Learning To Lead: Why One Principal Puts Student Voice And Identity At The Center
When The Springfield Renaissance School closed its physical doors to students in March, staff had to work fast to find a way to connect with kids and attempt to continue the academic material they were working on.
For the first two weeks, teachers experimented with Facebook posts and robocalling families with assignments, whichĀ principal Arria Coburn said were very heavily based on grade level standards. ButĀ student engagement quickly started tanking ā hovering around 20% each day.
“Originally, it felt really remote,”Ā said Coburn.Ā “We were sending work out, students were sending it in and there was no human connection.”
She could see early on that her students were struggling emotionally with the closure. For many, the school provided a foundation and a level of support that’s hard to recreate at home.
“It took us a while to to get it right,” she said. “To realize this really has to be a digital platform where we were exchanging ideas.” She understood that they weren’t taking student needs into account in those first few weeks and that kids also needed to feelĀ heard when school leaders made decisions.
Read the rest of this story at WBUR’s website.