Anna Kim ’19

Salisbury Summer School, Salisbury, CT

Williams College was the first place I entertained the idea of an education beyond the classroom. Until then, schoolwork began and ended in the classroom; teachers came and went from homes to classrooms to TEACHERS-ONLY offices; library trips were solitary excursions away from the clanging pots and pans of home; group work or team work was almost nonexistent as I rarely met up with peers outside of the school or joined anything remotely athletic. But at Williams, and especially at the Salisbury Summer School, learning happened anywhere and everywhere. Learning was precisely about growing as an individual and team player in the spaces shared with peers and teachers. As a summer school teacher at the Salisbury School this year, I came to witness the power of the incredible bonds that develop between students and teachers in these shared spaces that ultimately constitute an entire culture of education.

Boston weekend trip with nearly 50 Salisbury Summer School students.
Boston weekend trip with nearly 50 Salisbury Summer School students.

Salisbury Summer School is a five-week boarding school program for students entering grades 7-12. It serves to prepare students for various ambitions academically and culturally, which can include: preparing for high school or college, transitioning into American independent/boarding schools, or further enriching overall learning skills. Classes are generally co-taught by teachers from all kinds of backgrounds and levels of expertise. Teaching interns like myself were placed with experienced mentor teachers and typically taught two to three classes every day for all five weeks. I was assigned to teach three courses: Composition for 7th – 8th graders, Creative Writing for 9th – 11th graders, and Critical Reading and Executive Skills [CRES] for ESL students in grades 9-12. In the first few days of the program, I received a brief introduction to the courses, schedules, and roles before immediately preparing to greet students and plan curricula. Classes officially began on July 1st and ended August 3rd, leaving the last day for parent-advisor conferences.

My duties as a summer school teacher were more than just classroom teaching. I was also an advisor to three students, with whom I checked in every Wednesday at advisory lunch. I co-led one of four sports teams, Ocean, twice a week for Champions League tournaments and facilitated a sketching class three times a week during afternoon activities. I also chaperoned students on all three of their weekend, off-campus trips to Newport, R.I.; Six Flags New England; and Boston. As a dorm parent, I supervised daily reading hours, study hall sessions, and evening check-ins. My role as summer school teacher required around-the-clock duties, with the expectation that I be readily available and accountable for the students throughout each highly structured day. Ultimately, I assumed various roles for my students, which trained me to be flexible, efficient, and enduring in spirit, character, and mindset in the classroom, sports field, dormitory, and dining hall.

Students from Salisbury sitting on a beautiful boardwalk extending out on Washinee Lake.
Students from Salisbury sitting on a beautiful boardwalk extending out on Washinee Lake.

As an alumna of the Generation Teach [GT] program in Boston, Mass., I came into Salisbury with the expectation to embody and expect some version of the five core values I learned last summer: Belong, Initiate, Invest, Grow, and Excel. To my surprise, this summer school did not actively enforce core values or visibly commit to clear standards of behavior or character. This was just one example of the creative but sometimes paralyzing freedom given to independent school teachers. Naturally, as one steeped in the tradition of highly ambitious values like those of GT, I noticed an immediate, stark difference between my approach to learning and interacting with students and the ways of my co-workers. At first, being new to the summer program, I spent the first few days uncomfortably observing how distant and aloof the teachers seemed to be from the students, especially during mealtimes. This was foreign to me as someone who was not only encouraged but required to be among students during breakfast and lunch at GT in order for teachers to take advantage of every opportunity to mentor students. Unnerved by what I felt was an unhealthy power imbalance in the ways my co-workers behaved toward students, I decided to sit among the students midway through the first week, and have not regretted my decision since. As such, I experienced an inexplicable joy and profound connection with students from the simplest, most casual interactions as sharing a meal.

From then on, I realized there were many differences in teaching styles between me and other teachers. I especially struggled to work together with my CRES co-teacher particularly because I valued community building and cultivating investment among the students while she preferred accurate and timely instruction of material. In general, it was tricky to maintain an agreeable co-working relationship because of the strong differences in teaching backgrounds and levels of expertise. However there were also many more moments where my co-teacher and I felt like a genuine, supportive partners in the classroom, leading to often fruitful and inspiring classes. I learned much about compromise by working in this team-teaching model, but also about the value of tactful humility in leadership and collaboration.

Anna with her Creative Writing class during the last week of classes.
Anna with her Creative Writing class during the last week of classes.

The significance of sharing spaces not only with teachers but also with students is an undeniable theme at Salisbury. Being around the kids so often and extensively has taught me how to be a responsible and acute role model. I learned also to cultivate in myself and my students the necessary dedication and openness to growth that are expected in educational spaces like Salisbury and Williams. It goes without saying but many students who came to this summer school, let alone most boarding schools, are from privileged backgrounds. So, it was a challenge to push these students to continually challenge themselves, acknowledge areas in which they still needed to grow, and confront the realities of worlds beyond their own. I always question whether I am “privileging the privileged” by working at boarding schools, but I have learned that the needs these boarding school students present are distinctly important and pose unique challenges to be addressed. Salisbury summer school was just a small sample of the larger population of boarding school students who face similar issues of community building, empowerment, vulnerability, and resilience. The learning does not stop no matter who you are or where you come from, for everyone can always be better, even teachers as I came to realize.

With better insight into the inner workings of a boarding school, I will be returning to campus to avidly apply myself to my studies under the lens of teaching my knowledge as skills. Skills that my students could adopt and practice anywhere and still find ways to challenge themselves as part of a lifelong learning investment. Moreover, I plan to officially pursue postgraduate work in independent school teaching for the students are constantly inspiring me to challenge myself and renew my passion for literature and philosophy. I also want to continue experimenting and honing my teaching craft in the curricular freedom unique to independent schools. So it is with tremendous gratitude towards the ’68 Center for Career Exploration for awarding me the Education Internship grant that has deepened my respect for teaching and broadened my horizons for engaging with some of the most memorable and inspiring students I have ever met.