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experience
Defining Inquiry at Langley Building Deep, Meaningful Learning Across Grades
In this issue 1
Head of School’s Message
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Feature Story: Defining Inquiry-Based Learning at Langley
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Campus Happenings
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experience
Feature Story: Raising Emotional Acuity, Cultural Responsiveness, & Healthy Behaviors: An Update on Our Custom SEL Program
is published twice a year for alumni, families, and friends of The Langley School
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Fast Facts About the Next Generation Campaign
Head of School Dr. Elinor Scully
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Alumni News
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Alumni Profile: Jordan Kallett ’16, Narayan Kini ’16, Ginger Myers ’16
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Class of ’79 Reconnects at 40th Reunion Weekend
Editor & Designer Sharon Vipperman, Director of Marketing & Communications Where vital academics meet a deep respect for childhood Preschool through grade 8 in Northern Virginia
1411 Balls Hill Road, McLean, Virginia 22101 (703) 356-1920 www.langleyschool.org
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Alumni Profile: Lauren Simon ’74
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The Last Word
Head of School’s Message
Dear Langley friends... Welcome to 2020! It’s a new decade as the students are excitedly telling me. And with a fresh, unwritten decade ahead of us, I’m pleased to share some of the exciting progress we have made as we shape Langley’s future. Firstly, in late January, our Board of Trustees approved the decision to move forward with building the next phase of Langley’s campus master plan. Targeted to open in September 2021, the new Crossroads Building will house our Primary School, fifth grade, and library/media center, along with our Club E.D. program and a multi-purpose space for movement and music classes on the lower level. This is a very exciting moment for Langley and our community is proud to add our contribution to the campus, just as past leaders helped build the Solomon Athletic Center, Sherman Arts Center, and Cottam Middle School. As you know, the addition of a new building comes with fundraising needs. The Next Generation Campaign is our comprehensive campaign focused on growing our endowment – which supports teachers, tuition assistance, and program innovation – and building the Crossroads Building. By now, many of you have read my announcement that I will be transitioning to a new position as head of school at the National Cathedral School in July 2021. As a gift to Langley’s next head of school, I plan to spend my final 18 months here at Langley working diligently to achieve our $20 million campaign goal. To learn more about the campaign and timeline, see page 14. The involvement of our community – both past and present – is critical to meeting our goal. I’m proud to say that our academic and social-emotional learning programs are each progressing wonderfully. Our inquiry-based pedagogy allows us to develop graduates who are curious, confident, and can think and write critically.
You can learn about how our teachers are using a common inquiry language to drive learning and the impact it is having in their classrooms on page 2. Our custom-built social-emotional program, called REACH, continues to be a clear differentiator in the marketplace due to the relevant and age-appropriate curriculum that we are developing at each grade level. While building the academic skills they will need for the future, our students are also growing into kind, compassionate, self-aware individuals as they hold doors for each other, support one another, respectfully express their ideas, embrace differences, and discover how to use technology and social media responsibly. Read more about our REACH program on page 10. I always say that Langley is a place that never stops growing and always strives for more. And while tremendous growth is happening on our campus – through our endowment, our academic program, our faculty professional development, and our students – meaningful relationships remain at our core. Langley is a place of joy and relationships that flourish within our walls. It’s the smiles, the friendships, the helping hand, the motivating speech, and the surprising gesture that keep our community vibrant. For your role in creating this special place, I thank you. Warmly,
Dr. Elinor Scully Head of School
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FEATURE STORY:
Defining Inquiry-Based Learning at Langley By Sarah Beck, Director of Curriculum & Instruction Recently, I observed a third-grade social studies lesson co-taught by Shari Bozorgzad and Jessica Robinson. When I arrived, students were clustered in groups on the carpet at the front of the room, excitedly scribbling questions on yellow sticky notes spread out before them: “How does climate affect how people live in different regions?” “What causes a disaster to happen?” “How do hurricanes form from water?” Their teachers were circulating, encouraging students to generate as many questions as they could about their study of climate and regions in the United States. The focus and engagement in the room was a powerful example of inquiry in action. We know that students (and adults!) learn best when they are asking and answering interesting questions. Psychology research has found that curiosity is the “third pillar” of learning, alongside effort and intelligence (von Stumm, Hell & Chamorro-Premuzic, 2011). By engaging our students in inquiry-based learning, we know they are learning in a
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deeper and more complex way that allows them to develop the skills and mindsets they will need to be successful at Langley and beyond. It is through inquiry that learning is not only joyful, but also rigorous. By solving authentic problems, applying challenging skills, and exploring new concepts, students engage in a level of learning that extends and builds their abilities beyond their current performance. One of our greatest challenges as educators is to create such learning experiences for students on a daily basis. When I joined Langley’s administrative team this past summer, one of our goals was to capture and articulate Langley’s approach to inquiry instruction. We started by asking the question: When we are doing inquiry well at Langley – which we are, all the time – what is happening in our classes? And very quickly, we started to notice themes that we were able to synthesize and describe. We noticed
that inquiry at Langley involved five practices that were essential to student learning: community building, investigation, modeling, practice, and feedback. We now call these five our “Inquiry Essential Practices.” At Langley, we believe that common language is powerful. When we align on our core instructional practices, students benefit from our shared understanding and the resulting collaboration in support of their learning. When we say “Inquiry” at Langley, this is what we mean: every day, in every class, students will learn because we provide opportunities for community building, investigation, modeling, practice, and feedback. By naming and clearly defining these practices, we deepen our understanding of them and our ability to collaborate around them. Teachers partner and ask each other, “How are you modeling this skill for students in your lesson?” and “How can we increase the feedback we are providing students?” The common language of Inquiry Essential Practices allows us to deepen and refine students’ learning experiences. One of the greatest joys of my role as director of curriculum and instruction is being able to visit classrooms to see firsthand the engaging, challenging ways students are learning. On any given day, I may start in a preschool classroom with students who are building an animal habitat out of cardboard boxes and scarves during their play block and end listening to seventh-graders discuss how they will represent one of the 13 colonies in an advertisement to potential settlers. Across grade levels and classrooms, students are engaging in rigorous inquiry learning experiences that reflect our Inquiry Essential Practices. In 2018, the Carnegie Foundation published a report on best practices in school improvement. The report suggested that the difference between average and excellent schools had “less to do with the strategies [schools] pursue than with the ways in which [schools] pursue them” (2018). Once there is a clear model in place for quality classroom instruction, it is the strength of implementation that drives learning for students. When students have access to community building, investigation, modeling, practice, and feedback every day across classes, grades, divisions, and eventually throughout their entire experience at Langley, the results are transformative. Our goal is to amplify the excellence students experience in our classrooms by aligning it and connecting it across Langley as a whole.
