What contributes to the positive spirit of community on campus and makes BFS such a special Friends school? An intentional commitment to the quality of teacher-student relationships and respect for teacher autonomy.
Our comprehensive and distinct program and commitment to quality attracts, engages, and retains deeply dedicated educators who are inspiring, passionate about teaching, dedicated to our mission as a Friends school, and enthusiastically invested in the promise, engagement, and success of each student and one another.
Strong teacher–student relationships encourage and advance student learning, notes regarded educator Rick Wormeli, and they also energize teachers and teaching. “We are more willing to invest in students when we feel connected to them,” he notes, “and the quality of each teacher’s relationships with students sustains them and their work during the educational journey and the year(s) ahead.”
Skillful, smart, compassionate, and creative, BFS’s faculty motivate, shape, and impact every student each day, and in meaningful ways that extend well beyond the classroom. They cultivate awareness and originality, instill confidence, and model integrity and leadership – making the BFS experience one that prepares young people to experience lifelong success, know themselves, and become critical thinkers, creative individuals, and contributing community members.
Research affirms that teachers are more motivated and effective, that their programs are richer and more dynamic, that their students are better supported and more successful across a broad range of disciplines, and that they enjoy their work more when they are provided greater autonomy. The following hallmarks of teacher autonomy are evidenced at BFS, where teachers have the:
- Aptitude and advanced skills to design their own lessons
- Capacity to create their own assessments
- Encouragement to pursue their own professional development opportunities, relevant to their goals and experiences as well as the vision for the school
- Support to draw from, incorporate, and experiment with a range of proven and new pedagogical styles
- Freedom to arrange their classrooms, labs, and art studios as they wish
- Encouragement from others to adjust curriculum and/or lesson plans to best suit the needs of their students, never obligated to teach to the tests
- Ability to choose which textbooks to use (or to decide when not to use textbooks)
- Professional judgement to determine the best assessments and what grade to give a student
- Support to reach for and set higher standards in their programs, pedagogy, and expectations for their students
- Opportunity to coordinate, collaborate and participate in decision-making about all-school curriculum development and the connections that evolve intentionally over time
Teachers at BFS love their students. They truly believe in each child and plan thoughtfully and with great intention so that each may realize their promise as academic learners, athletes, artists, citizens, and more.
This is what we loved about BFS: the teachers showed enormous respect for the children. We loved the daily ritual of looking into each child’s eyes and shaking their hand. It wasn’t casual. It was formal. It meant something. Our children, Sarah and Wiley Robinson, knew they were loved and respected.
BFS teachers are the best! They all take the time to really get to know the children and learn who they are as learners and as individuals; tapping into their personalities and interests to keep them engaged, motivated and supported to explore, grow, and learn. It is truly wonderful to see the connection that my children have built with each one of their teachers and see those relationships evolve over the years. We are so grateful for every one of them!