Student Engagement
Student Leadership
We have implemented a new student leadership model this year and it is working really well. We started planning the new model over a year ago. Our Head Boy and Head Girl, Dan Martin and Maddie Dalkie, met with Jane and me on a number of occasions to figure out what the student leadership model might look like. Once we had some ideas, Dan and Maddie met with students in each grade and got input from them; Jane carried out a similar session with the staff. Eventually, a model that combined two student reps from each grade and one from each club was the agreed upon choice. We also created a teacher-adviser role to support the new leadership council initiative.
The full council meets once every two weeks. Jane and I meet with this year’s Head Boy and Girl, Dan Blumberg and Emily Jarrett meet every Friday. Dan and Emily provide us with an update from the council meeting and then we discuss any issues that have been raised by the council. Most recently, students have been working with our Cafe Manager, Julie Trudeau to better understand some of the changes that have taken place in the Cafe and to share suggestions as to how Cafe service could be improved. The council also takes a lead role on organizing our Spirit Days and community fundraisers.
Overall, the work of the student leadership council is helping ensure that Greenwood truly is a student-centered school.
Learning Beyond the Classroom
We take great pride at Greenwood in knowing that our students engage in learning beyond the classroom. A quick look at our November calendar is evidence of this belief.
Our Grade 11 American History students returned today from a four-day trip to Boston, where they had the opportunity to visit some of the important sites they have studied in their course. Fifteen members of our Model UN club returned yesterday from the Secondary Schools United Nations Symposium that was hosted by McGill University. Our students had the opportunity to explore global issues with over 1000 students from around the world.
While these two outings take place over several days, many other examples of this type happen within the school day. Earlier this month our Grade 7 students visited Saint-Marie among the Hurons as part of their study of Canada’s Native Peoples. Our Grade 9 science students took part in simulated return to the moon and voyage to Mars scenarios. Students studying French beyond Grade 9 eat lunch at a local French restaurant as a way of using their French for a very practical purpose! All of our drama students will have attended and reviewed a local play. Students in Grade 11 who have been reading Prison of Tehran will have the opportunity to meet Marina Nemat, the author of this memoir. Opportunities such as this really bring a book off the page. Our Grade 12 Biology and Exercise Science students will visit McMaster University’s Cadaver Lab. Sounds gruesome but this is an excellent way for these students to experience a learning opportunity that is typically reserved for university students.
Learning to Learn
This past weekend, I attended the annual Canadian Association of Independent Schools (CAIS) Board Chairs and Heads’ Conference in King City. The theme of the conference focused on ‘building schools for the 21st century.’ An important take-away for me occurred on the final day of the conference during a presentation by Dr. Adam Cox, best known for his book No Mind Left Behind. Several of his points resonated with what we do here at Greenwood.
Cox emphasized that one of the critical functions for schools is to help students learn how to learn, rather than focusing solely on what is learned. Not surprisingly for those of us who are parents of young adults, these learning skills associated with executive functioning, such as planning and organization, continue to develop until the age of 25. This understanding would account for the growing popularity of learning centers on college and university campuses. It also reiterated for me the importance we place on learning skills at Greenwood and the support we provide for students with the development of these skills.
One critical concept that we continue to move toward at Greenwood was Cox’s observation that the most effective schools are those that provide students with opportunities to be significant. By this he means schools need to engage students in purposeful work. Since its inception, Greenwood has been at the forefront of experiential education and authentic learning. However, the opportunity to make deeper inroads in this area and truly engage students in purposeful learning is something we must continue to refine.
Back at Greenwood
Friday–end of our first official week of classes. It has been a great opening week. Students and staff are smiling, upbeat and adapting to the changes we made to this year’s timetable. Teachers and students have been working together in classes on establishing routines that will form the foundation of an engaging learning environment. Our fall sports teams are up and running. Rehearsals for the Junior Play (Peter Pan) are underway. A myriad of student-led clubs have had their first meetings. Students and parents new to the school were here on Tuesday evening for our 2.0 technology session. All in all, plenty of signs of engagement throughout our school community, which is exactly what you would hope for in the first week of school.
