Recently, I had the opportunity to join a 2nd grade morning meeting and experience firsthand the intentional ways our teachers create meaningful learning experiences.

The students proudly shared their American Sign Language skills with me. As they demonstrated what they had learned, I found myself thinking back to my graduate work at Hunter College, where my thesis focused on ASL in the typically developing classroom.

Their use of ASL was a wonderful example of multimodal learning, providing students with different ways to learn, communicate, participate, and demonstrate what they know. Learning can happen through spoken language, visual supports, movement, hands-on experiences, writing, and signing.

As a school leader, I value stepping into classrooms and seeing this work in action. From morning meeting to sign language, from conversation to movement, our teachers create experiences that invite students to engage and make meaning in different ways.

These moments remind us that learning is not one size fits all. At Harbor, we know our students well and pay attention to how each child engages, what sparks their curiosity, and the ways they communicate their thinking.

Families see this every day, too. You may notice that your child wants to draw before writing, needs to move while thinking, learns through conversation, or loves to show you rather than tell you what they know. These are all valuable ways children make sense of the world.

When school and home recognize and celebrate these different pathways, we give children a consistent message: there is more than one way to be a learner.

This is at the heart of who we are at Harbor: embracing the uniqueness of each young child and helping students become confident, kind, and capable learners.

When we give students more than one way to learn, we create more opportunities for every child to find their way in.

Warm regards,

Colleen Brown