly, accept that your students will turn in late work, it is inevitable, and do not take it personally! As a teacher at Blue Ridge School you are expected to be proactive about addressing missing assignments with your students especially through the use of meeting periods and extended study halls. It is not enough to simply enter a “Missing” in the gradebook and then move on no matter what grade you teach.
Ninth Grade and Tenth Grade
10% deduction from final grade on the first day overdue and 10% deduction each subsequent day to a floor of 40%. The student must still do the work, even if several weeks later, and once completed the work earns a 40%. From the second day overdue forward, the student should be assigned by the teacher to a required Meeting Period.
Eleventh Grade
20% deduction from final grade on the first day overdue. 10% deduction each subsequent day, to a floor of 30% for the fall semester, but then 0% for the winter and spring semesters. From the second day overdue forward, the stu- dent should be assigned by the teacher to a required Meeting Period.
Twelfth Grade
20% deduction from final grade on the first day overdue. 10% deduction each subsequent day, to a floor of 0%. After 9 days missing, the work is assigned a 0. From the second day overdue forward, the student should be assigned by the teacher to a required Meeting Period.
MIDTERMS, END OF SEMESTER EXAMS AND ALTERNATE ASSESSMENTS
At the end of each semester, students sit for an exam in five of their core courses (English, History, Math, Science, and Spanish). These end of semester exams should assess the
student’s mastery of all of the content and skills that were taught during the preceding semester. One of the goals with these exams is to prepare our students for the kind of high stakes, cumulative exams that still dominate college level instruction. But like everything we do, we offer support so that our students can find success. Teachers are expected to provide review materials and to be present for review sessions in their classroom the day before their scheduled exam. There really shouldn’t be “surprise” or “trick” questions on an end of semester exam. To emphasize the importance of these assessments and to help students be prepared when they face exams in college it is a requirement that the end of semester exam count for 25% of the student’s semester grade. Because only about half of our students take Spanish, the Spanish exams generally take place on the same day as another exam in order to avoid a day with a large number of students having no exam.
SEMESTER 1
Midterm due date of November 1st (Progress Reports by November 6th)
Exam Week December 16th - 20th
SEMESTER 2
Midterm due date of February 14th (Progress Reports by February 19th)
Exam Week (seniors) May 12th - 16th
Exam Week (underclassmen) May 19th - 23rd
EXAM AND ALTERNATE ASSESSMENT SCHEDULE 2024–2025 SCHOOL YEAR
Exam Week Schedule
Monday Review Day (all six classes) –We will have an abbreviated academic schedule on Monday ending at 12 PM. Conflict Exams and Foreign Language Exams will begin at 1:30 PM.
Tuesday - Friday
9:00 am Exams for English, History, Science, Math
2:00 pm Afternoon Review Sessions
4:00 pm Sports/Afternoon Activities
6:45 pm Evening Review Sessions
Alternative Assessment Midterms
Exams at the end of the semester will be a traditional, sit down, exam. We want alternative assessments to take place during the midterms. The best alternate assessments embrace the tenets of Project Based Learning and teachers should strive to create alternate assessments that align as much as possible to “Gold Standard” PBL. In order for students not to feel overloaded with big projects during that midterm week, the following proposed rotation will exist:
English/Science in Semester 1
Math/History in Semester 2
Foreign Language has free reign to do an alternative assessment whenever they please.
A grade level meeting will be scheduled in advance to discuss balance for students who might have multiple alternative assessments.
SPRING SEMESTER SENIOR EXAM EXEMPTIONS
If a senior earns an A or a B in a class for the fall semester, an A or a B in a class for the winter semester, and has an average of an A or a B in the gradebook on the Friday before spring semester exams, then he is exempt from taking the exam in that class, if approved by the teacher. ▲
COURSE PLANNING AND SYLLABI
OURSE SYLLABI ARE IMPORTANT DOCUMENTS that teachers are required to create and maintain for each of the classes they teach. Syllabi should accurately reflect the content and skills taught, methods of assessment used, and the learning goals for the course. Department Chairs are the best resource for helping you to develop and design your courses, and to help you craft a syllabus. One important thing to consider is whether you will assess effort and participation. If so, what does “A” level effort and participation look like in your class? How will you grade it, and how can you keep it from being entirely subjective?
UNDERSTANDING BY DESIGN
Blue Ridge teachers and departments have generally found great success in adopting the foundational principles of the “Understanding By Design” (UbD) framework for course development as they create their course, learning goals, and daily lessons. Essentially, UbD is a three step backwards design process. Teachers must first determine the desired results they want from their students, then they must determine what evidence they will need to collect to determine whether the results have been achieved, and then they must plan learning experiences and instruction that will lead to these learning outcomes. Throughout the course design process, teachers should keep the focus on the “big picture” and on the “enduring understandings.” What should students still know and be able to do years after this course is over? Some guiding questions to consider in course development are:
• What should students hear, read, view, explore, or otherwise encounter?
• What knowledge and skills should participants master?
• What are the big ideas that students should retain?
