This week, I am writing to you from Toronto–I know I’m the envy of you all with these exotic trips to cold, rainy/snowy climes–where Sophie and I are attending the annual AEFE (the Agency for French Education Abroad) seminar. It’s a highly institutional but necessary gathering, which reaffirms The École’s place in a network of more than 600 schools around the world.
It is also an annual lesson in teaching that we experience firsthand. For example, this morning kicked off with a series of speeches (welcome speeches, official speeches, strategic speeches, framing speeches, speeches of all sorts) during which we couldn’t reasonably leave our seats without tarnishing the reputation of our respective schools. The result–and I am certain that we have all found ourselves in similar situations–is that slowly but surely, laptops open and cell phones start to vibrate (I might as well come clean; I am literally writing this letter to you during the speeches), the clicking of keyboards starts to sound like crickets on a summer evening, and murmured conversations among attendees gradually (but politely) drown out the speakers’ voices.
In short, we are distracted. Distracted because the format is formal and predictable. Distracted because we’re sitting down and we have the tools we need to escape at our fingertips. For example, I thoroughly enjoyed watching all the re-enrollment emails coming in today in response to Philippe and Laurence’s letter. I also fine-tuned some comments on the Middle School report cards (which will be available on Focus by the time you read this letter; they truly reflect the quality of work our middle schooler students delivered this term).
Our middle schoolers are undoubtedly more attentive in class than I was this morning, and I commend them for this. They have the good fortune of having teachers who know how to prepare varied, fascinating, and engaging lessons. They have a team in front of them who understand how strong the temptation can be to watch a quick reel, listen to the latest banger, scroll through their feed, or send a quick DM peppered with heartfelt emojis. Our response at The École is not (always) to ban such things outright. First, our teaching approach instills responsibility in students and keeps lectures to a minimum (though lectures in small doses can be beneficial, as our American colleagues demonstrate daily with their mini-lessons). Our students are also lucky that our teachers have high ambitions for them and grant them a certain degree of autonomy, albeit structured and guided autonomy: there are assignments, expectations, deadlines, processes, and steps to follow.
In this context, technology definitely has its place, but our students—particularly our middle schoolers—cannot browse the internet aimlessly at school. Of course, we know full well that it happens sometimes. That’s why we have an impressively effective and robust monitoring and blocking system that allows us, without banning for the sake of banning, to redirect students toward better use of their devices.* Unlike me this morning–I managed to get away with it unnoticed. At least, I think I did…
I’ll be back on Monday morning and looking forward to the year-end party on Tuesday night—I hear it’s extremely popular again this year, so thank you all for making this a highlight. In the meantime, have a fantastic weekend, everyone!
*Incidentally, this was a topic addressed by Katie, our counselor, just a few hours ago during the middle schoolers’ weekly assembly.