Curricular Alignment & Growth
October 2019
INSIDE ATRIUM Dear Atrium families, As a young 6th grade teacher in the early 1990s, I found myself in conversation one afternoon with a considerably more seasoned faculty member. It was winter in southern California, and we sat at an outdoor table, deep in shared thought about our school’s curriculum. Carolina, my colleague and mentor, was helping me to see the power of curricular choices for shaping not just students’ knowledge, but their understanding of the world. What you teach, she said, has the power to shape a child’s perspective and inspire transformation. Carolina paused, and then declared that “curriculum isn’t just what you choose to teach—it’s everything that happens at school. We have to be intentional about everything that happens at school.” It was exhilarating and meaningful to hear this; Carolina’s words affirmed a nascent feeling I hadn’t yet named. But to be honest, I didn’t yet understand just how true her words are. I wasn’t yet aware that a child’s schooling could be so deep, so all-encompassing, so important. Though inspiring, it was daunting at the time to consider how much responsibility that gave me as a young teacher. At Atrium, we relish that responsibility. I am very proud, alongside Atrium colleagues, to share in the wonderful opportunity to help transform children through a curriculum of “everything that happens at school.”
Atrium’s curriculum is in the challenging academic material we teach and it is in the nuanced way we teach it. Our curriculum is in the kindness and compassion that we encourage to course through each spontaneous human interaction in the hallways. Our curriculum is in the drive for equity and justice that shapes each student’s perspective and actions. Our curriculum is in the school culture that grows stronger with each family’s presence here. Our curriculum is in the prevailing joy at Atrium that, as one parent wrote recently, makes kids “so happy they can’t wait to get to school every day.” As purposeful as we are about everything that happens at Atrium, we continue to grow and improve as a school. Our Board-approved and newly-launched Strategic Plan calls us to become even more thoughtful and intentional about curriculum. This edition of Inside Atrium documents many of the ways we do this. In these pages, you’ll learn how we align and document program grade-by-grade to grow the cumulative power of an Atrium education.You’ll read about how teacher professional development leads to shared faculty vision and greater cohesion in curriculum. And, you’ll see how preserving emergent curriculum ensures that unexpected learning opportunities turn into powerful, durable lessons that affirm the importance of children’s ideas. Warmly,
Marshall