Listen to the “Measuring Progress” episode of Langley’s podcast by searching “Climbing the Arc” on Spotify or Apple Podcasts or by visiting www.langleyschool.org/podcast.
Developing Inquiry Through Teacher Reflection Planning intentional inquiry is some of the most challenging and impactful work in which teachers can engage. Doing this work in collaboration with fellow educators who are committed to a common vision for quality instruction is one of the most powerful ways to ensure students are learning at the highest levels. At the beginning of the school year, Langley faculty engaged in professional development around the Inquiry Essential Practices. As we considered these practices for our students, we also recognized the importance of engaging in inquiry ourselves. As a faculty, we are committed to modeling lifelong learning for students as we reflect on and improve our own practices. One of the ways we support ongoing professional growth is through our commitment to feedback and reflection on our instruction. After evaluating several different approaches, Langley adopted the Marshall Observation Method in fall 2016, an approach characterized by frequent, short visits into a teacher’s classroom followed by reflective conversations focused on specific actions to enhance their instructional practices. As we head into the second half of the school year, we have completed two rounds of observations and feedback reflections. Our goal this year was to focus on our Inquiry Essential Practices, for ourselves and for students. Following each round of observations, teachers reflect on a set of questions that help focus their learning. Many teachers shared that the process and its connection to the Inquiry Essential Practices was helping them be more intentional, confident, and focused on student learning. As one teacher shared, “Having a specific and actionable goal is helpful to keep me focused on improving in a visible way.” Another wrote, “The Marshall coaching has helped me set goals, establish clear objectives, and create a more coherent lesson.” The observation, feedback, and reflection generated by the Marshall method allows our Langley faculty to meaningfully apply the Inquiry Essential Practices to their classroom instruction in a way that is most relevant to their content and students. Engaging in inquiry ourselves through this method is a powerful way to model lifelong learning for students and to continuously improve the learning experiences we offer students on a daily basis.
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Langley’s Five Inquiry Essential Practices At Langley, our goal is to continually refine and deepen our instructional practice. We know that clear, common language around our approaches allows us to collaborate at a deeper level and examine our current instruction with fresh eyes. When this happens, students are provided rich, challenging, and supportive learning opportunities that allow them to build their mastery over the course of their years at Langley. So what are Langley’s five Inquiry Essential Practices?
COMMUNITY BUILDING
create or enhance connections between people
INVESTIGATION
provide opportunities to discover, examine, and explore
INQUIRY ESSENTIAL PRACTICES MODELING
FEEDBACK
share information as a basis for improvement
give an example of process or product
PRACTICE
offer opportunities to improve or maintain proficiency through repetition
TRANSFORMATIVE IMPACT
When these instructional practices are occurring in every classroom every day – regardless of division, subject, or teacher – student learning is deep, meaningful, and lasting.
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INVESTIGATION: We know that curiosity
COMMUNITY BUILDING:
Every day, in every class, we are helping our students create and enhance the connections they have to each other as a community of learners so they become more compassionate, confident, and collaborative. For example, in Patty Dokken’s junior kindergarten movement class, students practice chasing and tagging strategies in a way that builds community. When students are tagged in the game of Banana Tag, they have to stand with their hands up above their heads like an unpeeled banana. Students see who is frozen and then “unpeel” them by pulling down each arm. Students are practicing not only movement and tag skills, but also how to notice, pause, and support each other as they learn.
drives engagement and builds complex skills such as evaluating, synthesizing, and creating, which students will need to be successful at Langley and beyond. For example, Ryan McKinney’s sixthgrade science students investigate a hypothesis they develop themselves and then test using experimental design. Their research questions range from “Which locations on campus have the most germs?” to “What rocket design best absorbs shock?” Students are able to explain what they are exploring, why it is interesting to them, and how they will begin to answer their question by collecting, analyzing, and communicating data.
MODELING: In order to explore new skills
and higher levels of proficiency, students need access to models and demonstrations. As Richart writes, “In observing models, whether informally or formally, learners have the opportunity to take on the unknown, try out new roles and behaviors, and apprentice into new ways of thinking and acting” (2015). For example, in Mark Loach’s fifth-grade language arts class, he uses a text on ocean predators to “think aloud” about how he reads nonfiction text to do research. He narrates the facts he notices as he reads, how he uses context clues to understand vocabulary, and how he summarizes them into a main idea on a sticky note that he can reference later. Students are then able to learn from Mr. Loach’s thinking and engage their own sources for their resource project.
PRACTICE: Mastery comes
through practice, and providing students time and context in which to apply new skills and content allows them to develop confidence and proficiency. The majority of class time at Langley is spent in opportunities to practice. In Teena Hahn’s second-grade class, students work with whiteboards and peers to solve addition problem sets. Math Specialist Janice Graves supports students as they practice adding using a grouping strategy, asking, “How could you use the strategy you learned about here to help you figure out this question without counting? What else do we need to do?” Through supported practice, students are able to apply and solidify their understanding.
FEEDBACK: Inquiry
learning becomes most impactful when students have opportunities to hear what they are doing well and what they need to focus on next to extend their learning. For example, students in Michela Lakkala’s eighth-grade language arts class meet with her one-on-one to conference about their thesis statements for their upcoming essays. As the rest of the students participate in a student-led seminar discussion on themes from the text, Ms. Lakkala calls students back to conference with her and provide feedback on their work thus far. Students leave with a concrete area of focus to improve their work before they finalize their essays.