Vanderbilt University’s Center for Teaching provides an excellent overview and resources related to Understanding by Design Framework: https://cft.vanderbilt.edu/guides-sub-pages/understanding-by-design/
CREATE A “MISSION STATEMENT” FOR YOUR CLASS
A great way to “anchor” your class and make determinations about what to include and what to leave out as you plan learning experiences and instruction is to create a mission statement for your class. A clearly articulated “class mission” provides an excellent lens through which to think about the work and assessments you assign. Last year, Blue Ridge teachers shared some of their class mission statements. These were fun to read because they highlight the unique character of our curriculum, and highlight that we value a lot beyond just rote content memorization. A few examples are below:
Geometry
To help each student to improve his curiosity and ability to be an independent and flexible math student.
History 10
To equip students with the essential skills of historical research and analysis, and a firm grasp of the fundamental themes of history so that they can comprehend past eras, events and peoples.
Calculus
For students to gain confidence in their mathematical abilities as they move into more complicated mathematical concepts.
Biology
For students to develop the essential skills of a scientist by learning about, and proposing solutions to, critical biological problems and phenomena that are relevant to their lives and communities. ▲
gradebooks
EACH TEACHER IS REQUIRED to maintain an accurate and up to date gradebook in our student information system, Blackbaud. Grades should be entered within four days of assessment”. Larger assignments, like essays, labs, papers, etc. will be given a little more leeway. Teachers are responsible for entering at least two smaller assignments (classwork, homework, short quiz) per week and one larger assignment (bigger quiz, test, project) every two weeks. Parents and students have real time access to gradebooks. Teachers should set their gradebooks up in the way that best aligns with their course goals. Teachers at Blue Ridge tend to use a system of weighted categories and each assignment falls into one of the categories. Assignments within categories are weighted by the number of points they are worth. Other teachers forego categories and use a system only of points. Either approach is valid. Take special care to consider the weighting of the categories. If you have a category called “Projects” for example that is worth 30% of the term grade but only one grade is entered in the category, then it means that the single project will wind up counting more toward the student’s grade than a final end of semester exam. Grades and gradebooks are a valuable source of feedback and information to students and parents. It is therefore essential that they are used and that they be kept current and accurate. ▲
2024–2025 Events Calendar
SEPTEMBER
5 6 7 8 9 10 11
12 13 14 15 16 17 18
19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31
NOVEMBER
M T W T F S S 1 2 3
4 5 6 7 8 9 10
11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30
FEBRUARY
M T W T F S S 1 2
3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28
DECEMBER
T W T F S S 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11
12 13 14 15 16 17 18
MARCH
Campus Event
Holidays/Vacations Open Weekends (students may go home) Closed Weekends (dates TBD) AUGUST 2024 M T W T F S S 1 2 3 4
19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31
DATE
EVENT
August 14 Football/ELL Camp/Prefects Registration 1:00 – 3:00 pm
August 25 Soccer Camp & Senior Leader Registration 1:00 – 3:00 pm
September 3 All student registration 11:00 am – 3:00 pm
September 4 Opening Day
September 8 Convocation 10:30 am
October 4.-7 Fall Long Weekend
October 10-11 Board of Trustees Meeting
October 11-12 Fall Alumni/Homecoming Weekend
October 25-26 Fall Parent Weekend
November 22 Thanksgiving Holiday begins 12:00 pm
December 1 Thanksgiving Holiday ends 7:00 pm
December 15 Candlelight Service 5:00 pm
December 16-20 Exams
December 20 Christmas Holiday begins 12:00 pm
January 5 Christmas Holiday ends 7:00 pm
January 18-19 Open Weekend
January 24 Mid-Winter Break begins 12:00 pm
January 25 116th Blue & White Bash (New York City)
January 27 Mid-Winter Break ends 7:00 pm
February 21 Spring Break begins 12:00 pm
March 9 Spring Break ends 7:00 pm
March 20-21 Board of Trustees Meeting
March 22-23 Open Weekend
April 4-5 Spring Parent Weekend
April 13-17 ROPES Character Education Trips
April 17 Easter Break begins 12:00 pm
April 21 Easter Break ends 7:00 pm
May 11 Honors Service 10:30 am
May 12-16 Exams - Senior Class
May 17 Baccalaureate 5:00 pm
May 17 Baccalaureate Dinner 6:00 pm
May 18 Commencement 9:30 am
May 20-23 Exams - Underclassmen
May 23 Underclassmen depart 12:00 pm
June 12-13
Board of Trustees Meeting
Daily/Weekly Class Schedule Calendar
BLUE RIDGE SCHOOL’S WEEKLY ACADEMIC SCHEDULE follows a six week rotating pattern. The idea here is that you don’t teach your sections at the same time, every day, throughout the year. We know that attention spans and energy levels vary at different points of the day, and if you always had the same students during the last period of the day, they might not accomplish as much in your course as you want them to! Fridays are shortened days in which students attend three of their courses (either a combination of periods 1, 2, 3 or 4, 5, 6). Fridays feature longer class periods ideal for labs, projects, or extended hands-on work.
