The end of a school year is an odd mixture of emotions: joy for making it to the end, wistfulness over saying good-bye to students whom we’ve come to know well over the past year, and excitement for the next year. Contrary to popular myth, teachers do not hibernate in the summer. Teachers very often spend July and August preparing for the next school year.

After spending 180 days with students, it is sad to see them go. The feeling is even more intense when they graduate. We spend all year building a little family in our classrooms. The end of the year is bittersweet for both students and teachers.

Omni fine initium novum or as Semisonic sang: every new beginning comes from some other beginning’s end. At the end of the current school year, teachers are informed of their “program” (what they will be teaching) for the next school year.

I am being switched from 9th grade to 10th grade. I am quite excited about this change because I shall have many of my current students again next year. (I did not tell them because I want it to be a surprise in September, but I guess they shall know now.)

In education jargon, teaching the same students in consecutive years is called looping. In many suburban schools the lone Latin teacher loops by default. In Boston I would like to see looping deliberately planned into the culture of the district. Teachers and students usually spend the first month of school getting to know each other. Imagine if we could all hit the ground running?

In my career this has only happened once. It was not planned but it just happened that one year I taught what we call sophomore “Bzie” class. (Students who enter Latin Academy in the 7th grade are on the A track of requirements, those entering in the 9th grade follow the B track of requirements.) That year, SY 06-07, I taught the only class of 10B students. The next year I had them in 11B. All the exact same students. On the first day of school I passed back their final exams from the previous year and said “Now, let’s go over what went right and what went wrong.”  There was a collective groan from my students.

Fast forward two decades and I am still in touch with most of those students. We all got to know one another quite well. We all benefitted from the looped year.

Looping is not a panacea but it could help eliminate a nagging problem facing BPS secondary schools: a sense of belonging. According to recent Panorama surveys, students – especially in secondary schools – report feeling disconnected from their learning.

“Only 40% of secondary students reported a sense of belonging in their school communities. Particularly, 35% of secondary students responded favorably when asked if they feel connected to adults at their school.” (Boston Public Schools survey results SY 2023-2024)

Looping could give students a stronger connection either to the specific teacher or to the school itself. I liken looping to a child having the same pediatrician or dentist year after year. A doctor’s visit can be scary for some children, but if they know and trust their doctor, then things usually go better.

Unlike in elementary school, students in middle and high school often have up to seven different teachers each year. By looping, we can reduce that number, thus making learning more personalized. Each year it takes me weeks (maybe months) to get to know all of my 150 students. By looping I would thus be that many weeks (or months) ahead in instruction.

However, I’d give the students and families the right either to opt out of a looping situation or to switch to a different loop. If I’m being honest, I think I do a great job teaching my students; but if a student does not benefit from my approach and should prefer another teacher’s practice, then let the child switch.

Looping would mean that June is not necessarily the end, merely a break in our continued work. After this year of focusing on Caesar and Ovid, I am eager to start preparing for Cicero and Virgil. I hope my students are eager too; I cannot wait to find out.

(Michael Maguire teaches Latin and Ancient Greek at Boston Latin Academy during the regular school year. This summer he shall teach math and STEM at the Exam School Initiative to rising 8th graders.)

Boston Latin Academy. (Nancy Lane/Boston Herald)