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Growing Through Off-Campus Adventures 1. As a capstone to their Langley experience, eighth-graders spent a week in New Mexico where they learned about Native American traditions, took part in service projects, explored environmental sustainability, and honed leadership skills. 2. An overnight trip to Jamestown and Williamsburg, VA, complemented seventh-graders’ study of American history as they explored archaeological sites, toured historic buildings, and experienced the Colonial period firsthand.
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3. Sixth-graders enjoyed two days of outdoor adventures in Great Falls, VA, including a team-building ropes course and a hands-on study of the health of the Potomac River watershed. 4. During their first Langley overnight trip to Camp Highroad, fifth-graders bonded as a class and developed independence and leadership skills as they took part in team-building activities and challenges.
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Campus Happenings
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Building Community 5. Middle School advisory groups continue to serve breakfast to those in need at So Others Might Eat in Washington, DC, one of Langley’s longest-running community service initiatives.
7. Preschoolers celebrated community helpers as they learned about the important roles policemen, firemen, doctors, nurses, and others play in making our neighborhoods safe.
6. Primary and Lower Schoolers had the chance to connect with a past member of the Langley community when former science teacher and award-winning author/illustrator Henry Cole returned to campus to share how he began illustrating and his process of creating and editing – all with his trademark humor and wit.
8. Hundreds of Langley students, parents, faculty, staff, and alumni gathered for a wonderful afternoon of games, rides, food, and community at the much-anticipated Fall Fair in October.
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Campus Happenings
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Fostering School Spirit & Friendship
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1. One of the highlights of a kindergartner’s year is meeting his or her eighth-grade buddy. This special bond continues throughout the year as big and little buddies read, draw, play, and build friendships together.
3. More than 115 athletes in grades 5-8 made Langley proud this fall as they competed in volleyball, soccer, and cross country, combining to win more than 60% of their games, matches, and races.
2. Halloween was a highlight in October, with students and teachers displaying creative costumes during divisional parades and class parties.
4. During Kindergarten Game Day – which featured a “Down on the Farm” theme – kindergartners showcased their team spirit as they participated in a variety of activities that promoted gross motor skills, teamwork, and perseverance.
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Developing Confidence on Stage 5. Fourth-graders celebrated their study of South America during an “arts share” that featured dramatic and musical performances and artwork.
8. Lower and Middle Schoolers spread holiday cheer during their winter concerts, featuring instrumental and vocal performances.
6. As part of their Native American study, the second grade performed three Native American tales from different regions of the country.
9. More than 50 Middle Schoolers in grades 6-8 presented their student-run production of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” in November.
7. Students of all ages offered musical performances during Langley’s annual Grandparents & Special Friends Day.
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a academics
social/ emotional
R E A C H
raising emotional acuity cultural responsiveness healthy behaviors
FEATURE STORY:
Raising Emotional Acuity, Cultural Responsiveness, & Healthy Behaviors: An Update on Our Custom SEL Program By Dr. Sarah Sumwalt, Director of Social & Emotional Learning At Langley, we are incredibly proud to have a unique, custom-made social and emotional learning (SEL) program that is tailored to the needs of our community. This program, titled REACH – Raising Emotional Acuity, Cultural Responsiveness, & Healthy Behaviors – was unveiled during the 2017-2018 academic year. REACH works in tandem with the academic program and Langley’s core values to foster students’ emotional intelligence, cultural responsiveness, and health and wellness. The overarching goal of our program is to incorporate foundational knowledge, skills, and strategies to help our students develop emotion awareness and management, a deep understanding of their own and others’ identities, an appreciation of diversity with a focus on equity and
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inclusion, an ability to respond to social injustice, and a solid foundation in understanding the brain, body, and relationships in order to make healthy decisions. The Langley School’s SEL program is taught across our school, although the nature of the lessons looks different depending on the developmental needs of our students. In our Primary and Lower School divisions, SEL lessons are taught by our teachers and our counseling team and are woven into morning meeting discussions, curricular lessons, and daily practices. Starting in fifth grade, students participate in an SEL class once per seven-day cycle, allowing us to more deeply cover the topics in our REACH program.
As we have built The Langley School’s curriculum, we have relied heavily on research out of the fields of education, psychology, child development, health, and human development and sexuality in order to ensure that we are including skills and knowledge known to predict future success.
Updates & Current Directions
2017-2018: During the 2017-2018 academic year, we focused on expanding the Emotional Acuity prong. Many of our classrooms started to use RULER, a program developed out of the Yale Center of Emotional Intelligence, which focuses on teaching children how to recognize, understand, label, express, and regulate emotions. One of the anchor tools that has come from RULER is the Mood Meter, a visual way to plot emotions according to energy level and pleasantness. Teachers in every division have incorporated the Mood Meter into their lessons to help students identify and regulate their emotions, and you will find this colorful visual hanging in every classroom. The skills and techniques from RULER continue to be interwoven with classroom discussions on feeling identification, creating calm and peaceful places in the classroom, mindfulness, and understanding the connections between thoughts, feelings, and behaviors.
2018-2019: We focused on further developing the Cultural Responsiveness prong during the 2018-2019 academic year. In order to strengthen our community approach to teaching and practicing cultural responsiveness, faculty and staff participated in several professional development opportunities using anti-bias education frameworks. Faculty examined their curriculum according to the anti-bias standards, and both faculty and staff spent time examining their classrooms and office spaces to ensure that the diversity of our community was reflected in the materials, books, and resources displayed. Currently, classrooms across Langley’s Arc of Development are examining themes related to the domains of identity, diversity, justice, and action. In Middle School, students learn about the Big 8 Social Identifiers (ability, age, ethnicity, gender, race, religion, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status) as well as how stereotypes and bias surrounding these aspects of identity develop. Importantly, students learn how to challenge stereotypes while strengthening their own cultural awareness and sensitivity to difference.