MONDAY, WEDNESDAY, AND THURSDAY
Breakfast 7:30 am 8:10 am
Assembly/Advising/Chapel 8:15 am 8:35 am
Period 1 8:45 am 9:35 am
Period 2 9:40 am 10:30 am BREAK 10:30 am 10:45 am
Period 3 10:45 am 11:35 am
Period 4 11:40 am 12:30 pm
12:30 pm 1:15 pm
Meeting Period 1:10 pm 1:50 pm
Period 5 1:55 pm 2:45 pm
Period 6 2:50 pm 3:40 pm
Athletics 4:05 pm 5:35 pm
Dinner 6:00 pm 6:45 pm
Study Hall 7:30 pm 9:30 pm
TUESDAY AND FRIDAY
Breakfast 7:30 am 8:10 am
Chapel/Assembly 8:15 am 8:35 am
Period 1/4 8:45 am 10:05 am
Period 2/5 10:10 am 11:30 am
Period 3/6 11:35 am 12:55 pm
LUNCH 12:55 pm 1:45 pm
Meeting Period 1:45 pm 2:30 pm
Athletics 3:00 pm 5:00 pm
Dinner 6:00 pm 6:45 pm
*Rotates Week 1 through 6
A month by month Walk through of the school year
AUGUST
Maybe the most exciting time of the year. The energy of returning students seeing their teachers and friends coupled with the excitement of new students and teachers is palpable across campus. The football and soccer teams and students in our ELL camp are the first to arrive. Faculty will have some supervisory duties while these students are here, but it is not yet full blown weekday and weekend duty. A week-long faculty in-service marks the start of the school year for teachers and frenzied planning to get lessons, syllabi, gradebooks, and classrooms set up ensues.
SEPTEMBER
Classes begin! The first three days of school are like a “test run.” Students will go to all of their classes in the mornings and time will be carved out in the afternoons for orientation activities including sessions for International Students, Honor Council, and other school wide programming. There will be an academic orientation to help students get set up with various aspects of the academic program.
OCTOBER
Competes with May for the title of “busiest month.” Classes are in full swing and so is the fall sports season which sometimes results in students missing classes for away games. This is the first time we write progress reports for students. A major event is the Fall Parents Weekend which is one of several “Command Performances” throughout the year. On Friday morning, family members arrive and have the opportunity to attend classes with their student. On Friday afternoon and Saturday morning, parents will schedule 20 minute meetings with teachers. While these sometimes cause anxiety, it’s always unfounded; overwhelmingly parents express their deep appreciation and support and often wind up doing most of the talking.
NOVEMBER
November moves quickly as students and faculty start to get excited for upcoming breaks. Seniors start to feel more pressure during this month as many of them start to submit their applications to college. A seated “Thanksgiving Dinner” with advisees in advance of the holiday break and the hustle and bustle of the month is a nice and timely reminder of why we love the school.
DECEMBER
Many people’s favorite month on campus. We are in session for only a short window between the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays. The “Candlelight Service” on the last
Sunday before Christmas Break will put you in the holiday mood. Exams are proctored this month, before heading off for a long, much needed, and well deserved, two week break that kicks off with a faculty/staff Christmas party that never fails to entertain.
JANUARY AND FEBRUARY
Generally felt to be the hardest months of the school year. The weather can be bad, the days are short and sometimes tempers are too. It is a time of year when it’s especially important to be on the lookout for students and advisees who are feeling depressed or homesick and to pay attention to your own well being and self care. While it can be a challenging time of year there are many great campus happenings: The basketball team enters the busiest part of its season and its successes and home games in Massey Gymnasium are a source of excitement for fans (as are JV and squire games). Buzz starts to build around the school’s annual drama production, and we are always amazed by a few breakout stars who showcase talents we didn’t know they had. Spring Break always arrives just in time in late February and the year is 2/3rds complete.
MARCH
Everyone arrives back after a long and relaxing spring break. Spring sports get going in full swing. This is the shortest semester and season. There are fewer class days remaining than you think. You’ll need to be flexible as all kinds of special events and athletic travel are scheduled this time of year. This is the season when we have the most teams competing, and probably the most competitions.
APRIL
Three big events are April highlights. The first is Spring Parents Weekend, which is another command performance. Attendance in the spring is always lower than in the fall, but the conversations that do take place with parents are just as valuable. The annual ROPES trips happen in April, and a long weekend for Easter is a chance to catch your breath before the sprint to the end of the year is scheduled.
MAY
It becomes common to hear teachers and students reciting a countdown of how many days are left. Students are approaching the deadlines for big end of year projects, often with fun public presentation components. Seniors are clearly ready to be done with school, but also in a reflective mood and feeling a newfound gratitude as it dawns on them that graduation is imminent. End of year events like
underclassmen academic awards, honors service, senior dinner and baccalaureate punctuate the last week of the year. A two day end of year in-service and closing staff party ends the academic year. ▲
WHAT IS HEADMASTER’S DAY ?
Generally on two school days throughout the year, Headmaster Trip Darrin will make a decision to hold a Headmaster’s Day. Students are usually not aware when it will happen although speculation abounds. The announcement, especially when it catches students and faculty by surprise, brings euphoria and is fun to watch. On a Headmaster’s Day all classes are canceled and students can spend the day relaxing or participating in activities we plan for them
WHAT IS Meeting Period?
Meeting period is a highlight and strength of the Blue Ridge School schedule. It is one of the most “mission aligned” times of the day as it is an opportunity for teachers to build relationships with their students, individualize instruction, and provide extra support in whatever way is most beneficial to the student.
