Two weeks after MFS announced that Intensive Learning will be moved to June, MFS WordsWorth sat down with Upper School Director Noah Rachlin and Middle School Director Evan Haine-Roberts. During the interview they talked about the reasons they made the move and some of the specific programs that will be offered. The following is a transcript of the interview, edited for clarity. 

MFS WordsWorth: Thank you for being with us. So, we’ll just dive in. The first question is for you, Mr. Rachlin, and that is about the intention behind moving Intensive Learning. Was the move made due to the fact that a large portion of Upper School students could be vaccinated in June, or was it just because COVID-19 rates are projected to be lower by then? Or was it some other reason? 

Noah Rachlin: We honestly weren’t thinking as much about vaccines for students. That is not something that we’re likely to see any time soon. And so, in that sense, it may not have been very different from if we did it earlier in the year. We made the move more to figure out an opportunity where we thought we could provide the highest quality experience for students. We recognized that, especially as we were going through the late fall and early winter, which even then is really too late to be planning a lot of these experiences and activities, that we weren’t quite sure what circumstances were going to look like in March. And so, it was going to be really challenging to also, while we were managing everything else in the Fall, plan Intensive Learning. So, we had to manage all the planning for a situation that we weren’t quite sure of and that was going to be really difficult. So, it felt as though moving it made the most sense. It gave us the most time and space. We felt like if we were going to move it, that there was this really nice opportunity in that last week of the year to do something that is not going to be the Intensive Learning in the way that so many people in the community know, but hopefully, something that is still a really rewarding, engaging and enjoyable experience for everybody in the community.

WW: This question is for both of you. Will there be a slight difference between Upper School Intensive Learning and Middle School Intensive Learning and how so? 

Evan Haine-Roberts: I can speak to what the Middle School structure will be. So far, one of the challenges we have is altering the Intensive Learning program that has been the work of dozens, if not hundreds, of different faculty members over the years. One of the things that’s happening right now is we’re trying to fine-tune the program, so it can be something that’s close to the level of previous years. We want to recreate the same quality experience that has those celebrations and traditions from the end of the year as well. Things are flexible, but the Middle School program is going to resemble Middle School Intensive Learning from years past. It’s going to be more focused on grade-wide experiences. There will be options of bonding experiences or focused activities that are a little bit non-academic or less classroom-like in the way that they look and feel. And so, that’s going to look a few different ways. Every grade level is thinking about a kind of environmental focus that will anchor the experience. They all will look a little different, whether it’s learning about sustainable food sources, farms in the area, or doing orienteering in terms of naturalist maps for campus, or imagining a global challenge project or a quest project. This has been in seventh grade for a while, but now it might be moved towards the Intensive Learning week, or at least a portion of it. So, in summary, the Middle School experience is going to be more grade-wide because that’s what I think Middle Schoolers really appreciate. They enjoy that bonding experience at the full level and a mixture of fun and celebration and special activities, as well as something that’s a little bit more interdisciplinary, environmental, thoughtful, and can bring in some different sources so that we can have a rounded experience. 

NR: In the Upper School, we’re not going to be as grade-based. It’ll be more of sort of a cohort-based experience that I think will echo what students are more familiar with, as it relates to the traditional Intensive Learning experience. The exception, however, is that for the seniors, we’re thinking about an experience that really hopefully blends some wonderful aspects of Intensive Learning with the Senior week experiences that they traditionally have in that final week of the school year. It’s mainly about balancing sort of an Intensive Learning type experience with some events, traditions, and activities that we can come together to end what has been a truly remarkable, unique, and challenging year. I say this as someone who has not experienced anything of these events before, so I don’t really have a frame of reference. But, as I think about it and think about what I hear from members of the community, this year’s experience is not going to be the traditional Intensive Learning experience. It’s also not going to be a normal Spirit Week. But, hopefully, it’ll still have a combination of all the best elements of traditional Intensive Learning and Spirit Week within the context of the pandemic. 

WW: You said that Upper School Intensive Learning will be cohort-based. Did you mean like at-home students and at-school students, or last name structured cohorts? What did you mean by cohorts exactly? 

NR: I meant like students would have the opportunity to pick from a range of experiences that are led by a single adult or a pair or a small group. It is kind of the way, to my understanding, that folks have chosen trips or activities in the past. You can choose different things that are overseen by different adults. It’ll be a similar structure to that.

WW: What about at-home students? Will there be something implemented for at-home students at this time? 

EH-R: So, I think we’re imagining portions of the Intensive Learning week to be things that are pretty accessible to at-home students to a certain extent. Some of the experiences that are more connected to academic content or research or learning will be more accessible to at-home folks, whereas some of those celebratory events on campus and outside might be trickier. In the Middle School, that’s one of the things that will take these next few months to think about and try to get a good plan for. These next few months give us the opportunity to pick and choose which places are most difficult for at-home students, and we can select specializing faculty to work with at-home students so that they’re getting a quality Intensive Learning experience. We also have great remote learning support coordinators, Ms. Clarkson and Ms. Tate, who are going to help us sort that out.

NR: Yeah, in the Upper School, this is very much something that we’re still figuring out and that we’re committed to figuring out in the weeks and months to come. We’re actually thinking about it less as a sort of at-school and at-home divide. We are more invested in the setup for both virtual and in-person experiences. We have the hope that there might be some experiences that lend themselves really well to a thoughtful, robust, enjoyable virtual experience. There are other programs in which it will be really important to be in-person. We are going to signal to students which of the experiences are in-person experiences and which are virtual experiences and then allow them to potentially opt-in.

WW: The last part, and no shade here at all, is that there has been some feedback from some students and teachers about moving Intensive Learning and opening up the week before Spring Break for the first week of the fourth quarter. A lot of times, teachers use Spring Break as a time to transition between units. However, now that the fourth quarter started before break, they didn’t have this opportunity. So, was this something that was brought into consideration when making this decision?

NR: I’ll take the lead here because I think that the Upper School is perhaps most responsible for this. Ultimately, a huge part of the decision rests on the fact that because of Senior Projects and that the fourth quarter is already made quite short, for seniors, if we were to start the fourth quarter after Spring Break, they would only have three weeks of classes. So by having this week, what we do is we get half of the quarter before the seniors leave. That was a real driving factor in the decision. Also, it doesn’t necessarily make sense, especially from a scheduling and a management perspective, to have a week-difference between different dimensions of the school. But like I said, one of the biggest parts of it was prioritizing the senior experience, which is a truly special experience, especially this year when some of those traditions and things have not been as successful. That is to say that teachers are, by their nature, really flexible and creative people. We have a big Winter Break in the middle of one quarter; we’ve got a President’s Day Weekend in the middle of another. It’s certainly not ideal. We would love things to stop and start exactly, you know. But I think this was the best decision possible for the current circumstances. 

WW: Thank you both for your time.