2019-2020: This year, we have continued to focus on how to bolster our practice of Cultural Responsiveness, both inside and outside the classroom. For example, this fall, Middle School students attended a diversity workshop titled “Building Bridges: Stories Told, Stories Heard.” In
December, a group of faculty attended the National Association of Independent Schools People of Color Conference in Seattle. In early January, faculty and staff gathered to discuss our community vision for diversity, equity, and inclusion at Langley. And, in celebration of Martin Luther King, Jr., we came together as a whole school community to share a variety of projects, illustrations, and lessons focused on identity, diversity, justice, and action that students completed in honor of Dr. King’s life. We are excited to continue to build, implement, and strengthen our commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion through the REACH program. Another priority this year is expanding the Healthy Behaviors prong of the REACH program. The initial focus of this initiative has been with our Middle School students and we are currently developing and implementing lessons in our REACH classes that focus on a variety of topics related to mental and physical health, nutrition and sleep, body image, understanding and managing stress, substance use awareness, puberty, the development of the teenage brain, and human development, including reproduction, pregnancy, and childbirth. In the Primary and Lower School, our Physical Education Department weaves in class discussions on a variety of topics related to health and wellness such as understanding how our bodies function during movement (i.e., nervous system, muscles, bones), nutrition, and healthy eating. We will continue to expand on lessons in the health and wellness domain in developmentally appropriate ways across the Arc of Development.
Future Directions We look forward to the continued development and implementation of Langley’s unique and custom-made REACH curriculum. As we look toward the future, below are several of our strategic goals for the program: 1. Continue to develop curricular connections to the REACH prongs of Emotional Acuity, Cultural Responsiveness, and Healthy Behaviors. 2. Implement human development lessons (i.e., puberty, reproduction, pregnancy, and childbirth) in the Middle School. 3. Increase collaboration with the Science and Physical Education Departments to bolster and increase health and wellness lessons on topics such as nutrition, body systems, and the brain. 4. Continue to formalize REACH lessons and provide teachers with strategies to manage spontaneous learning situations as they arise.
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Highlights of REACH in Action Below are just a few examples of the wonderful SEL work that is being done across divisions this year at Langley.
PS
As part of the Cultural Responsiveness prong, our preschool classrooms have explored a variety of cultural traditions and celebrations. Specifically, students have learned about Diwali and Three Kings Day. In addition, as part of our Martin Luther King assembly, students examined the quote, “Love is the key to the problems of the world,” exploring the ideas of love, unity, and identity. Students created a beautiful vision board that included hands painted in multicultural paint which displayed the diversity of our different skin colors.
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Junior kindergarten students regularly use several breathing exercises from the "Flow" section of GoNoodle, including “rainbow breaths” and the “swirling reflection.” For “swirling reflection,” teachers also shake up a glitter jar and set it in the center of the room to watch as the class listens to the reflection. Students also listen to the singing bowl or to white noise, sometimes related to current academic themes (i.e., jungle/ bird noises or ocean waves). The teachers shared that their students really look forward to these activities focused on mindfulness.
For additional reading or home practice: Sitting Still Like a Frog: Mindfulness Exercises for Kids (and Their Parents) by Eline Snel and A Still and Quiet Place for Teens: A Mindfulness Workbook to Ease Stress and Difficult Emotions by Amy Saltzman
Kindergartners have been learning a variety of skills related to emotion identification. Students listened to the book, The Way I Feel, by Janan Cain and engaged in a conversation about facial expressions and gestures that accompany emotions such as a frown, smile, or furrowed eyebrows. Then students participated in a game during which they were given an emotion (i.e., sad, mad, scared, happy, surprised) and nonverbally showed the emotion using facial expressions and gestures. Peers then had a chance to guess the emotion, using the “clues” they were given. Students thought about how these “clues” could be helpful in supporting their friends.
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Third-graders took part in a unit on mindfulness and the power of positive self-talk. Students read I Am Love: A Book of Compassion by Susan Verde and talked about the importance of self-care as well as the care for others. Students then created a “positive thought garden,” brainstorming thoughts about themselves and positive actions in which they could engage in order to shift their self-talk. Students have also practiced mindful imagery by visualizing images that bring feelings of happiness, calmness, and peace. Along with deep breathing, mindful imagery has been powerful in helping students get their brains ready for learning.
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First-graders have engaged in a variety of REACH lessons focused on friendship skills. They read How to Fill a Bucket and discussed how to show kindness and respect toward others, they practiced “I messages” for independent problem-solving, and they gave each other “compliment greetings” which involved starting the day with a compliment or kind word shared with a randomly selected peer. Students also regularly utilize the Mood Meter to practice identifying feelings and engage in discussions to strategize how to shift emotions when needed.
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In their SEL class, sixth-graders took part in a unit centered around the cognitive triangle which visually depicts the connection between thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. Students first learned how thoughts, feelings, and behaviors influence one another and how changing one can dramatically change the consequences of events. They also examined a variety of unhelpful thinking styles, otherwise known as assumptions or misinterpretations, that often occur following ambiguous situations. Through role playing and video clips, students learned to challenge these thinking styles and generate more realistic (and generally more positive) ones. As one sixth-grader remarked, “When I have a negative thought, not only can I identify it, I can challenge the thought and it usually goes away.” For additional reading: Conquer Negative Thinking for Teens: A Workbook to Break the Nine Thought Habits That Are Holding You Back by Mary Karapetian Alvord and Anne McGrath
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Seventh-grade students spent the majority of the first trimester reviewing the Big 8 Social Identifiers: ability, age, ethnicity, gender, race, religion, sexual orientation, and socioeconomic status. Students learned about the definitions of the terms, societal implications, and current research as well as how the identifiers have been shaped by historical events. Discussions also focused on how we can be culturally sensitive to the different social identifiers in our own community. After choosing a topic related to a specific social identifier, students explored and researched that topic, synthesized knowledge, and presented to their class using short videos, Powerpoint slides, and empirical data that was both quantitative and qualitative. Projects included the gender pay gap in pro women’s sports, the domino effect of socioeconomics on students in the U.S., and race and the criminal justice system.