Many teachers schedule appointments in advance with students to meet during the meeting period, some teachers have a system for students to sign up for a meeting. For
students who are struggling, teachers often create a standing weekly appointment during meeting period.
While it is not required that teachers sit in their classrooms for the entirety of each meeting period waiting for students to show up, if you’re a teacher and you go an entire week without using any meeting periods to work with students, it’s time to schedule some appointments! Using your meeting period on some days as time for a walk, a friendly chat with colleagues, or an extended lunch is perfectly ok. Meeting periods are also a time when departments, grade levels, task forces, etc … can meet. It is hard to find times when a group of faculty members here are all available simultaneously. Meeting period is one of the few that exists, just beware that meetings with non-students don’t subsume the original purpose of meeting period which is to provide an opportunity in our busy days to work directly with our students.
WHAT IS a command performance?
A Command Performance in BRS vocabulary is a campus event that all faculty must attend. Only in extreme circumstances can a “Command Performance” be missed. Some of the major ones throughout the year are: Student Registrations, Faculty In-service, Convocation, Fall and Spring Parents Weekend, ROPES Trips, Honors Service and Baccalaureate, and Graduation.
HOW TO THINK ABOUT HOMEWORK
HOMEWORK, AND WORK OUTSIDE OF THE SCHEDULED CLASS PERIODS, plays an important role in the BRS curriculum. Blue Ridge teachers are expected to assign homework. Years ago, an expectation was in place that every teacher provided 20–30 minutes of homework a night. This expectation has evolved and is no longer so black and white as teachers have moved toward assigning larger, ongoing, and sometimes collaborative projects, and assignments that are best described as “busy work” have fallen out of favor. While crafting good homework assignments and work for students to complete outside of the classroom can be tricky, it is a challenge we all must take up. It is not appropriate for a teacher to determine that he or she simply does not believe in homework and therefore will not assign any homework at all. Work outside of the classroom that should be completed independently is very much in line with our mission of preparing students to be successful in college. Generally, good homework assignments do the following:
• Reinforce and strengthen skills and content covered during class
• Provide students an opportunity to apply what they have learned
• Allow students to make a connection between something they have learned and something new
• Help students be prepared to get the most out of an upcoming class.
Over the last year academic departments have been engaged in ongoing conversations about what “good” homework looks like in that department— those conversations are dynamic and should continue in the 2023–2024 school year and beyond ▲
National Honor Society
The Order of St. George is Blue Ridge School’s chapter of the National Honor Society (NHS), a national organization founded in 1921 for scholarship, service, leadership, and character. NHS has chapters in all 50 states and around the world, where students are recognized for achievement and community engagement.
The Order of St. George recognizes students who are outstanding citizens, who have achieved exceptional academics, and who have a record of service and leadership. The cumulative Blue Ridge School GPA requirement is a 3.75 or 90% or above in all Blue Ridge School classes. Members must be a junior or senior and have attended Blue Ridge for a minimum of 1 year.
Students who meet the academic requirements are invited to indicate their interest by applying for membership. Once a student’s application is received, they will be contacted to schedule an interview with the council, after which their candidacy will be reviewed in full for membersxhip.
After initiation, members must participate in at least 3 community service projects, 1 of which will be organized and facilitated by the chapter; monthly meets are mandatory and times will be determined during the first meeting of the year; annual chapter dues are $10.00 per member.
THE ROLE OF PROJECT BASED LEARNING (PBL)
PROJECT BASED LEARNING IS AN INSTRUCTIONAL approach that, in addition to covering course content, emphasizes the development of critical thinking, creativity, collaboration, and communication skills. Because all of these traits have been identified as aims for our curriculum, a PBL approach to some units makes sense in all Blue Ridge School classrooms regardless of the department or discipline to complement more traditional instructional approaches like lecture and note-taking. We have seen that PBL facilitates the kind of connections to the real world that will engage students and promote ownership of their learning. Training in Project Based Learning is a regular feature of faculty-wide professional development and it
is an expectation that Blue Ridge School teachers engage with this instructional approach. Over the last few years Blue Ridge has partnered with PBL Works, a national organization, to provide professional development and resources, and a thorough look through the resources on their website is highly encouraged of all BRS teachers: www.pblworks.org. The graphic below displays the seven essential elements of high quality PBL units. Incorporating any one of these elements into a lesson or assessment will help improve student engagement regardless of whether it is part of a full scale PBL unit or not. ▲
Courtesy: PBLWorks.org
THE FISHBURNE LEARNING CENTER
HE FISHBURNE LEARNING CENTER (FLC) is a tremendous asset to Blue Ridge School and is one of our signature academic programs. Created in 1993 the FLC works to support students with mild learning differences so they can be successful in a college prep curriculum and be empowered with the skills and habits necessary for academic success here and in college. The Learning Center is staffed by an expert team of four learning specialists who work directly with small groups of FLC students but who also work directly with teachers. Teamwork, communication, and collaboration between FLC teachers and teachers in other departments is a vitally important element of making this program successful.
