Tuesdays at Nashoba Brooks are half days for students, but for teachers, the afternoons are filled with professional development opportunities and much needed planning meetings. Now more than ever, with so much packed into a day, teachers are valuing a time to forget about sanitizing for a moment and enrich their love of the craft.
On the first Tuesday of the school year, teachers sat down with their lunches and opened their computers to be greeted by Rosetta Lee, a science teacher at Seattle Girls’ School, who also tours the world as a professional outreach specialist, training faculty, teachers, students, and parents on a multitude of topics, including cross cultural communication, identity development, implicit and unconscious bias, gender, bullying, and more. What she does was best summed up in the first few minutes of her presentation when she told eager Nashoba Brooks employees, “I like to get beyond the why and into the how.” Music to the ears of entrenched teachers.
Ms. Lee explained how creating a safe and equitable classroom is a teacher’s most challenging and important task. And as she continued, it was easy to see that she was, first, a teacher. She stood by her “how” promise, replacing wide-sweeping philosophies on equity, diversity and inclusion with real, anecdotal experiences. “I use science as my vehicle,” she said, later recalling a conversation with her nephew where she had brought race down to biological nuts and bolts: “I explained that darker skin was a kind of built in sunscreen.” She noted, too, that all school subjects can connect with diversity, equity, and inclusion goals. Teachers should harness their already extensive expertise and forget the idea that anything before middle school is too early to design an equitable and inclusive curriculum.
For our youngest students, Ms. Lee explained, “Instead of shielding, engage.” Kindergarteners, first graders, and the younger students have no filter because they’re testing what filters need to exist. Ms. Lee described how letting these younger students ask questions, rather than a teacher explaining what was right and wrong, was a way of guiding their curious minds towards empathy and understanding. “I call them adorable depositions,” she said, laughing.
Ms. Lee’s presentation was personal as she related her own experiences with bias. Growing up and even now, she explained, has put her in contact with people who have good intentions but fail to see their own biases before they open their mouths. As an American with an Asian ethnic heritage, she told how she’s lost count of the many times she’s explained that she is from America and heard someone ask, “Yes, but where are you originally from?” Ms. Lee’s wit, which she wove through her presentation, was especially present when she noted that she has often wanted to respond to these questions with, “I’m originally from my mother’s womb, you?”
The importance of “sub-textual messages” or what someone is really saying when they ask these sorts of questions was a major part of Ms. Lee’s message. Needing to know “what box to check,” she explained, leads to questions and comments that establish a divide between privileged America and everyone else. “None of this is what we mean and all of this is what is heard,” she pointed out as she paused to take a breath. The question she encouraged teachers, administrators, and parents to ask was “Who’s not in the norm and how do we make them feel normal?” She followed up with slice of humble pie, relating a story where a Muslim student, new to her school, was met with a “we’ll get back to you” when she asked if there was a quiet place for daily prayers. Ms. Lee’s school was quickly able to make accommodations, but the student had already gotten the message—she was an exception.
Ms. Lee’s clear, important messages were consistently accompanied by a healthy positivity, and as she came to a close, she called Nashoba Brooks employees to action acknowledging that mistakes are expected; paralysis shouldn’t be. She encouraged teachers to “incorporate multiple domains” when encountering problems or designing curriculum, and she encouraged collaboration and communication between all constituents of each student’s support team, reminding all of us that “Mastery means growth” for all of us.
In honor of Black History Month this year, the School has provided some opportunities for students and adults to explore the history and experiences of African-Americans more deeply.
This week, Nashoba Brooks announced its “reVision Tuition Plan” to reduce tuition and provide parents with three years of visibility into annual tuition costs. The School’s plan will cut tuition by an average of 15% over the next three years, reducing costs for families by an average of 5% each year from current rates.
Building on the School's history of inspired education and innovation, we are excited to expand our offerings through this pilot program and a chance to reach new students beyond our School community. Whether you are looking to enrich your child’s learning with an engaging workshop or get some extra help with schoolwork, you will meet knowledgeable instructors who bring creativity, experience, and a warm, inclusive approach. Check out our various sessions, and meet our talented team of online instructors!
On October 28, Head of School Danielle Heard, Assistant Head of Lower School Tim Croft, School Counselor Liz Joyce, and Middle School Science Teacher Susan Lewis, presented at the National Coalition for Girls Schools’ Educating Girls Symposium on “Building Inclusive Anti-racist School Communities.”
Elaine Rabb, Nashoba Brooks School’s storied Grade 8 English teacher, watched as another batch of students expressed themselves in their “This I Believe” essays.
Nashoba Brooks School’s social-emotional learning objectives are spread across disciplines and departments, and one of the most significant pieces for our middle school students is their health and wellness class. Guida Mattison, who has been helping young people navigate the world of personal development awareness since 2007, is continually modifying her curriculum while she learns alongside her students.
Tuesdays at Nashoba Brooks are half days for students, but for teachers, the afternoons are filled with professional development opportunities and much needed planning meetings. Now more than ever, with so much packed into a day, teachers are valuing a time to forget about sanitizing for a moment and enrich their love of the craft.
On August 27, 2020, as we got ready to open our doors to the new school year and the challenges of a hybrid learning model, bestselling author and expert on leadership development Rachel Simmons helped our parents to be thoughtful about supporting our students’ return to the classroom.
Had you asked Kaitlyn Giles McHugh as a Grade 5 student at Nashoba Brooks School what she wanted to be when she grew up, she would have given three distinct answers—an architect, a lawyer, or a marine biologist.
On Tuesday, May 11, Dr. Jennifer McClean, consulting psychologist and longtime friend of Nashoba Brooks School, spoke to Middle School parents about parenting adolescents in the context of COVID-19.
Grade 8 students presented a summary of their Youth in Philanthropy (YIP) experience, sharing their newly acquired knowledge of the meaning and impact of philanthropy with parents, employees, and special guests from the Foundation for MetroWest, which sponsors the YIP program.
Nashoba Brooks School welcomed families, friends, employees, and alumni for Winter Weekend 2020, a three-day lineup of activities to celebrate winter and our incredible community.
Alumna Elisabeth Reidy Denison ‘04 has immense gratitude for having the freedom during her formative years at Nashoba Brooks School to “write more or less what I wanted.” That rare and special time created the seedbed for her remarkable and prolific writing career.
Step inside Elaine Rabb’s classroom in the Middle School at Nashoba Brooks School and you immediately encounter a large “O” constructed of multiple tables, surrounded by chairs.
Nashoba Brooks School employees and parents gathered at Concord Academy’s Performing Arts Center yesterday for a powerful and timely presentation focused on understanding and managing anxiety by author Lynn Lyons, LICSW: Beyond Calming Down: Shifting the Anxiety Paradigm from Avoidance to Action.
Situated on a beautiful 30-acre campus in historic Concord, Massachusetts, Nashoba Brooks School serves boys and girls in Preschool through Grade 3, and girls in Grades 4 through 8. Nashoba Brooks is an independent school designed to build community, character, and confidence in its students.