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Throughout the first trimester, eighth-grade students engaged in a unit on healthy relationships in which they learned about the qualities and characteristics that can determine whether a relationship is healthy. They discussed the importance of qualities such as open communication, respect, and honesty as well as the critical importance of respecting boundaries and seeking consent. They also reviewed a series of relationship statements (i.e., “I have fun,” “I can be myself,” “I can say no,” “I treat others well when I’m around this person”) and the factors that can determine whether or not these relationship statements hold true. Students thought deeply about the qualities that were most important to them in a potential relationship as well as what factors would be “deal breakers.” The unit culminated in a project where students identified a relationship from a television series or a movie and assessed whether the relationship was healthy or unhealthy. “Over the past several REACH classes, I've learned how to identify toxic relationships,” said one eighth-grader. “We also learned how to deal with these negative relationships. I've used these tactics in my personal life in friendships and at home.”
Fourth-grade classrooms have explored a variety of REACH topics, both through the curriculum and through explicit lessons. Students learned about different types of self-talk, including selftalk that is positive and motivates and self-talk that is negative and can interfere with learning. Students then practiced reframing or “flipping” negative self-talk to be more positive and more reflective of a growth mindset. To make the practice even more engaging and fun, students wrote their own positive and negative self-talk and used pretend frying pans to “flip” their thoughts. In another REACH lesson, students learned about the significance of sharing gratitude as they kept gratitude journals and talked about how gratitude can contribute to happiness and reduce feelings of distress. These discussions culminated in students working with their grandparents and special friends to create gratitude wreaths.
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DEVELOPMENT UPDATE:
Fast Facts About the Next Generation Campaign
Rendering of the new Crossroads Building which is scheduled to open in September 2021.
What is the Next Generation Campaign? This $20 million campaign is a three-year, focused fundraising effort to grow Langley’s endowment and construct a new building to house our Primary School, fifth grade, and library/ media center, along with our Club E.D. program and a multi-purpose movement and music space on the lower level.
Why is it important to grow the endowment? An endowment creates a financial bedrock for an organization. It is an invested pool of money that is protected so that the principal remains untouched in perpetuity. At $4.6 million, Langley’s endowment is one of the smallest relative to our peer institutions and does not reflect the strength of our program. Increasing the endowment to $10 million will enable Langley to continually and fully fund innovative programming, keep tuition affordable while offering tuition assistance to deserving families, and attract and retain the best teachers by compensating them at a level that truly recognizes their extraordinary work.
Why does Langley need a new building? With flexible, collaborative spaces, breakout areas, plenty of natural light, connections to the outdoors, a performance stage, and a place for movement classes, the new Crossroads Building will allow Langley to provide modern learning spaces to better meet the needs of our youngest learners in the Primary School, while also giving our fifth-graders an appropriate place to explore and grow as they prepare for the transition to Middle School. Our new library/media center will incorporate advancements in design, programming, and technology in order to expand its role as a “hub” of campus that will bring our entire community of students, parents, and faculty/staff together. On the lower level, a vibrant new space will enhance the afterschool experience for the growing number of students in our extended day program, Club E.D.
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Do gifts to The Langley Fund support the Next Generation Campaign? The Langley Fund, the school’s annual fund, is completely separate from the Next Generation Campaign. It is an annual appeal that allows for growth and flexibility in the operating budget, helping provide student experiences such as musical instruments, the STEAM Fair, and the eighth-grade capstone trip. The Langley Fund also provides resources to attract and retain the best and brightest faculty and staff.
What about the annual auction? What role does it play? Like The Langley Fund, the annual auction raises funds that are an essential part of Langley’s operating budget each school year. These funds play a significant role in enabling Langley to enhance and develop our programs, facilities, and faculty/ staff in support of the school’s mission. In addition, every dollar committed during the “Raise the Paddle” portion of the auction supports faculty excellence.
Does Langley still need to raise money for the Crossroads Building even though groundbreaking is planned for June 2020? Yes, fundraising to complete the building is even more important now. Every dollar not raised is taken on as debt. The Langley Board of Trustees has been fiscally responsible in developing a financial strategy that 1) embraces the unique opportunity it has to keep the cost of the building from escalating out of reach and 2) uses bridge financing to fund the balance of the project while fundraising continues. It is important to note that, for every million dollars raised toward the building goal, Langley’s annual debt service will decrease by more than $52,000.
Langley’s Campaign Approach Some members of the Langley community may be wondering when they will be asked to participate in the Next Generation Campaign. In determining whether or not to pursue a campaign, one of the values that was important to the Board of Trustees and Executive Campaign Cabinet was to make sure that families were engaged in a very personal manner. This meant one-on-one discussions rather than placing a “donate now” button on the website or a fundraising thermometer visible from the carpool line. The vision was to return to Langley’s cooperative roots and ensure that everyone has the opportunity to play a role in the campaign. It is important to note that the average length of a campaign is three years. Langley is currently at the half-way mark with approximately 18 months to go. It would be impossible to reach everyone in the community in this high-touch manner all at once. Each year of the campaign, Langley has the capacity to reach approximately one third of our families:
• During the first year of the campaign in 2018-2019, we centered
around Engaged Leaders – individuals who have volunteered as members of the Board of Trustees or parent committees, for example, as well as those who have a history of supporting Langley.
• In the second year, 2019-2020, Langley has started approaching
Veteran Families who have been involved at Langley for several years and/or have served in the past as members of the Board of Trustees or as PALS leaders.
• In 2020-2021, the campaign’s third year, Langley will approach
Emerging Participants. We look forward to becoming more familiar with the philanthropic priorities of these families in order to align the campaign with their interests.
The Next Generation Campaign
INCLUSIVE MODEL OF PHILANTHROPY
Volunteerism & Philanthropic History
Engaged Leaders Veteran Families
Emerging Participants
2018-2019
2019-2020 Three-Year Timeline
2020-2021
How Langley aims to reach everyone in the community: • During the first 18 months of the
campaign, Dr. Scully and members of the Executive Campaign Cabinet (Cathy Bernasek, Karen Frana, and Zac Merriman) met individually with each of the identified Engaged Leaders and began to meet with Veteran Leaders – 55 individuals/ families total – securing $9.2 million in cash and pledges.
• While the Executive Campaign
Cabinet’s progress is impressive, Langley recognizes that to meet everyone in the community, the number of people doing outreach needs to increase. As more people become engaged and committed, many of these individuals are joining our Campaign Cabinet in reaching out to other members of the community.
