Sarah Shares: Paths to Engagement

It was wonderful to see so many families at last weekend’s Halloween Walk at the Rail Park! Special thanks to organizers Julie & Scott Shuster, Jenna Braunstein, Amber Sweeney, Bridget Sullivan, and to Ilana and Jason Nusbaum, who included the entire Greene Towne community in their birthday celebration for daughter Naomi! 

We’ve just finished our first round of Teacher Coffees, and are heading into Observation and Parent-Teacher Conference season. In this “Year of Community,” Greene Towne is making use of new tools designed to support family engagement and connection, whether in person or virtually. 

Most of our parent events are being held in the Community Room in Greene Towne’s temporary space on the second floor at 2133 Arch Street. This space also holds our Teachers’ Lounge, and offices for Enrollment, Communications & Marketing, as well as my office. While we prefer families to attend in person when possible, we are offering hybrid delivery of parent education programs, Teacher Coffees, and Greene Towne Parent Association meetings in hopes of making it as easy as possible for families to attend. 

We have a new camera called an Owl (which we’ve named Mowlria Hootessori 🙂 ), which follows the voice of those speaking in a meeting, in order to give a more comprehensive view to those at home. As we adapt to new tools and technologies, we would appreciate feedback and ideas to make our hybrid set ups the best they can be. One way we can improve is by having a separate large flat screen monitor to view meeting presentation slides, with a separate projection of meeting participants. If you happen to be getting a new television and have a flat screen to give Greene Towne, that would be a big help to us, (Contact Nicole Leapheart if you can help: nleapheart@gtms.org .)

Parent-Teacher Conferences will be held in person, with virtual meetings available by request if necessary. Our teachers love to share children’s work and classroom environment as part of the conference experience and their partnership with families, and that is most easily done in person. 

Looking ahead, keep your eyes open for this year’s Parent Education Series featuring our lead teachers throughout the school year, with a new program each month. Our amazing teachers are sharing their expertise on early childhood development and Montessori methods they use at school that you can bring home. This series is open to the broader community—please help us to spread the word, and tell your friends. Each session is recorded and available on our website as well.