EDUCATION PLANS AND
“STUDENT
AT A GLANCE” DOCUMENTS
As an independent school, Blue Ridge is not legally required to follow IEP or 504 plans, however, we do make sure that our students with diagnosed learning differences have a documented set of accommodations to which they are entitled while they are students at Blue Ridge School. For each student enrolled in the FLC, his learning specialist will create an educational plan drawing from the information available from the student’s psychoeducational testing. Parents are required to share this documentation in the enrollment process. The educational plans are all reviewed and approved by the Director of the Fishburne Learning Center and then shared with a student’s teachers so that they have a better understanding of the student’s strengths, weaknesses, and strategies that might be effective. The Education Plan is an important document because it is what allows a student to obtain accommodations on standardized tests like the ACT and SAT. Colleges often require these documents from a student’s high school to verify that he is entitled to the requested accommodations. The Education Plans can sometimes be a bit lengthy, so FLC teachers will also create a “Student At a Glance” document about each one of their students. This document is a teacher-friendly, easy to use and easy to reference document about a student. FLC teachers review and update these each year before distributing them to teachers.
ACCOMMODATIONS
While not an exhaustive list, some of the most common accommodations to which FLC students are entitled are:
• Extended time on assessments, either 50% or 100%. It is important to note that there is no such accommodation as “Unlimited Time.” Students also may not work on a test or exam over multiple days unless there are truly extenuating circumstances and this has been approved by the Director of the Learning Center.
• An exemption from the foreign language graduation requirement if recommended by an educational psychologist in testing.
• Taking tests and/or exams in a small, quiet setting away from distractions, usually in the FLC.
• Preferential seating in classrooms
• The ability to type rather hand write some or all assignments. ▲
classroom policies
Cell Phones, Attendance, Reporting, Missing Students, Obtaining Class Coverage
CELL PHONES IN CLASS
Cell Phones are, in a way, the new smoking: addictive, anti-social, and not permitted in certain places, chief among those places is the BRS classroom. Our School’s policy is that before class begins students turn in their phones. Many teachers have a small bucket where phones go at the start of class, some teachers have turned calculator holders into cell phone holders; whatever method works best for you is what you should use. The reason why we feel it’s important to collect the phones rather than just “not see them” or ask students to refrain from using them during class, is that they pose less of a distraction when they have been collected. Additionally, we have seen that in the classes in which teachers do not collect phones there are significantly more requests from students to “go use the bathroom.” One teacher not enforcing school policies makes the work of his or her colleagues more difficult. Consistent expectations from faculty members about phones, appearance, behavior, etc… make these policies easy to enforce, and they fade into the background. When enforcement is inconsistent and varies from classroom to classroom, problems ensue.
RECORDING ATTENDANCE
Teachers are required to take daily attendance in each of their classes so that the school can maintain accurate records about student attendance. Teachers use the Student Information System, Blackbaud, to record daily attendance. Forgetting to take attendance happens often, and it is not a big deal. The school registrar will send a reminder out at the end of each academic day to the teachers who forgot. If you get this email, take a moment before going home to record your attendance.
WHAT DO I DO IF A STUDENT IS MISSING FROM CLASS?
When a student does not appear for your class and you were expecting him it is usually for one of the following reasons: He is in the infirmary, he is away for athletics, or he is away from campus. If you are missing a student you do need to find out and confirm where he is. A first step is to look at your email and see if a nurse has sent any notification about boys in the infirmary. If not, the next step is to call Terry Benshoff, extension 131, or Cat Dickerson, extension 147. You can go ahead and start class before making the call but when there’s a natural moment to pause, call Cat or Terry. Sometimes students are just late for one reason or another and it’s best to wait about 10 minutes before reporting the absence. Please do not send an all faculty email asking if
anyone has seen a particular student. It’s important to notify either Cat or Terry over the phone so they can initiate the search for the student.
WHAT DO I DO IF I NEED TO MISS ONE OF MY CLASSES?
There will certainly be a time when for expected or unexpected reasons, you will have to miss some or all of a school day. If you have a sudden emergency that demands your immediate attention, you do not need to leave a lesson plan. Take care of the emergency. Your colleagues will cover you and come up with a useful plan for class time. Notify your Department Chair that you need coverage and he or she will arrange it. If you know in advance that you are going to miss one of your classes, however, it is your responsibility to obtain class coverage from a colleague. Teachers are asked to be judicious in taking time away from classes. In-person class time with their own teacher is the most valuable resource we have for achieving our school’s mission. But with that said, it is okay to take an occasional “mental health day” should you need it If you are going to miss one of your classes you must notify your department chair and the Dean of Faculty and Academics—it is not acceptable to miss a class without notifying them.