• This extended Campaign Cab-
inet and members of Langley’s Development Committee are now helping to connect with Veteran Families, and down the road, Emerging Participants.
• By the end of the campaign, the
goal is that every interested member of the Langley community will be given a meaningful opportunity to join this exciting endeavor.
If you haven’t been asked to participate in the campaign yet and would like to do so, please contact the Development Office at (703) 356-1920, ext. 885 or thenextgeneration@ langleyschool.org. Only with the participation, support, and help of the entire Langley community will we be able to successfully grow our endowment, build a state-of-the-art building that our children need and deserve, and reach our $20 million campaign goal.
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Alumni News Connect with former classmates and families by updating your news and contact information at www.langleyschool.org/community/alumni.
1983
2012
1990
2013
James Tully is in his 24th year at the Fairfax County (VA) Sheriff's Office. In the fall, he attended Leadership Fairfax, a nonprofit organization that trains individuals to become more effective community and all-around leaders.
Joy Boston retired from the United States Air Force as a lieutenant colonel in October. She was commissioned in 1998 upon graduation from the U.S. Air Force Academy and most recently served as a military advisor for the Near Eastern Affairs Bureau at the Department of State.
2000
Kelly Halpin is both a professional mountain runner/endurance athlete and a professional illustrator. She draws for a number of large clients, including Red Bull and ESPN, and writes and illustrates children's books.
2003
Adam Silver is a senior manager for Walmart’s International Strategy team based in Bentonville, AR.
2009
Nicole Johnson played soccer at the University of Virginia and went to the Final Four in the College Cup. After graduating, she worked for IBM and is now heading to law school. Nicole also enjoys coaching youth soccer in McLean.
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WINTER 2020
Marcus Alder will be graduating from Carnegie Mellon University this year with majors in computer science and linguistics and will begin working at Google in Mountain View, CA, in June.
Caleb Roderiques, a junior at Colorado State University, was recently selected for the school’s President’s Leadership Council. He was also voted the State of Colorado Most Valuable Player for club lacrosse last spring.
2015
Prasanna Patel graduated from National Cathedral School last spring and is currently on a gap year. She spent the fall semester interning in Florence, Italy, where she gave tours of the Florence Duomo. This spring, she plans to travel around India and backpack through Ecuador. Prasanna will attend The College of William & Mary this fall where she plans to study art history and anthropology.
2016
Reagan Carlton has committed to play Division I beach volleyball at the University of Tampa next year. Philip Mackey is attending the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, NY. Tabor Roderiques will be graduating with highest honors from Phillips Exeter Academy in 2020 and has been accepted early decision to Johns Hopkins University where he plans to major in molecular and cellular biology.
Alumni & Past Parents Serve as Science Judges Langley thanks the following scientifically-inclined alumni and past parents who volunteered to serve as virtual judges for our sixth-grade science fair this winter. After filming their presentations, sixth-graders shared their digital project logbooks with our judges for online judging from the comfort of their homes. Kent Arnold ’73 Jason Briceno ’91 Alicia DiGiammarino ’04 Milo Ferenczi ’11 Glen Gaddy ’80 Dr. Kathleen Harnden ’96
Kristin Joostema ’12 Jay Lockwood, Past Parent Iain MacKeith ’16 Al Mondelli, Past Parent Sonia Schmitt, Past Parent Sarah Sigouin, Past Parent
Connect with Us!
Follow Langley today on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, our blog, and our podcast (search “Climbing the Arc”)
Former Faculty News H. Bruce Rinker, an educator, ecologist, and explorer who taught science and math at Langley in the 1980s, has written a book about his recent struggles with an aggressive and terminal brain cancer. A Pearl in the Brain: The Cancer Journey of a Scientist in His Search for the Seat of the Soul combines science, spirituality, education, and conservation with a message of hope.
From Student to Grandparent: Ed Portner ’50 Nearly 70 years after he attended Langley himself, Ed Portner ’50 returned to campus in a new role – as a grandparent. This fall, his two grandchildren, Audrey ’24 and Sully ’24, enrolled as Langley fourth-graders and invited Ed to visit them in their classrooms during Grandparents & Special Friends Day in November. “The facilities have changed enormously, but the educational philosophy and sense of community are exactly the same,” Ed says. “Langley supports the growth of the whole child and accommodates individual differences. The teachers are as dedicated and friendly as ever. I loved going to school there and so do my grandchildren.” When Ed first arrived at Langley as a 3-year-old in 1945, classes took place in an old farmhouse on Georgetown Pike which parents renovated and furnished. “I very much remember how enthusiastic my parents were about being involved in the school,” says Ed, whose mother served as the school’s president for one year and whose father was on the Building and Grounds Committee and helped build the playground equipment. Ed attended Langley through second grade, and still has copies of many of his report cards. “It was a small school and the teachers really knew us well,” he recalls. “When I look at those old report cards which mention my active imagination and my tendency to be the class clown, I can see that my teachers described my personality perfectly!”
L to R: Audrey ’24, Ed ’50, his wife, Vivian, and Sully ’24
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ALUMNI PROFILE:
Jordan Kallett ’16, Narayan Kini ’16, Ginger Myers ’16 Giving a Voice to Those with Special Needs
L to R: Ginger, Narayan, and Jordan
Three alumni from Langley’s Class of 2016 – Jordan Kallett, Narayan Kini, and Ginger Myers – wanted to reduce the stigma around those with special needs and advocate for their respect. So last year, these current high school seniors founded a student-led advocacy organization called Voices of the DMV which raises awareness and understanding of individuals with special needs. In October, they returned to their alma mater to share their experiences with current Langley students. We caught up with Jordan, Narayan, and Ginger to learn more about their organization and the role Langley played in sparking their passion.
Why did you start Voices of the DMV?
GINGER: We noticed that many students at our high school and in the area had misunderstandings about the special needs community because they lacked exposure. We wanted to address this issue and bring awareness of the special needs community to break down barriers of misunderstanding which feed intolerance. We believe that education can break through any misunderstanding and that is what our organization strives to do.
