Can you introduce yourself and your professional background?
I’m Marc Gladstone, and I’m the Lead Learning Specialist in the Upper School. I have been an educator in mostly K-12 independent schools for over 30 years. Prior to embarking on my career in education, I briefly worked in banking and finance, after majoring in business at Skidmore College. During this time, I started coaching children in sports – which helped further my interest to change careers and move into education. I moved to New York City and started teaching at a small school that was its infancy. At that time, it was the only middle and high school that focused on teaching students with learning disabilities. I loved this teaching experience, where I was mentored by inspirational and talented teachers. During my time at Winston Prep, I earned my Master’s in Special Education from Hunter College, with a focus on learning disorders. Soon thereafter, I moved to teaching at larger schools independent schools, and a focus on supporting a more diverse range of student learners with and without learning differences. As we know, one of the many benefits of teaching in independent schools is the opportunity to delve into and initiate programs that meet the needs of all students. At Columbia Grammar and Preparatory School, I helped initiate their first Peer Mentoring Program. At the Dalton School, I was their first Director of Service Learning and Peer Tutoring coordinator. After leading these programs while continuing my work as a learning specialist, I was brought on to be the first Director of Learning Support at the Berkeley Carroll School; and years later, I went to the Trinity School as their first Director of Learning Support. One thing that I’m most proud of, is that the programs I initiated are still vibrant and effective programs today. I also was an Educational Specialist at the Child Mind Institute, but I missed working within the life of a school, and came to D-E in 2017 as Lead Learning Specialist.
What are your primary responsibilities? And what does an average day look like?
One of the most satisfying things about my position and that I enjoy most, is that every day can be a different day; meeting new students and collaborating with our talented faculty. I have the opportunity to work with our students in one-on-one settings with the charge to help them reach their learning goals and build their toolkit of study strategies. I firmly believe teaching is one of the most challenging of professions – to teach an often wide range of student learners with different learning profiles of strengths and areas of vulnerability. Teachers need to be both talented and nimble to be effective – so the communication and collaboration we have with faculty is so important to our work in helping students feel successful and be their best selves. The conversations we have with parents is also a critical part to our supporting students. Whether we’re reviewing a student’s educational evaluation or listening to a parent about their child’s school history and what they observe at home – this all helps us best support the student. In a nutshell, our work is all about supporting student learning.
Let’s say you have a 9th Grade (Freshman) student, whom you realize needs a more robust learning profile. What is the process to give them more support?
We typically do hear from the teachers and parents of 9th Grade students, as this can be a big transition year for some. Sometimes students are referred to work with us by their teachers or advisor. Some students seek us out on their own. One of the special things about our Learning Center is that we are available to all students. Again, our work is mostly one-on-one, and we often review with students the best strategies for studying and how to approach their school work effectively. A lot of students think that the more time they spend studying, the better they will learn, and that this will produce better outcomes. However, many studies show that there are much better benefits to studying effectively, and not necessarily more.
Our Student Support Team (SST) consists of our learning specialists, school psychologists and Deans. If parents have some concern about their child’s learning, they can reach out to anyone on the team to let us know what challenges they see their child having. Together with David Wallin, our other upper school Learning Specialist, we work with the students over time to develop a plan and to establish goals. Learning is not a one-size-fits-all, so we individualize plans to best serve each student. Our overarching goal is help build a student’s metacognition. We want students to be aware of their learning process, and what strategies work best for them. And again, it’s important to come back to that idea of building a ‘toolkit’ of strategies for students, so that when they are studying on their own, or they come across a challenging assignment or project, they can utilize a strategy that works best for them.
How have your practices changed with new research and the times?
This is another fascinating aspect of my work as a learning specialist. There is always new research on neuroscience and best teaching and learning practices. I keep current by attending educational conferences and communicating with peers from other schools. I especially like the Learning and the Brain Conferences, which are held three times a year. I have also presented at a number of conferences, most recently at the Learning Disabilities Association conference on the topic of Neurodiversity and Creating a School Culture of Belonging. As I mentioned earlier, I have been in the field for over 30 years, so when I started, the term neurodiversity wasn’t used. The term was coined in the ‘90’s by Judy Signer, an Australian scholar on autism. It is now a widely used and known construct that helps us better understand all student (and adult) learners. At D-E, I have seen our faculty, and parent body grow in their understanding of neurodiversity and it’s relevance to our work as educators and adults in the life of young people. We currently have a Neurodivergent Affinity Group for students, and I see this group as an important part of our school’s DEIB work and mission. There is definitely a greater awareness and understanding of neurodiversity. Every school, every work environment, and every community is neurodiverse. In the same way biodiversity helps our environment flourish, an appreciation for neurodiversity will help our learning institutions grow in understanding and acceptance. Historically, many students have felt marginalized or have felt like they’ve had to “mask” their true selves in school settings. It can be challenging to learn when one is feeling discomfort. An important property of neurodiversity is the fact that groups of people with different perspectives, working together collaboratively, can achieve amazing things. And I’m not just saying that each individual person brings strengths – it is that the variety of perspectives that a neurodiverse group brings is in itself a strength.
How would you like to expand the work of the Learning Center and SST?
Three things come to mind when I think about how we can expand our work as learning specialists. First, as I mentioned earlier, I think we can continue to further incorporate neurodiversity in our DEIB mission and work. Second, I’d like to see us grow as a department that allows for further integration and collaboration with the other school departments, and across all three divisions. Lastly, I think we can expand our efforts into the broader topic of teaching and learning. As learning specialists, we have a deep knowledge as to how students learn best, and being able to collaborate further with our classroom teachers, department chairs and school leadership team can only enhance our school and produce optimal student learning experiences.
