Connected at Brookwood - October 2, 2026

What Becomes More Important

Welcome back! I'm looking forward to picking this column back up and continuing the conversation with you this year.

If you were at Back to School Night last week, you heard Jon talk about rigor. He started with a memory from 1994, his first year teaching history at Brookwood, when he got his very first work email account. Schools back then were asking whether typing should become a skill for every child, and what it would mean for kids to have the internet at their fingertips. Thirty years later, he said, we're standing at another one of those moments.

What stayed with me was where he went next. In this moment, he said, what has struck him most is how much of what Brookwood has long believed has suddenly become more obviously essential.

He pointed to The New Face of Rigor, written more than twenty years ago by Barb Liston. It argued that memorizing facts could no longer be enough, and that students would need to manage an avalanche of information: access it, evaluate it, and apply it as circumstances change. It was written before the iPhone, before social media, and before generative AI, and it reads as though it could have been written for this school year.

Then Jon asked the question I keep coming back to:

"What capacities become more important as the tools become more powerful?"

That question sits at the center of how we think about technology here. Our Technology at Brookwood statement puts it this way: "AI has changed what technology can do. The human brain still develops the same way it always has." The tools are new. The way children build attention, judgment, and understanding is the same as it's always been. So our work is to make sure technology earns its place in a child's day, and to protect the experiences that build what Jon called durable skills: evaluating what you encounter, communicating clearly, listening well enough to change your mind, and persisting when something is hard.

Jon also returned to an idea from Barb that I think about often in my own work: how children feel determines in large measure whether children learn. In the IDEA Lab and in changemaking, students are constantly building things that don't work the first time. They keep trying because they feel safe enough to fail in front of each other. As Jon put it, "A child who feels known is more willing to risk not knowing." I think that matters even more now that a chatbot is always ready with a confident answer. Being willing to stay with not knowing, and work through it, is one of the most valuable things a child can practice.

Brookwood turns seventy this year. Jon closed by saying, "We are the adults standing at this particular threshold." I find that hopeful. Over the coming weeks, I'll use this space to share what we're learning, what the research says, and practical ways to support your child at home. First, a little nuts and bolts.

Nuts & Bolts: Getting to Google Classroom

Several families have asked how to find Google Classroom at home, so here's the short version. Google Classroom is part of Google Workspace, which means there's nothing to download or install. It works in any web browser on any internet-connected computer.

1. Open a web browser and go to classroom.google.com.
2. Your child signs in with their Brookwood account (it ends in @s.brookwood.edu).
3. Once they're signed in, they'll see a card for each class they're enrolled in. Clicking a class shows its announcements, assignments, and materials.
4. The To-do page in the menu on the left collects assignments from every class in one place, which is a good starting point.

One snag we see often: if the browser is already signed into a parent's Google account, Classroom may open with that account instead. If your child doesn't see their classes, check the account icon in the top right corner and switch to their Brookwood account.

And a quick reminder for students: an assignment isn't submitted until they click "Turn in."

Need Tech Help? If you have questions about technology at home, email [email protected], and our team will get back to you during the school day. I'd also love to hear what would help: topics you'd like to see in this column, or ways Brookwood could better support families.

David Saunders
Director of Changemaking, Leadership, & Technology