SOME THOUGHTS ON CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT
Our small classes, coupled with high expectations, a focus on relationships, and our school culture generally keep disruptive behavior in classrooms to a minimum. Nevertheless,
there will be times when students behave inappropriately during class. The key is to handle the situation without escalating it. It’s important to remember that any confrontation between a student and teacher in a classroom has an audience. Subtle signals to the student about disruptive behavior or a brief conversation in the hallway to re-state your expectations are good first steps. While there are times when it makes sense to dismiss a student from your classroom, this really should be an action of last resort. If it does happens you should notify Dean of Students, Tony Brown so he can take any necessary follow up action. It’s also important to speak with the student one on one about whatever happened and why. There are some behaviors for which there must be zero tolerance in our classrooms, chief among them is bullying or harassment of one student by another whether verbal or physical. Any instance of this must be reported to the Dean of Students Students who are tired and fall asleep in class will be a challenge you deal with. Like missing assignments, try not to take it personally. Some strategies include asking the student to stand up or to take a walk/ get a drink of water, etc. Again, do not escalate the situation and let it get to the point where it derails the class for the other students. Set your expectations for student conduct and behavior in class high. Do your best to maintain a classroom environment that you would be proud of should a colleague, parent, or administrator walk into at any time. ▲
ACADEMIC HONESTY AND PLAGIARISM
EARLY IN THE YEAR STUDENTS SIGN A PLEDGE that they will not lie, steal, or cheat, and that they will not tolerate it from their peers. While our student body generally lives up to this statement in an impressive way, there will be occasions in your class when you suspect, or are certain that a student has used unauthorized aids on an assignment, for example copying and pasting information from the internet without attribution, or copying answers from a classmate. When you suspect academic dishonesty, the place to start is by having a conversation with the student. If a student admits academic dishonesty you have some discretion as a teacher. If this is a first offense, or if there was genuine confusion about source attribution, for example, many teachers would allow the student to correct the work and resubmit it, a sort of “warning.” Or, if the offense was more blatant they may apply a major penalty to the work. If academic dishonesty is habitual, however, or flagrant in nature, it is important to involve the Dean of Students and the Honor Council. In either case you should still have a conversation with the student, but you should inform Dean of Students, Tony Brown, about the situation. He will make a determination about whether to refer the matter to the Honor Council. If this happens, the Honor Council will take over jurisdiction of the offense and will determine whether plagiarism or academic dishonesty occurred, and if so, assign a consequence. One important deterrent in discouraging academic dishonesty is to have students sign the school’s honor pledge on major assignments like tests and exams; many teachers write it out on tests and exams and ask students to sign their names before they begin working. ▲
Google Classroom
GOOGLE CLASSROOM IS THE LEARNING MANAGEMENT SYSTEM (LMS) for Blue Ridge School teachers. For the sake of consistency, BRS teachers may only use Google Classroom as their LMS. At this time, platforms like Canvas, Moodle, or Blackbaud’s LMS system should not be used. At a minimum teachers should have a Google Classroom page on which they post announcements and class resources like the course syllabus or required readings. Google Classroom is a powerful LMS when used to its full potential. The workflow of assigning, reviewing, grading, and returning assignments can all take place within Google Classroom eliminating the need for printing and allowing students to easily submit assignments to you. It also makes it easy to keep track of which students have submitted assignments. If you teach new students, especially in ninth grade, don’t take it for granted that they all know how to use Google Classroom perfectly. It would be beneficial to confirm that your students know how to use the platform and all of the features you want them to before assigning work through it. Google Classroom has a feature that allows parents to receive a summary of the announcements and the posts from their child’s teachers’ Google Classroom pages. We encourage you to extend invitations to your students’ parents. While some teachers find it useful to use the Google Classroom gradebook, all official grades must be entered and stored in Blackbaud. Blackbaud is the gradebook of record. ▲
academic honors
Headmaster’s List, Dean’s List and National Honor Society
REWARDING STUDENTS for outstanding academic work is an important means to fostering growth At the end of each semester, students who exhibit outstanding academic achievement are recognized by being named to either the Headmaster’s List or the Dean’s List. To be named to the Headmaster’s List, students must have no grade lower than 90% and a GPA at or above 3.7. To be named to the Dean’s List, students must have no grade lower than 83% and a GPA at or above 3.0.
The St. George Chapter of the National Honor Society (NHS) recognizes students for scholarship, service, leadership and character. In the 2021–2022 school year, Katie Cooper, BRS Librarian, will serve as the faculty advisor to the National Honor Society and will oversee the process of nomination, selection, and coordination of NHS service projects. Members of The Order of St. George are outstanding students. The grade point requirement for membership is 3.75 with no grade below 90%. Members of The Order of St. George are also outstanding citizens. Disciplinary records will be reviewed as part of the
nomination process. Members of The Order of St. George have an established history of service and leadership by the time they are admitted to The Order. In accordance with the residency requirement of the Constitution of the National Honor Society, students must have attended Blue Ridge School for one year before qualifying for nomination to membership in The Order. ▲
HELPING STRUGGLING STUDENTS
YOU WILL INEVITABLY NOTICE THAT ONE OR MORE OF YOUR STUDENTS has become disengaged, or checked out, or is perhaps noticeably more irritable than usual. This can be a confounding challenge. The most important thing to keep in mind is that communication is paramount and that there are many resources and people on campus to help you help this student. This should not be solitary work. Here are some things to consider:
What seems to be at the root of the issue? We have had many examples of students who are incredibly bright but who are disorganized, or procrastinate, or don’t feel motivated to put effort into their coursework. When motivation is the issue, the connection and relationship you build with the student can be a powerful tool. Genuine, ongoing, one on one conversations with students about why their coursework matters have been responsible for lots of positive growth here.
On the other hand, we have all worked with students who want to succeed but who are genuinely struggling to master material and may be in need of extra help or some remedial instruction. Regular, scheduled use of meeting periods, and evening study halls for extra help will be vital. If a student has a diagnosed learning difference, our four learning specialists are excellent resources to consult.
