Darlington School: Private Boarding School in Georgia "Shadowing" project among highlights at boarding school conference
Darlington School: Private Boarding School in Rome, GA
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“Shadowing” project among highlights at boarding school conference

January 9, 2016 | 515 views

A student-shadowing exercise from Darlington's 2014-15 school year took center stage last month at The Association of Boarding Schools (TABS) Annual Conference in Boston. In front of school administration and teachers from across North America, ELA-8 Director Hope Jones and Upper School Director Matthew Peer co-presented on their experiences in a session titled “What you can learn by shadowing a student.” Together the division leaders shared anecdotes from their respective days as Darlington “students” and the wisdom gained from a school-wide project that involved 18 members of faculty and staff.

“We wanted to present on something that we thought was interesting, that other schools might not being doing to the same extent,” said Jones. “There was a takeaway for everyone—scheduling, academic structure, how to market your boarding school, and many others.”

Jones and Peer spoke on how different facets like length of school day, individual classes, classroom setup, use of technology, learning in a second language, after-school activities, bus travel (if necessary), homework—even the amount of steps per day—contributed both to each student’s unique experience, and to theirs as shadows. Participants in the exercise were not given directives on what to look for, but were instead encouraged to absorb and make note of the individual nuances that they encountered along the way. 

“When we shadow, we are in the trenches and learn with the students,” added Jones. “After an hour in, you forget who you are and become something else.”

For the project, different student profiles based on identifiers like length of time at the school, day/boarding status, and nationality were examined and connected to actual Darlington students. Faculty and staff were matched up, and spent the entire day—sans yellow legal pad and pen—immersed in the same activities as their “hosts,” asking questions and obtaining personal reflections in the hallway between classes, at lunch, and for some, during practice. 

“When you are actually engaged in the class as a student, it is a very different perspective than to go into a classroom as a department chair or administrator for an observation,” said Jones. "Our presentation provided other educators with a glimpse into the power of 'becoming a student' and experiencing the authenticity of what we say we do."

The successful project was shared not only as a way for colleagues at schools to venture into the minds of their students, but also as a way to engage in a dynamic form of professional development for a nominal cost (if any) of time and money.

Other organizations have already taken note of Darlington's shadowing exercise, including Independent School Management, which published English Department Chairwoman Beth Wilson’s blog about her experience online.

“As a parent, it reassures me that our school is always working to get better,” said Peer. “Darlington doesn’t rest on its laurels. It constantly strives to provide the best academic and student life experience for our students.”
 

In light of Darlington’s projected move to a revised schedule for 2016-17, administration initiatives like the shadowing experiment have become an effective way to collect data, proving helpful in understanding how best to manage the different components of an independent school. 

“Anytime that we do something that we feel is good for Darlington, we want to share that experience,” added Peer. “Education is a very collaborative industry. You don’t create something and then hide it. You share it.” 


Click here to read a blog from Academic Dean David Powell about Darlington's shadowing initiative.