KO’s Curriculum Night, held on Thursday, Sept. 26, allowed parents and guardians to experience a shortened schedule of their student’s day, and connect with faculty involved in their child’s experience at KO.
Kicking off with a reception and a brief assembly at 6:00 p.m. in Roberts Theater, guardians were welcomed by Head of the Upper School Lisa Loeb and Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Rich Mutts. At 6:20 p.m., guardians were sent to a five-minute advising period before following their child’s schedule, starting with period one and ending with period eight. Classes spanned 10 minutes, with five minutes of passing time, as parents and guardians traveled between Roberts, Seaverns, CT, and the House. The night wrapped up at 8:30 p.m.
In classes, parents and guardians were met with different activities and information from their child’s teachers, allowing them to become immersed in their child’s learning experiences. In math teacher Michael Greenwald’s classes, he made sure to introduce himself, his qualifications, and important details about the class. “I usually try to run them through a problem that we’ve done in class,” Mr. Greenwald said. “The purpose here is to make sure that when a parent sees their child come home and says, ‘math is really hard,’ the parent can now see, well, actually, that was kind of hard.”
English teacher Rachel Heffner-Burns also began by introducing herself and the class, and followed by sharing some work students in her AP Language and Composition course had completed already in class. “I show parents the opening slides that my AP classes have produced where they’re defining different rhetorical devices,” she said, “so I can actually show them their student has contributed specific slides and then taught those things to the class.” She added why this activity is important. “One of the things we really try and emphasize is not just learning skills, learning content, but also mastery of content,” she explained.
Dr. H-B also wanted to teach rhetorical analysis to parents and guardians who attended. She introduced appeals by showing commercials, like in her AP classes. “I showed them a Google commercial where the dad is using Gmail to write letters to his infant daughter and send her pictures and videos and Google Maps coordinates,” Dr. H-B said. She also noted that the night made many parents reflective. “So many parents got tears in their eyes because it made them think about their kids who are upperclassmen now, who are juniors and seniors,” she said. “They’re going to graduate soon.”
Preparation for Curriculum Night began in early September when faculty spent time discussing goals and objectives for the night and planned activities. This planning then culminated into Curriculum Night at the end of September, which was timed intentionally, according to Mrs. Loeb. “We spend the entire month of September not just orienting, but onboarding students,” she said. “Whether they’re new to the community or not, it’s important that we focus, in September, on making sure we’re setting everybody up for a year of success.”
Curriculum Night was the natural next step in the school year. “I think it is an incredibly important night because we’re a day school,” Mrs. Loeb said, “and one of the things we pride ourselves on is creating that triangle where the student is at the top and is being supported by the school and by family and community.”
Mr. Greenwald noted that the importance of Curriculum Night expands far beyond one night at Kingswood Oxford School, and even beyond the classroom. During school events, whether sports games or the musical, the connections made on Curriculum Night can develop over the course of the year. “On curriculum night, parents get an opportunity to see what I look like,” Mr. Greenwald said. “It often creates a situation where I can create more genuine connections with families within and outside of the classroom experience.”
Dr. H-B echoed this message of community, specifically noting how Curriculum Night allows parents and guardians to form connections with teachers they might not otherwise. “We have this wonderful advising system where your advisor really gets to know you in depth,” she said. “They’re your advocate, they’re your backup, your mentor. They form these really wonderful personal relationships with your parents or guardians. Curriculum Night gives us the chance to make those personal connections.”
To involve students, members of Shield & Dragon were in attendance to guide parents and guardians around for the night. “You could volunteer to sign parents in for your form,” junior Ella Golino said.“The second shift was when we were showing the parents around,” she added. “I was stationed outside the trophy case in between Seaverns and CT. There’s definitely a lot of foot traffic there.”
Having worked at several schools, Mr. Greenwald has experienced many Curriculum Nights. “I don’t think that the idea of inviting parents, guardians, and people who take care of our students should be something that’s seen as a novelty,” Mr. Greenwald said.“It should be seen as an expectation and something that we can either do – and we can do well. And I think the goal is to do it well.”
