Crane Country Day School’s Flexible Approach

Crane Country Day School's Flexible Approach, originally published in Santa Barbara Independent on November 19, 2020.

Crane Country Day School’s Flexible Approach, originally published in Santa Barbara Independent on November 19, 2020.

Montecito Campus Embraces Its Outdoor Superpowers

Being a school administrator has always required balancing the needs of families, staff, and students. But in 2020, it’s more like being a tightrope walker. Very early on in the pandemic, Crane Country Day School’s head of school and chief plate spinner, Joel Weiss,
decided that a dual approach (online and on-campus) would make the most sense for his families — if, of course, there was any way of pulling it off.

“For us, it was trying to be honest but also respectful to the situations that every family really is unique,” said Weiss. “There are new rules every two weeks, and it’s just constantly changing. So having that two-pronged approach, though it’s exhausting to implement, at the same time it’s a really flexible approach.”

Crane’s back-to-school plan organized each grade into smaller groups for less exposure. For example, the 3rd grade has 22 students: 18 on-campus students are split into two cohorts of nine, each with their own teacher and dedicated indoor and outdoor spaces. The other four online students also have their own teacher, who is physically with one of the two cohorts, making sure that they still have a social connection with their
classmates, and doing much of the same work.

That ability to use the outdoor classes is what Weiss described as “Crane’s superpower
that we wanted to maximize. That’s our strong suit.” Crane has always been an indoor/outdoor school, and Weiss worked closely over the summer with Director of Development Debbie Williams, who took the lead on designating and constructing 23
unique outdoor learning spaces. With names like Pythagorean Patio, Morning Meadow, and Laureates’ Landing, they are distributed across Crane’s 12-acre campus.

“Part of it was training ourselves to see teaching spaces where maybe prior you saw utility spaces and nature spaces,” said Weiss. Each grade now has at least two indoor spaces and outdoor spaces with fun layouts designed to deliver the education program in a physically distanced, safe manner. It even lets the kids relax a little.

“We have just dumped eight buckets of rules on these kids,” said Weiss. “Kids used to be kids. They were given freedom to be wacky, and now it’s like, ‘Don’t walk here; walk there; don’t touch your face; put the mask on; stay six feet away,’ and on and on and on. So much effort is going into maintaining systems for safety that the outdoors is a little bit of a chill time. We’re trying to introduce a fun factor to all of this that feels kid-centered and lighthearted.”

SB Independent Cover, Schools of Thought, November 19, 2020.

SB Independent Cover, Schools of Thought, November 19, 2020.

Originally published in the Santa Barbara Independent on November 19, 2020. To read the section as it appeared in print, please click here.

 

The Joy of Experiential Learning at Crane School

Stephanie Bagish’s 4th Graders Make California History Come Alive

Crane School, From Schools of Thought, Santa Barbara Independent, November 7, 2019.

Crane School, From Schools of Thought, Santa Barbara Independent, November 7, 2019.

Each day, I witness something astonishing — highly experiential learning that ignites curiosity and joy in our students,” writes Crane Country Day School headmaster Joel Weiss in his letter that welcomes families to the school. “It is called many things — learning by doing, experiential education, hands-on experiences — but it always actively engages the students in the learning process.” 

Take Stephanie Bagish’s 4th-grade class, which focuses on using simulations to bring California history alive. The students take on the roles of historical figures, and their activities — from debating ethical dilemmas to cooking biscuits over a campfire — teach them about the hardships and triumphs of life in early California. 

“Students work in collaborative groups to solve dilemmas, create blueprints, make food of the era, play games, and sing songs, all in order to gain a deeper and more realistic sense of California’s rich history,” explained Bagish. “By approaching history this way, it completely engages the students, encourages their curiosity, and frames the past in a way that makes it relevant and real.” 

Students were tasked with designing a hypothetical 22nd mission for California. “They had to identify a location in Alta California that would provide a sustainable environment, and each group had to design and draw architectural blueprints of their proposed mission,” said Bagish. 

They also delved into the fur trade. Students were grouped into “trapping parties” that looked at the economics, ecology, folk tales, and survival skills during these early days in American history. They took on the persona of mountain folk and read, cooked, calculated, dressed, wrote, sang, and hiked to really experience life during that time. 

“One aspect of our studies involves presenting the children with a series of dire dilemmas that pose ethical and material conundrums which force their trapping party to debate possible choices and make decisions,” said Bagish. “They must consider the pros and cons of their choices and then justify their decisions.” It’s hands-on fun, too: The students learned about food preservation and made their own batches of beef jerky. 

Every teacher at Crane embraces experiential learning, as it is considered a core value of the school. Math, for instance, gets incorporated into gold rush history. “Students must calculate the expense of equipment they must purchase before setting out to the goldfields of California,” said Bagish. “They must also do a cost-benefit analysis when selecting one of three routes that will get them from the East Coast to California in 1849.” 

And it seems that the students simply learn more this way. “Studies have shown when students are physically engaged and allowed to construct, touch, taste, and see real objects and food, then lessons are more deeply internalized,” said Bagish, believing that experiential learning honors the strengths of each student. “Many former students have returned years later and shared vivid memories of being an active participant in our simulations.” 

Click here to read this story as it originally appeared in the Santa Barbara Independent on November 7, 2019. SB Independent Schools of Thought Insert 11.7.19