On October 23rd, our Superintendent of Schools, Dr. Matthew Haas, served as a substitute for Tyler Croson, one of our 4th/5th grade teachers. This was a special treat for our students and school!
Every Friday throughout the school year, Dr. Haas, sends an email check-in to all 2,647 of our school division employees, as well as our school board and board of supervisors members. Dr. Haas uses these check-ins to keep us connected as a community of learners. In each check-in, he shares about his weekly visits to schools and his interactions with educators, support staff, and students.
One of Dr. Haas’s recent check-ins focused on his day at Red Hill Elementary School. I thought I would share the following excerpt with you:
I didn’t get out to a school on Monday because I was at the Virginia Association of School Superintendents fall conference; however, I had a great experience substitute teaching for fifth-grade teacher Tyler Croson on Wednesday at Red Hill Elementary School.
To my surprise, fifth graders are a lot like high school students, and I thoroughly enjoyed my day. I think that Tyler and her partner Veronica Brennan are very strong teachers, and the students fell into routines that are built around the four Cs: communication, collaboration, creativity, and critical thinking. We had fun reading together, and I was impressed with students’ writing and story-telling skills. And when I forgot how to calculate the area of a triangle, students showed me how and explained why we use one-half the base. (It’s half of a rectangle, Mr. Matt!)
What a great compliment to our terrific staff and students!