Baker & Bloom is known as a forward-looking organization. We have always emphasized the cultivation of creativity, which is essential to adapting, and imagining new possibilities. Since our first classes in design thinking, entrepreneurship, and creative writing back in 2014, we have been explicitly teaching and perfecting this system of creative learning. Through our comprehensive Four-Leaf approach, we encourage students to take an active role in learning. We inspire and equip students to be involved in their own learning journey by teaching them strategies that help foster that self-management, agency, and resilience through a growth mindset.
In response to Covid-19, our Baker & Bloom teachers have practiced what we preach and proven
that they are adaptable, creative, and resilient themselves. Not only have they risen to the challenge of online teaching but have done so with ingenuity, while maintaining a high standard. We have refined our ability to conduct online coaching and group classes, and even hybrid lessons, where some students are physically present and others participate digitally.
Though we cannot predict, we can prepare. When I became an ISTE-certified educator in January 2019, I learned ways to integrate new pedagogies and technologies into the classroom to enhance students’ thinking, learning, and collaboration. I had no inkling how relevant those lessons would be, but a few months later, this was exactly what we had to do. Adapting to the new online and blended environments has been daunting at times, yet, it has reaffirmed our central belief in the importance of creativity, and a genuine love of learning. This unpredictable situation has prompted us to become learners ourselves, and in doing so, we have all become better teachers.
In these times of uncertainty, our students have relied on our constancy and it has been meaningful to be able to provide familiarity, continuity, and structure. At Baker & Bloom, we strive to be adults who care about them personally, and to be teachers who evolve alongside them, sharing our own discoveries. To our young students, every year is unprecedented; they teach us to remain hopeful about the future, to accept changes, and trust in our innate power to grow.
Renée Boey
Founder of Baker & Bloom
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