What are the goals of your organization?
How has your role in Voices of the DMV helped you grow personally?
GINGER: Voices of the DMV has helped me grow in my understanding of other people and other groups that we may not immediately think of as similar to us. It has also helped me develop my voice as an individual who advocates for others and who is willing and ready to make a difference in the world around me. Overall, Voices of the DMV has taught me that I can stand up for what and who I believe in, and that I have the capability to make a real difference.
NARAYAN: We are trying to raise awareness of the special needs community through storytelling, events, and education while also encouraging youth advocacy. Our website, voicesofthedmv.org, features articles, essays, photographs, and art submitted by those with special needs and other advocates in order to promote the idea that people with special needs are just like us. We also plan events to encourage young people to get involved and advocate for the special needs community, and have a membership made up of students attending more than 20 high schools and colleges.
How did Langley help spark your passion for the special needs community?
What are some of the initiatives you have planned for 2020?
What’s it been like working with Langley classmates on this project?
JORDAN: As our latest initiative, we are developing a podcast to serve as another medium through which we seek to share stories and humanity. This podcast will include guests who can speak to their own personal experiences with the special needs community. We will also host a panel in February or March featuring members of the special needs community and their relatives discussing their experiences, with the goal of clearing up misconceptions and offering perspective into their lives. And we are launching a poster pledge at several DMV schools to encourage our peers to respect those who may seem different and take a step toward overcoming intolerance and misunderstanding.
JORDAN: During my seventh-grade year at Langley, we visited the Kilmer Center, a Fairfax County public school for children with special needs. Although I was initially nervous to interact with a new group of people, I was greeted by dozens of friendly individuals and thoroughly enjoyed the experience. That visit to the Kilmer Center helped me discover that children with special needs are not individuals to be pitied; they have their own dreams and ambitions and they deserve respect.
NARAYAN: It’s been fun to reconnect with Langley friends and work on a meaningful project together. In addition to Ginger and Jordan, we have two other Langley alumni serving on our Executive Board of Directors – Molly Myers ’18 and Ella Sands ’17. I think Langley did an excellent job of teaching us to be kind, compassionate citizens who are able to respect people of differing backgrounds, abilities, and perspectives, which might be why so many of us wanted to become involved in promoting respect for the special needs community. To learn more, visit https://voicesofthedmv.org.
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“Langley will always hold a special place in our hearts. We are grateful that after 40 years, we are still bound together and find this connection as strong as ever.” -Vivian (Lichtmann) Keller ’79 REUNION:
Class of ’79 Reconnects at 40th Reunion Weekend By Nevah (Thompson) Stevenson ’79 The Ties That Bind: Forty years ago, our Langley class of ’79 marked its final milestone. Many of us who graduated that day were lifers. Others had arrived at various points along the pre-K through eighth grade journey, and a few of us moved away prior to graduation. But all of us, no matter our tenure, agree that a unique Langley bond unites us to this day. This past September, 16 members of our class traveled from around the country and local areas to reminisce and celebrate our Langley history. Suddenly we found ourselves 40 years post-Langley, with a sense that we ought to commemorate the occasion. As we caught up over dinner, brunch, and a campus tour, it was evident that our shared Langley experience had left an indelible mark.
Hard Work and Enriched Experiences: Our group gathered first for dinner at the home of Vivian (Lichtmann) Keller ’79 and her husband, Eric. Forty years fell quickly away. Our memories flowed easily from stories of class trips to tales of classroom antics. There was praise for Helene Layman, the inimitable fifth-grade teacher whose challenging assignments were simultaneously beloved and bemoaned by all. Cherished traditions were recalled, including our year-long country reports, hours spent at the Langley Fair, our visit to the Pennsylvania Dutch country, and the eighth-grade deep-dive into ornithology study. Langley’s academics, nurturing teachers, and beyond-the-classroom experiences resonate with us deeply, still.
Memories Old and New: The following morning, a small group of us toured the campus. We began at Patti’s Park, the enchanting memorial to Pam Schmid’s ’79 younger sister, Patti ’81, who passed away in 1995. Next, we toured and marveled at the many significant campus additions. The fluid, innovative spaces were impressive. We lingered longest, however, over that which was familiar to us – the original preschool classrooms, the old seventh- and eighth-grade areas, and the spot where the Field House once stood, where we performed in musicals and practiced square dancing and volleyball in P.E. Our weekend concluded with a wonderful brunch hosted by Helen (Methvin) Payne ’79 and her husband, Chris. We were grateful for the time together, appreciative of our parents’ choice of a Langley School education, and most of all, happy to reconnect in such a meaningful way. To those who were unable to make the trip, you were there in spirit, and you were greatly missed.
Reunion Attendees Peter Baldwin Mark Bengston Susan (Kassing) Daly John Day Susan (Friedlander) Earman Story (Smith) Graves Vivian (Lichtmann) Keller Mike Kimsey Lydia Middleton Helen (Methvin) Payne Bret Peters Karen (Milbank) Quackenbush Eric Ratner Pam Schmid Nevah (Thompson) Stevenson Ronald Van Viersson
Are you interested in attending a reunion of Langley friends? Contact Director of Annual Giving & Alumni Relations Peggy Evans at pevans@langleyschool.org who will partner with you to make it happen.
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ALUMNI PROFILE:
Lauren Simon ’74 Finding Her “Second Act” as a Playwright As a fifth-grader in Helene Layman’s class at Langley in the early 1970s, Lauren Simon ’74 made her stage debut in “The Pirates of Penzance” and “The Wizard of Oz,” instilling in her a lifelong love of theater and the written word. Nearly 50 years later, she is proud to carry on Mrs. Layman’s legacy as she brings the world of theater to a new generation through her own original plays. Although she has always loved writing – and spent the first 25 years of her career as a journalist and editor – it wasn’t until her daughter began participating in school drama productions that Lauren found her calling as a playwright. “I volunteered to paint sets and sew costumes for my daughter’s plays, and remembered how much I enjoyed theater,” she says. After attending a weekend workshop on writing a 10-minute play at a summer arts academy in the early 2000s, Lauren was hooked and soon enrolled at the University of Idaho where she earned a master’s degree in playwriting.
