Matt Malone, the MA Secretary of Education made a special visit to the Lower School on Tuesday and was so impressed he plans to come back to visit the Upper School this spring. He had heard so much about our school and he wanted to see and hear for himself from our students and teachers what makes the school such a special place.
Sec. Malone’s first stop was the 2nd grade where all 50 students were together to make observations of their classroom snake, Jewels. He asked the students to explain their note-taking strategies and tell him what they had learned about snakes so far. Next he stepped into 1st grade and spoke to the teachers about their educational background and why they like working at the school.
After trying out a couple of paper instruments, Sec. Malone and his aides were ready to observe K1 music where Mr. Cordes was leading the class in a song of welcome and introduction. The group, led by Ms. Sevelius and Ms. Lam, finished the tour in K2 where they could sit in on reading groups. Sec. Malone praised the high quality of the teaching, particularly the differentiated instruction as all the students were clearly engaged and challenged by the work. He and his assistants were also impressed by the behavior and calm attitude they saw in every classroom despite large groups and unusual classroom configurations.
We are looking forward to the Secretary’s visit to our Upper School sometime in the spring!