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“
Engagement is
a precondition
for learning.
—Jal Mehta,
Harvard Graduate School of Education
“
Here are a few snapshots of how our teachers build engagement and,
as a result, cultivate curiosity, interest and optimism in our girls:
• Tap into a Grade 1 student’s innate curiosity about shapes and
patterns by letting her explore the outdoors. Our natural world
and the architectural features of our campus provide perfect
lessons in two-dimensional and three-dimensional geometry.
Even better, the girls join with their HaverPals to deepen their
learning about planes and solids, while connecting to older girls
who mentor and share in the fun.
• Ask essential questions in Grade 3 to build a bridge between the
past and the present. As our students explore early communities
in Canada, they create meaning and build understanding
by making connections to today’s world. They apply their
knowledge of modern life to that of the early pioneers, while
asking questions about how the people who came before them
influenced the world they see today.
• Immerse Grade 5 students in an interdisciplinary exploration of
history and literature by introducing them to historical fiction.
Combining the perspectives of art and social science unleashes
creative and analytical possibilities not available through a
single-lens study. Plus, storytelling—whether fictional or real—
is an incredibly powerful learning tool.
• Encourage Grade 7 students to ask questions about the nature
of history through the study of “great humans.” Students
choose a great human, engage in scholarly research, establish
a connection across time and ask pressing questions about
Students explore the Burke Brook with their HaverPals.
it all. One student’s question: “What is lost when we can only
study great women and not ordinary women whose lives aren’t
recorded?”
• Draw on depths of expressive creativity to translate one art form
into another. Grade 12 students visit the Art Gallery of Ontario
to engage in
ekphrastic
writing.
Ekphrasis
is the Greek term for
a verbal description of a visual work of art, such as a painting or
sculpture (recall Keats’s “Ode on a Grecian Urn”). Students select a
piece and write about their encounter with it, finding meaning in
the interaction between forms, periods and artists.
SPRING 2017 •
TORCH
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