Coming Fall 2018!
Boston Roundtable is excited to announce the launch of our new Learning Center in the Hadley-Amherst area of Western Massachusetts, currently scheduled for a Fall 2018 start! We are busy at work designing programs, setting up space, and sourcing input from local families, but are excited to share details about the center very soon.
In the meantime, we are currently seeking professionals with backgrounds in teaching, marketing, and educational administration to help give local students the quality of education they deserve! Please click here if you're interested! |
Frequently Asked Questions:
Is the center Only going to be for international students?
No! Unlike our traveling camps, this center will not be geared exclusively towards international students. All local students are welcome to enroll! What will the name of the center be?
We are brainstorming and revising name ideas for the center every day, and are hoping to create one that best represents the center's initiative to provide quality coursework rooted in computational thinking. What will the average class size be?
Our curriculum prioritizes small student-teacher ratios and are intended for classrooms of about six students. What will the center's hours look like?
Our primary hours will be after school from 4-7pm, with some weekend courses offered as well. How can I enroll?
We will be launching a separate website for the tutoring center in the coming months - stay tuned! |
Why a Learning Center?
When it comes to the specific topics your child has interest in within their broader academic courses - such as creative writing within the English sphere, robotics within the STEM sphere - it is important to establish a consistent relationship with their greatest interests. Educational research finds that the dosage of content plays a critical role in a developing mind's understanding and comprehension of a given subject. This means reinforcement and regularly-scheduled intervals of content exposure have a far greater impact on a student's learning than unstructured learning or a one-time demonstration.
Boston Roundtable created our learning center to act as that regularly-scheduled exposure point. If a child's particular interest is a one-time stop in a broader curriculum, our center can be the space where they revisit and expand on that interest throughout the school year. Our teachers are locally-sourced professionals, and our curriculum is designed to function at a low teacher-student ratio that allows for substantial one-on-one time between teacher and student. Our programs run as semester programs that build upon each other, and our Lego Robotics classes are non-competitive, meaning they will not cease to meet if they lose a competition. Consistency and passion are important for bolstering your child's interests, and Boston Roundtable strives to be the meeting place for those two components of learning and much more. |
What Does the Process Look Like?
Across Spring of 2018, we were busy setting the groundwork for the center. Our first step was to analyze the services currently available to valley-area students and determine where a possible gap in their afterschool opportunities might be. Next, we conducted research by disseminating a survey to local parents and students to assess their interests, as well as the locations and times that worked best for them. We kept these answers in mind as we picked a location and began our renovation plans.
Our curriculums were designed by local teachers and professionals in the area with an emphasis on computational thinking and collaborative effort between both students and teachers. They are also designed to incorporate new technology not for technology's sake, but to understand how it can influence the subjects children are interested in too. These curriculums too will be amended and reconfigured each year following parent and student feedback to ensure the optimal experience for young learners. As our plans continue to kick into gear, we will also begin a blog documenting the center's progress as we prepare it to be ready for our students and teachers, as well as reach out personally to families and organizations in the area! We hope to see you there in the Fall! |