One of the best parts of being a principal is getting into the classroom to observe teachers doing what they love best—working with students and advancing the curriculum. Now that we’ve achieved cruising altitude for the school year, I’ve begun my slate of classroom visits. Like any principal, my goal is to see every class in action; the conversations I have with faculty after each observation are just as important (and enjoyable) as the observation itself.

CA teachers are thoughtful, caring, and sharp.

Over the years I’ve learned that very few students understand all the hard work and magic that goes into a good lesson—and that’s okay. Their job is to learn and engage. But teachers are constantly operating on multiple levels—they are content masters responsible for stretching learning; they are emotion coaches; they are forecasters, announcing what’s to come; and they are historians who remind students what’s already been learned. School-craft is a special art, and our teachers excel at it.

The benefit of having so many master teachers at CA is that they notice things quickly and are adept at recognizing patterns and paths forward. Recently, at a morning meeting, our faculty brought forward the observation that after a year of hybrid learning, our students were still reacclimating to in-person instruction, which demands an engagement that’s just as nuanced— but radically different—than learning on Zoom. After a year of using breakout rooms, and raising their hand by clicking on an icon, it makes sense that our students would be taking some time to rediscover face-to-face engagement. Given this, the faculty spent some time developing lessons that were not just about content, but the skills and habits of effective in-person learning—like how to consolidate a lesson into class notes or how to contribute to a class discussion in real-time (when there’s not a chat feature to rely on). Over the last few classes, teachers have begun delivering these meta-lessons in their classes.

But we’re also aware that distance learning has given us new tools that can be used during in-person instruction, too.

Just this week I had the opportunity to observe an English class where a teacher used a deft combination of technology and old-school 3 x 5 cards. Students used the cards to start a face-to-face class discussion, after taking a real-time group survey—projected on the whiteboard—to review what they’d learned the day before.

That teachers are working hard to blend the lessons of the last year with the needs of today, offers a wonderful example to our students about the power of flexibility and adaptation.