“Those years at Langley grounded me as a student and gave me a skill set and an appreciation for learning that allowed me to be successful in high school and college.”
To date, Lauren has written more than 30 plays, ranging from full-length dramas, comedies, and musicals to plays as short as one minute. Whether for adults or young audiences, her plays often deal with social justice issues and are inspired by her passion for history and art. Her work has been performed at festivals and theaters from coast to coast. During the past few years, Lauren has partnered with Creede Repertory Theatre to write three musicals for a Young Audience Outreach Tour which brings theater into schools in underserved communities in Arizona, Colorado, Kansas, Nevada, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Utah. “Each musical has reached about 40,000 children with powerful
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WINTER 2020
messages of diversity, acceptance, and pride in one’s heritage,” she adds. “It’s been exciting to use production techniques like presenting in the round to reinforce the notion of oneness.” A resident of Laguna Beach, CA, since 2012, Lauren is just finishing a two-year term as the city’s literary laureate – a role that has her working to raise the profile of literary arts in the city through community workshops and events and through a new historical play she has written about the summer Tennessee Williams once spent in Laguna Beach. She also works to promote the arts locally through her Bare Bones Theatre which offers new play readings followed by audience conversations. While it can be challenging to make a living as a playwright in a world that’s filled with so many talented writers, Lauren loves the process of creating a play from start to finish. “I enjoy the solitary work of imagining and writing, but I also find it exhilarating to bring a script to directors, actors, and designers and collaborate with them to make my ideas a reality on stage,” she says. As she reflects on her first introduction to theater in fifth grade at Langley, Lauren credits Mrs. Layman as the most influential teacher of her career. “She believed in me and encouraged me as a writer and an artist,” says Lauren, who attended Langley from fifth through eighth grade. “I don’t know if I would be where I am today without her.” She fondly recalls taking her first overnight trip away from home to Pennsylvania Dutch country, buying Mother’s Day gifts at the Langley Fair which was held in the spring, spending time with her kindergarten buddy, and reading in the cozy school library. With just 14 kids in her class, Lauren learned to build relationships and always felt her teachers gave her the attention she needed to develop a strong foundation at a critical age. “Those years at Langley grounded me as a student and gave me a skill set and an appreciation for learning that allowed me to be successful in high school and college,” she adds. “I developed a level of confidence as a scholar that I might never have found at another school.”
To learn more about Lauren Simon’s career as a playwright, visit www.lojosimon.com.
The Last Word
By Anna Shiroma, Early Childhood Curricular & Instructional Specialist When I came to Langley in August, I knew I was joining a special community. And as I’ve become a part of the Langley family over the past seven months, this joyful community’s commitment to learning and education has become abundantly clear. In my role as early childhood curricular and instructional specialist, I am in the unique position to support and engage with our Primary School students, teachers, and families. I observe classrooms daily, take part in frequent coaching meetings with teachers, and have amazing opportunities to interact with students, whether pretending to be a community worker with preschoolers, playing math games with junior kindergartners, or writing books with kindergartners.
As we educate Langley’s youngest students, our Primary School teachers also recognize the key role they play in building a strong foundation for a child’s entire school experience. And as we build this early foundation, we place an emphasis on the importance of alignment – within grade levels, divisions, and the entire school (see our feature article about inquiry on page 2). When we align our strategies and language throughout the Primary School, the student experience is consistently joyful and rigorous, supporting academic and social benchmarks. Our foundation is stronger when all the pieces are connected.
I get to celebrate the great work happening in our classTo that end, the Primary School is using a set of aligned rooms, while also collaborating with the faculty to build a and standardized benchmarks this year from preschool to common language to capture the research-based strategies kindergarten to ensure each part of our program builds on they use each day. When we talk about purposeful play or itself. Our learning targets, the objective for each lesson, emergent literacy as a Primary School team, this common align to these grade-level benchmarks. In junior kindergarlanguage ensures we are ten, for example, teachers all supporting each child support the learning target When we align our strategies and language consistently in each part of for producing rhymes by throughout the Primary School, the student their day. My unique perplaying a rhyming game spective of each classroom experience is consistently joyful and rigorous, during their literacy block. and each student allows In kindergarten math, stusupporting academic and social benchmarks. me to identify the different dents are making different needs across classrooms and sets of objects to meet plan for and support our students throughout their Primary the learning targets of adding one more or one less. And School years and as they transition to Lower School. when our preschoolers and junior kindergartners focus on aligned literacy and math skills, we know they are prepared During after-school bi-monthly professional developand ready for kindergarten. Research shows that learning ment sessions for our Primary School faculty this year, targets that are aligned to benchmarks lead to higher I am helping facilitate discussions that allow us to dive student growth. into key areas, like purposeful play, and plan strategies to support student growth and learning. As we define what Langley’s Primary School is truly a wonderful place to be. purposeful play means at Langley and share the strategies Both students and teachers love learning and growing. we use in the classroom, our faculty is building a common They care deeply about each other, and the collaboration understanding about how to best support students during across classrooms is unlike any I have seen. Community at play. We discuss the research around developmentally Langley isn’t just a word. It lives throughout the work of appropriate materials, social-emotional learning, and ways students and teachers every day. And it’s exciting for me to scaffold learning for students. We are teachers and to be a part of this vibrant learning community as we work learners, elevating, defining, and sharing effective practices together to make it even stronger. occurring every day in our Primary School classrooms.
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Where vital academics meet a deep respect for childhood Preschool through grade 8 in Northern Virginia 1411 Balls Hill Road, McLean, Virginia 22101-3415 www.langleyschool.org (703) 356-1920
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Check out Langley's brand new podcast, titled "Climbing the Arc," which provides a view into the magic that happens in Langley classrooms every day. We currently have two episodes: "Measuring Progress" and "Purposeful Play."
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• “What Does STEAM Really Mean?” • “The Intentional Planning That Goes Into Play at Langley” • “What It Means to ‘Really’ Answer a Math Problem” • “Reading: How It Shapes All of Us”
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