Out on Trip
Friday was a PD day for our staff and the first opportunity for everyone to be together after two weeks apart on our various Outdoor Education experiences. I was really pleased to hear that the teachers who accompanied Grade 11 students on their trip to British Columbia and Grade 10 students on their canoe trip to Temagami loved the experience. This was the first year that our teachers joined students and experienced third-party trip leaders on these excursions, so it was gratifying to hear that things worked out so well. When I asked teachers how things went, the words “awesome,” “fantastic,” and “fun” were frequently used. We had teachers complete a brief survey on the experience and at first glance the results look excellent. I am looking forward to speaking with students this week to hear their perspective on this new direction in the supervision of our OE excursions.
Remarks to the Class of 2009
Some of the grads may not remember this, but a few of us together started at Greenwood six years ago. You were beginning Grade 7, and I was the school’s first ever Director of Academics. We got to know each other during that first week at Kilcoo, where I sat in some of your classes and activities.
One moment from that week that I recall fairly well was the Grade 7 visit to a farm in the local Minden community. It was a perfect fall morning—the sun was shining, a mist rose in the fields. At some point, we divided up into small groups to perform farm chores. I can’t remember everyone who was in the group, but I definitely recall Sonam Shah, Sam, Gerry, Alexis, and Nik were in the group. Our group’s task was to remove pumpkins from the field and stack them onto an old wooden wagon. With a bit of a whoop, some of the group charged into the field, and started to carry or roll pumpkins to the wagon.
Then someone came up with the idea of forming a line between the field and the wagon so that the pumpkins could be passed from person to person. Good strategy, provided people stayed in line and did their part. I recall that we dropped a few pumpkins that morning, but all in all, with encouragement and positive redirection, the work was completed and we took some satisfaction in seeing the wagon piled high with pumpkins, knowing that, in some small way, we had helped that local farmer with his harvest.
Obviously, you have grown a great deal since then. You are a larger cohort than you were six years ago, as new members of the class have entered since that time. Physically, you have moved from adolescence to adulthood. But, some of the same characteristics you exhibited on that fall morning in 2003 remain. I thought I might take a moment and describe a few of the traits that distinguish the Class of 2009.
This is definitely a group that likes to have a bit of fun. This trait was evident on many occasions this year. The Halloween haunted room, your enthusiasm for the House cheer-off during Spirit Week, your Friday morning dance energy, the clever skits of the Assembly committee and the disco-themed athletic banquet are just a few examples of this. I hope you never lose this willingness to laugh or make others laugh. I believe it was the wise philosopher Rod Stewart who advised us to make the best of a bad joke and laugh if off. Something to remember as life gets a bit more serious.
Though you like to have some fun, you also have learned that eventually the pumpkins need to get on the wagon. This characteristic has been most evident this year, although I say that with some reservation after having read Dan Martin’s article on the addiction to Bubble Shooter. All this time walking by the Reading Room, I thought you were engrossed in math or science or classical civilizations’ work. In all seriousness, you have put a great deal of time and effort into the fulfillment of your postsecondary goals. The percentage of Ontario Scholars in the Class of 2009 was our best ever.
You have also worked hard to support other areas of school life. A good number of you maintained your ongoing commitment to community service on Thursday mornings—the group that made crafts for children at Sick Kids Hospital are a great example of this. Others have exhibited leadership on one of our school teams, in the Senior Play, or in Arts Week or in Model UN. In every instance you served as positive role models for the younger students involved in these activities. I hope you hold on to the desire to work hard and continue to savour the satisfaction that comes with the achievement of a goal fulfilled.
You are also a group that doesn’t do things in the conventional way, as I learned on that fall morning a few years ago. Though this approach is not without its challenges, it also holds significant rewards. History has taught us that there will always be a need for people to think differently or go against the grain. The story of human progress bears this out. When I look upon some of the original touches that you have brought to our school culture this year, I can’t help but imagine that there are some wonderful creative ideas percolating within each of you. I hope they one day manifest themselves in business, in the arts, in education, in philanthropy, and possibly, in public service.