Something we know for sure is that emotional and physical safety and stability is a precondition for learning. Students who are anxious, depressed, fatigued, hungry, etc. … are just not in a good position to learn. In any situation where you suspect a mental health concern it is wise to communicate your observations directly with our School Counselor, Jonathan Hayden. Often at the root of disengagement can be a difficult personal matter, or family situation at home, Tony Brown, Dean of Students, is another great resource to help you think through any scenario in which you are struggling to connect with a student, motivate him, or help him be successful in your class. ▲
COMMUNICATING WITH PARENTS
Writing Comments for Progress Reports and Report Cards
IT IS A REQUIREMENT THAT PARENTS BE KEPT WELL INFORMED of their son’s progress. Once provided with good information, parents can serve a critical support role in the academic growth of their child Blue Ridge teachers write six formal sets of comments each academic year At the midpoint of each semester teachers submit progress reports, and at the conclusion of a semester they submit end of semester grades and comments. What follows is an excellent guide on comment writing that was created and shared by the Independent Curriculum Group, and is reproduced here with permission. Adhere to the following recommendations when writing comments:
WHAT PARENTS/GUARDIANS WANT TO KNOW
• Do you really know my child?
• Is my child doing the work?
• Is my child behaving properly?
• What is my child doing well?
• What can my child do to improve?
• Parents want to hear more about their child than about your class. Limit any description of course content to one or two sentences.
THINK
• PERFORMANCE (how the student has done)
• PROCESS (how well the student has mastered the skills of doing), and
• PROGRESS (how the student’s mastery has changed over time relative to expectations)
GENERAL GUIDELINES FOR WRITING COMMENTS:
Stay away from words that imply something about a child’s emotional state or innate ability: average, brilliant, neurotic. But don’t be afraid to say that you have seen evidence of anxiety, tiredness, or distractedness (but make sure you’ve read anything that may be in the student’s file, which may refer to these).
If you are reporting catastrophe, it had better not come as a surprise in your comment: “Bob seems to have skipped a number of classes” or “Bob has done almost none of the assigned work this term” or “I am concerned that Bob seems to have lost a great deal of weight since the year began.” Messages like these should have been conveyed a long time ago. Then you can say it again, but start with, “As we discussed on the telephone recently….” Then say something specific about how you are addressing the dire situation. Avoid an enumeration of test and quiz grades. If you must do this, try to make some generalizations about the kinds of material being tested and what the scores reveal; don’t just write a laundry list.
Sometimes one finds oneself with a theme for a set of comments: how the students listen to one another, performance on a particular kind of work that seems especially revealing, whether students have begun to find
GOOD COMMENT WORDS & PHRASES
• consistent (but give it a context: consistently late, consistent effort, consistent level of achievement; never just a consistent student)
• Reticent (but not reticent to speak; reticent implies that already)
• Demonstrate (as in “his term paper demonstrated his mastery of …”)
• Competence and confidence (a wonderful pair, but go easy with them)
• Fine (but beware: although this word means “very good”—as a stamp or coin—to some people, it can mean “just adequate” to someone else; use it cautiously or perhaps not at all)
• Diligent
• Hard-working
• Thoughtful (but be aware of the difference between thoughtful as “considerate” and thoughtful as “inclined to be reflective” or “demonstrating thought”)
• Engaged
• Active participant in discussion
• Active listener
• As shown by (that is, give evidence where you can or must)
• Haphazard
• Shoddy
• Reluctant
• Tentative
• Passionate
• Mastery
• Eager
• Challenging (about material or particular kinds of work)
• Intellectually curious
• Creative
• Anxious to please, eager to please (but note the difference between anxious—worried—and eager)
• (More) attentive (to directions)
• Difficulties with conceptual material, abstract material, concrete material
• Collaborator or partner or team member (especially when group work is an important aspect of the course)
their individual voices, or how they have demonstrated some aspect of intellectual curiosity, growth, or maturity.
Some of the best comments reveal very clearly the classroom culture of the teacher. Mentions of active listening and specific kinds of contributions to class discussion reveal a room rich in discussion. References to students’ performance as partners demonstrate that collaborative/cooperative learning is going on. Comments can reflect what matters to you about the learning that goes on in your classroom, and how each student is doing with regard to this special value. It’s okay to have values.
Don’t sell yourself out: “Bob is often a leader when the class becomes disruptive.” Don’t advertise class problems to parents, as this reflects badly on you.
Don’t compare students: “Bob is one of the few truly able students in this class.” But praise is good: “Bob brings a sparkling intellect to our discussions each day.”
Do express surprise (positive or negative) or delight, but don’t make it sound as though you had held low expectations: “Bob surprised me with an examination that revealed effective review,” but not “Bob did much better than I might have expected” UNLESS you continue on “considering the haphazard way she had prepared for several earlier quizzes.”
The rule of thumb should be that what you write about the student should never be shorter than what you write about the course.
