Welcome to the Club

Alissa Picard ’24 solves math equations on a whiteboard.

Adjusting the curriculum

Forman has had an academic block system in place for years. Students took eight classes (or blocks A B C D E F G H) per semester. Under that system, if a child took ill, the chance of contact with other people was quite large. So Forman made the decision to go to a system based on four modules within four terms. Instead of semester long classes, students took four, three-week “mods” to constitute a term. The four terms replaced one semester. This approach greatly reduced contact with other people for each student, going from eight classes to four mods.

The mod and term system also had several natural breaks and pauses. If Forman had needed to go fully remote for a term, a three-week term was easier to wrap up quickly than a three-and-a-half-month class would be.

“The ebb and flow is much more manageable, and much less disruptive, with mods as opposed to a long semester,” says Man. “We didn’t have to do it as it turns out but we were ready if we had to go remote briefly and then bring kids back.” Only the World Languages and Math Departments did not go to a mod system as their curriculum builds on prior learning and continuity is important.

Another advantage of the mod system was in the variety of courses offered. In English, for example, instead of taking one semester-long class, students chose four mods. “Devising so many new classes over the summer was a great exercise for our faculty,” says Francey Fenton, Dean of Faculty. “I was proud of them as they stepped up and offered a tremendous variety for our students. They took chances and so did the students. But with a three-week mod, you can do that. If you don’t like the class, it’s only three weeks. But if you like the class, you’ve found a new teacher you like and you’ll see what else he or she is teaching in the future.”

Fenton notes that 2020 was a remarkable year with the pandemic, social protests, and a presidential election. Those current events affected some of the class offerings.

“Several students told me that picking classes this year was like looking at a college catalog. They were excited. I know we will be able to expand on these offerings, and what we’ve learned about ourselves, in the future.”

—FRANCEY FENTON, Dean of Faculty

Students chose from a wide range of classes, such as Perspectives on Protest, Coming Home: Stories about Vietnam Veterans, The Art of Conversation, You Are What You Wear: Fashion and Politics.

“We offered a very popular Personal Finance class, African Empires, Latin American Independence Movements, Queer Histories and Archives, Social Media and Ethics,” says Fenton. “And this spring, we will have 41 different mods in the Arts alone.”

“Several students told me that picking classes this year was like looking at a college catalog,” says Fenton. “They were excited. I know we will be able to expand on these offerings, and what we’ve learned about ourselves, in the future.”

Adam Man will tell you he’s never had a semester quite like the fall of 2020. But he is proud of how the entire Forman community came together and triumphed over a formidable pandemic and delivered the Forman experience to students in-person. That semester had many lessons and none more striking than the wisdom of valuing some things you may have overlooked a little in the past.

“I’m used to greeting our community personally before assemblies. I shake everyone’s hand as they walk in,” says Man. “It’s a small thing but it’s also a nice thing. That ritual had an impact on the community, just as important as all of us sitting together in one room, twice a week.

When we can gather together again in-person for an assembly, I certainly will not take it for granted.”

English Teacher Graham Paine with his dog, Indie