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Laundry and Folding

Networking at Moorestown Rotary Club

Learning to Cook

Table Etiquette

Self-Defense & Situational Awareness

Basic Car Maintenance

Last year, we surveyed MFS alumni who were 10 years out from graduation to ask how prepared they felt for college and life beyond high school. An overwhelming 97% of alumni felt that the academic preparation at MFS prepared them well to succeed in college. When asked what they would improve about the MFS experience, they suggested teaching more “life skills” that would prepare them for life outside of the classroom.
A focus of our strategic plan is on increasing the amount of opportunities students have to not only learn about important subjects, but apply that learning to real-life situations. Experiential learning at its best is a process of learning by doing, where the purpose is clear to students and they are deeply engaged in the process of hands-on learning, and not just the product. This semester we launched our first-ever Essential Life Skills class. Open to 11th and 12th grade students, Life Skills was collaboratively developed and taught by 13 faculty and staff who covered 15 life skills, from financial literacy and networking to cooking and car maintenance. Students were matched with MFS alumni to conduct informational interviews in a field of their choice, and they practiced networking at a local Moorestown Rotary Club event. Early feedback suggests that we will continue to offer Essential Life Skills, ensuring that in addition to an academically rigorous curriculum at MFS, students will have the practical know-how that will serve them for life.

Peer School Visits & Professional Growth

Teams of faculty and staff have been visiting numerous peer schools from Boston to Denver to North Carolina. Director of Wellness and Student Support Susan Batastini is leading a team to explore student wellness centers and programs at schools and universities. Director of Teaching and Learning Jackie Dawson is leading a group to look at signature programs in global education and curricular initiatives to deepen students’ global understanding. Both efforts aim to bring best practices in the field back to MFS for our future growth and development.

Lower School Spanish Starts Strong

This year, MFS has brought Spanish language and culture back to the Lower School. Beginning with students in Kindergarten, 1st, and 2nd grades, Teacher Evie has introduced conversational techniques and vocabulary to help students build comfort and confidence in Spanish. During Hispanic Heritage Month, students explored the life and work of Frida Kahlo. For Friendship Day, students created a Flor de Amistad (or Friendship Flower) to reflect how they can be a good friend to others. In the 2024-2025 school year, the Lower School Spanish program will extend to 3rd and 4th grades.

NEW Environmental Sustainability Coordinator

MFS named Fourth Grade Teacher Ted Quinn its first-ever Environmental Sustainability Coordinator. Emerging from our Strategic Plan, this leadership position will support new initiatives at MFS, from curriculum development to sustainable campus operations. As a result of our strategic commitment to stewardship, Ted will work collaboratively with a wide array of constituents to ensure MFS is meeting its mission to reduce our carbon footprint and to better equip our students to contribute positively to environmental protection efforts in the future.

I recently participated in a two-week fellowship for heads of school at the Klingenstein Center, which is a part of Columbia University, Teachers College. As part of a cohort of 15 heads of school from six countries and seven states, I was able to explore a creative and diverse curriculum that prompted deep reflection about leadership and the future of schools. While the topics ranged from governance, to change management, to leadership development, I wanted to focus my reflections below on three key takeaways from my experience. More than anything, though, the fellowship was meant to inspire new ways of leading in independent schools. The word “inspire” comes from the Latin inspirare, which means to breathe. I love everything about my day-to-day life at Moorestown Friends, but having two weeks to step away and breathe in a new setting provided fresh perspectives and ways of thinking that are sure to serve me and MFS for years to come. I am grateful for the community’s support to participate in this special program.

Thinking Beyond the Brain
While returning to a graduate school setting immediately sent me back into student mode - think three hours of homework a night, papers, and projects - the Klingenstein Institute was far from a traditional school setting. One of the first readings we explored was Annie Murphy Paul’s The Extended Mind, which asserts that our brains are somewhat limited in their ability to persist in the face of challenging tasks or abstract concepts. Schools and the business world have been traditionally grounded in “brain-bound thinking” - the idea that if you focus more, sit still, work harder, and are self-disciplined, your cognitive abilities will expand in turn. Murphy argues that in order to extend beyond the capacity of our brain’s limitations, we must move our bodies, situate ourselves in new environments, and integrate the thoughts and feelings of others into our own cognitive processes. By engaging these “extra-neural resources,” we are able to think more creatively and deeply and extend our brain’s capacity. In addition to plenty of traditional brain-bound learning, the Klingenstein Institute created endless opportunities for us to engage “extra-neural resources.” We visited museums, discussed case studies, and explored the city without necessarily having a destination or goal in mind. The purpose was to engage our senses, develop a spirit of wonder and curiosity, and freely engage in dialogue with other cohort members in order to tap our unrealized cognitive potential. It reinforced for me how important it is to learn in community, as we do at MFS, and to extend learning beyond the classroom in hands-on ways. How might we cultivate our students’ ability to think outside the brain?

Hands-On Learning
During the Institute, we participated in experiential learning of our own, not only to use our brain in new ways, but also to practice the skills of noticing and deep listening, both of which are critical for opening up our brains to creative thinking and innovation. We divided into teams and set off in the city, picking a place to explore and to ask open-ended questions rooted in curiosity. I went to the Museum of Natural History, a place I had visited many times before. Encouraged to visit places with fresh eyes, we were given prompts to tune into all of our senses - what we were hearing, smelling, tasting, and feeling - allowing the environment to wash over us. By doing so, we were able to engage a sense of wonder much like young children naturally do at a science museum, for example, but most adults have not practiced in years. Why do fish swim in schools? How old is the universe? Why is the sky blue? As leaders, we often work to have answers to the questions of others. But what if leaders were more curious than certain? How might we lead our schools differently?

Generative Artificial Intelligence
One of the benefits of participating in a program like Klingenstein is that we gain access to previous Fellows or master’s students and are able to learn from their experiences and research. We participated in a session on Generative AI led by former teacher and current AI integration specialist, Evan Harris. Since leaving Columbia and attending Stanford’s Human-Centered AI program, Evan has dedicated his career to helping schools navigate the AI-era. We focused our time together on what we can do today to lead and support change in schools for a future that is almost certain to be intertwined with AI. Instead of spending time thinking about how to keep students from using AI, we were encouraged to focus on ethics, safety, and authentic assessments for students as a starting point. Up until today, AI has been less able to replicate process than it has product. If assessments are simply products, AI can navigate that quite well. What it hasn’t mastered is the messy, collaborative, real-world application of learning that authentic assessments call on students to do. It makes me think quite a bit about the Seventh Grade Quest program and other courses at MFS and how the greatest learning comes from the process, feedback, and revision that takes place throughout the year. While AI may be good for certain automated tasks, what it can’t do is replicate authentic learning in a real-world setting. How might we continue to invite students to demonstrate their learning in a way that prioritizes process over product? 

The Head's Perspective

Laundry and Folding

Networking at Moorestown Rotary Club

Learning to Cook

Table Etiquette

Self-Defense & Situational Awareness

Basic Car Maintenance

Thinking Beyond the Brain

Hands-On Learning

Generative Artificial Intelligence