Making Remote Teaching Relational: Building Empathy Online with Claire Goldsmith

“[Teachers] have an advantage in having been 3/4 of the school year already in person with your students.  You will be able to make the switch to online in a beautiful and seamless way because there is already a shared history and a deep relationship there.”

This episode, with Claire Goldsmith, Executive Director, Malone Schools Online Network, centers on how building a remote classroom community can provide unforeseen gains in empathy, collaboration, and connection.

Claire is the executive director of the Malone Schools Online Network (MSON), a consortium of independent schools across the U.S. collaborating to offer real-time online courses that enhance the existing curriculum of each member school.

Claire helped to develop MSON while at Stanford Online High School (CA), where she served most recently as director of admission and external relations. During her five-year tenure there, she oversaw year-over-year growth in enrollment; managed financial aid, student recruitment, and school collaborations; taught history; and served as the liaison to the Malone Family Foundation for the school’s $5 million scholarship endowment.

For four years, Claire taught English and French and coached debate at the Harvard-Westlake School (CA). Claire is a member of the Board of Trustees of the Winsor School (MA), her alma mater, and the Institute for Educational Advancement’s Caroline D. Bradley Scholarship Committee.

She holds an AB from Harvard College in history and literature as well as a master’s degree in policy, organization, and leadership studies from the Stanford University School of Education. She completed graduate work on a Harvard fellowship at the Ecole Normale Supérieure in Paris and was a fellow with Education Pioneers.