Virtual Parents Nights Showcase MICDS Educational Experience

MICDS has hosted three virtual Parents Nights over the past three weeks, connecting parents and caregivers with teachers over Zoom and video to provide an overview of what to expect from the MICDS educational experience.

The Lower School parents engaged in their virtual Parents Night the second week of school. Head of Lower School Amy Scheer provided a video welcome message. She said, “The challenges that we must meet to connect with our students are in no way diminishing the amazing work our teachers are doing with children every day. The most important part of Parents Night is the opportunity for you to learn more about your child’s teachers and to hear directly from them about their commitment to helping your child achieve the hopes and dreams they have for themselves.” The video also included a message from many of the Lower School specialist teachers with an overview of the specialist classes. Homeroom teachers connected with parents and caregivers via Zoom in the evening. They gave parents a peak into the wonderful learning experience our Beasley friends have every day. They shared plans for fun projects and learning goals in math, language arts, social studies, and more.

The following week, Middle School parents had their turn. The virtual Middle School Parents Night began with a live Zoom session with parents and caregivers connecting with their child’s advisor and other parents in the advisory. Advisors shared plans for grade-level programming and advisory-specific frameworks. From there, parents navigated their children’s Canvas course pages to view recorded curricular video presentations from each of their teachers. The videos included teacher introductions, course overviews, learning goals, and advice for parents on how to best support their children in these unusual times.

Parents Night in the Upper School followed a similar formula. Upper School advisors hosted live Zoom sessions for their advisees’ parents and caregivers, and then parents were able to watch recorded curricular video presentations from each of their students’ teachers in Canvas. The evening was full of great information as teachers shared overviews of curriculum, pedagogy, and what student intellectual engagement in the classroom asks of our students.