One of the oft-quoted lines from Shakespeare comes from the play Hamlet, in which Polonius at the end of a long speech to his son, Laertes who is about to leave home, advises his son: “This above all else—to thine own self be true.” If I had one wish for you, this would be it. In a few short months, you will leave home in search of new opportunities. This departure from the world of your parents brings new challenges. I hope that we have equipped you with the strength of character to face these challenges so that you never lose sight of your essential selves.
Celebrating the Arts
We just wrapped up our inaugural Arts Dinner tonight, which was a great success. Students who had participated in any of this year’s arts events and the teachers who coordinated the various events shared a terrific pasta dinner. The dinner was organized by our Tourism class–they had a great chance to engage in some real event planning!
This dinner was a great way to celebrate what has been an incredible seven days for our Arts program. A week ago, our senior music class entertained students and parents at the Palmerston Library Theatre with a selection of pop tunes. On the following evening, our drama classes presented two short plays and an original one-act drama. This one-act play received rave reviews from the adjudicators when it was performed at the CIS Drama Festival on Thursday. The week concluded with a celebration of art, both visual and digital, and fashion design. The senior art students displayed their portfolios throughout the school and several students shared their digital media films with us. Students in Grade 11 sold original prints as part of an Arts for Aids fundraiser. The evening was topped off by a runway fashion show, which featured original works created and modelled by our Grade 11 Fashion class.
Being a spectator at these events reminded me of the important relationship between the artist and the audience. This is especially true at the student level. Students develop a great deal of insight and confidence when they receive informed feedback. For students in the arts, gallery displays and performances provide them with immediate feedback. Certainly, many of students will always remember the generous applause and praise they received over the past week. It was especially gratifying for the teachers who have worked so hard to nurture each student’s artistic potential.
The Importance of the Arts
The last few weeks here at Greenwood have provided a tremendous showcase for our arts program. I left yesterday’s assembly jazzed (pun intended!) about the quality of the student performances. Our senior music class, five guitars strong, dusted off an old ZZ Top classic and thrilled the audience with their rendition of it. Later, Nick Toyne and Raleigh Seldon delighted us with a moving performance of the duet from the film “Once.” This performance served as a prelude to the upcoming student coffee house.
Our drama group has also been busy. Last week, they entertained us with their presentation of the Roald Dahl story, “James and the Giant Peach.” The play featured great teamwork by students in Grades 7, 8 and 9, and several of our teachers, who worked tirelessly behind the scenes to make the production possible. The staging of the play was also a step forward, as this was our first use of multimedia. Rather than use conventional 3-D props, our media arts team deployed rear-projected, animated images as the scenery for the play.
Prior to the play, the school also hosted its annual Arts Day. This day is a great opportunity for students to participate in workshops hosted by professional artists (including members of our parent community!) Each student participated in four different workshops, and the day concluded with a musical performance by our private music lesson teachers. This day is a terrific way for students to experience the breadth of opportunities available in the arts.
As I have told the students in assembly, the arts inspire the imagination. Certainly, this has been the case over the last few weeks here at Greenwood.
Out and About
I had the opportunity over the past week to attend two PD events outside the school. The first took place at an Outward Bound breakfast fundraiser. A number of students, teachers and parents were able to attend this event and listen to Sir Ken Robinson. A thoroughly engaging speaker, Robinson argued that the mandate of schools and organizations in the 21st century is the development and nurturing of creativity. Later in the week, I travelled to Saint John, New Brunswick to participate in the annual CAIS Heads and Chairs conference. One of the presenters who thoroughly engaged the group was Alan November. November, an international consultant in educational technology, outlined his belief that schools need to focus on two key skills: passion and empathy. Interestingly enough, he used the Internet as a means of developing his argument. November believes that using technology to create learning communities beyond the curriculum is the ideal way to fully engage students in their learning.
Presentations such as this are important for two reasons. First of all, they remind me that we are moving in the right direction at Greenwood. Since its inception, technology and creativity have been levers of student engagement. However, the big ideas of these presentations also remind me that we still have distance to travel in the way we think about technology and learning. In order to continually improve, schools need ambitious goals. Occasionally, leaders need to get out of the building to be reminded of this.