Don’t predict, unless you qualify: “Based on the progress he has made thus far, I would expect that Bob will finish this course on a very positive note.” NOT, “I know that Bob will finish in the A range this year.” ▲
Professional development
Growth oriented teachers are a hallmark of a great school. Engagement with regular and meaningful professional development is an expectation for each BRS teacher. One of the many benefits of working at BRS is a substantial professional development budget. Professional development does not need to be a massive undertaking; taking a course online, or reading a book and discussing it with colleagues can be just as impactful as presenting at a global conference.
Requests for professional development that require school funds should be submitted to the Dean of Faculty who works with the Headmaster to allocate professional development funds. Requests from faculty who have not taken advantage of a professional development opportunity in the last two years will be prioritized. After that, requests which are directly linked to improving the experience for students in a class or program will be prioritized. ▲
ACHIEVING WORK LIFE BALANCE
As a Blue Ridge Teacher
This work is demanding, and it can be emotionally and physically draining. There are times of the year when you are teaching, coaching, advising, and doing duty, while also trying to balance family, friends, and a personal life too. There are tremendous highs that come with the job, and there are lows. You might feel both emotions over the course of the same day, or even in the same class period. You might feel prolonged versions of either for quite some time. While this is normal, it is important to set boundaries and not take the weight of the world on your shoulders. Your students, colleagues, supervisors, advisees, players, musicians, prefects/proctors, actors, and their parents will come to you with problems and you will do everything in your power to help them, that’s part of why you got into teaching! But sometimes you can’t solve every problem and that can be frustrating or demoralizing. We are not our students’ (or their parents’) friends, however close, positive, and cordial our relations with some of them may be. In the end it is our duty to act in the interest of the student but always in our capacity as teachers. If any situation involving a student makes you feel uncomfortable or is just too much for you alone to handle, take these concerns to a member of the School’s administration, or at least discuss them with an experienced colleague who can offer guidance and advice. It is important to cultivate parts of your life and hobbies that are not directly linked to Blue Ridge School. It’s important to schedule some time away from campus and to set aside some time for yourself. It’s important to be intentional about using the long breaks to relax and recover. You can’t be at your best for your students and colleagues if you’re exhausted, stressed, or frustrated. While these emotions certainly come up for every faculty member throughout the course of a school year—they don’t have to be normal, and if you feel too much of any one of these it’s important to reach out to your support network of colleagues and administrators. ▲
self reflection questions
For Every Blue Ridge School Teacher
• Do I know each one of my students, and what am I doing to foster strong, positive relationships that will result in learning?
• Is my class rigorous? How do I define rigor in my classroom?
• How does what I do in my classroom fit into larger conversations about my discipline and in my field? Am I embracing some current trends, and if so why? Am I cautious about current trends in my field, and if so why?
• What would be the most useful professional development I could accomplish this year or next year?
• What data do I rely on to make decisions about what to teach and how to teach it?
• Am I able to achieve the kind of work/life balance that I need to be most effective? Am I practicing self-care? What obstacles are getting in the way of creating or maintaining balance?
Blue Ridge School Code of Conduct
THE GOLDEN RULE
Treat others the way you want to be treated.
INTEGRITY
I will be honest in all my interactions with others. I will not lie, cheat or steal, nor will I tolerate these actions by others.
RESPECT
I will respect myself and others. I will respect others’ property and privacy. I will play by both the letter and spirit of the rules. My words and actions will show respect for those in leadership positions, as well as my peers.
RESPONSIBILITY
I will take responsibility for my actions, rather than make excuses or blame others. When I fall short, I will learn from my mistakes and try again.
MORAL COURAGE
I will stand up for my beliefs. I will do what I know to be right, regardless of the consequences or what others do or think.
WORK ETHIC
I know that nothing worthwhile can be achieved without sacrifice. I will not fear failure but will embrace challenges and persevere through adversity to achieve my dreams. I will never quit or give up.
LIFESTYLE
I will work to develop healthy habits of mind, body and spirit. I will not use illegal drugs or other harmful substances.
BROTHER’S KEEPER
At Blue Ridge School and beyond, I will help others even when it requires personal sacrifice.
DEIJ Statement
Blue Ridge School is an all-boys boarding school where students thrive in an intentionally diverse community of faculty, staff, and students. Employees and students alike benefit from the experience of learning, living, teaching and working alongside others from a multitude of backgrounds. While remaining an all-boys boarding school, diversity at Blue Ridge School encompasses an array of ethnicities and races, family structures, socio-economic backgrounds, genders, ages, sexual orientation, abilities, countries of origin, native languages, traditions, religions, learning styles and differences and their intersections.
To be an inclusive community means that we respect and embrace each person’s values and understand the impact of these values. We recognize that simply existing in a diverse community will not automatically result in the inclusive culture we seek to create. Cultural engagement allows students and faculty to consider different perspectives and enriches both the teaching and learning experience. Cultural engagement also drives innovation and fosters creativity. Therefore, we purposefully promote inclusion across all of our programs and nurture a supportive, encouraging, and affirming environment that celebrates individuality. We seek to help our students become capable and engaged citizens.
We are committed to diversity as an immersive experience and encourage challenging conversations that promote growth and learning and that help us achieve our goal of graduating culturally competent students who will be equipped to act as leaders in advancing equity and justice.
Ultimately, we endeavor to impart the fundamental truth that every person is valuable and worthy of respect.