April 17, 2020

Message from the Head of School

On Connection

I saw Liam today. It made me smile. He was just taking a drive in his pickup truck, his hat on backwards as usual, and when he saw me we chatted about his family and mine. Liam was one of the first students I got to know at Lincoln. While our first interaction ended with something like, ”I don’t think so man,” there is one thing I have grown to appreciate about Liam and our relationship: he knows how to connect.

Connection is what I miss most right now. Seeing the glimmer in Liam’s eye from my safe 6-foot distance reminded me how much I miss those moments with students, how much a simple expression provides an incredible amount of information and comfort in a nanosecond. This is the hardest part of teaching right now. I’ve never met a successful teacher who doesn’t love teenagers. They may pull their hair out, lose sleep, and get eternally frustrated, but people who thrive in education love the energy–in all forms–that comes from connecting with students.

Teaching is more Art than Science. Even for me, an electrical engineer by training, there is a state between 1 and 0, between on and off, the gray between black and white that makes all the difference in teaching and learning. This is where connection matters. Watching a master teacher weave this into a lesson is a beautiful thing to behold. As I head into the April “staycation” next week, I know I need to improve my teaching in this new medium for the next 4-week push. I know I need to hear the feedback from students and parents and try to find a way to restore that connection, even from a distance.

There is still so much that we don’t know at this point, about how our efforts to flatten the COVID-19 curve will affect this generation of students and teachers–will affect all of us, for that matter. At Lincoln Academy we do know that we will finish structured virtual classes by Memorial Day, and that we are amending our methods as we learn more about what works and what doesn’t.

Einstein once said, “a person first starts to live when he can live outside of himself.” In these challenging moments I have found certainty that every day is a new day to contribute to and participate in a community–even when that participation is mostly virtual. I hope you all find time over this break to re-energize and reconnect, and that you will find courage in each new morning to bring your best to the day and those around you.

Jeffrey S. Burroughs
Head of School