Torch - Fall 2012

9 / 56

FALL 2012 THE TORCH 7
Havergal College Summer Institutes for
Teaching and Learning
By Seonaid Davis
H avergal’s Summer Institutes for Teaching
and Learning have a long history of offering
rich and diverse learning experiences to
educators from around the world. In the summer of
2012, Havergal hosted seven seminars. Each seminar
focused on a different aspect of the question “what
is the story of learning in this place?” and explored
a different aspect of current educational theory or
practice. The Institutes, open to all educators, are
intended to support our own curriculum initiatives
and to meet the professional development needs of
our teachers.
In the Cultures of Thinking seminar, Mark Church,
who is associated with Harvard’s Project Zero
initiative, “Making Thinking Visible,” explored what
it means to be focused on developing a culture of
thinking in a school. Mark asked participants to
consider what kinds of thinking students use when
learning for understanding and what opportunities
there are for students to develop and explain their
ideas to each other.
Valérie Lanctôt-Bédard and Jean-Phillipe Bouchard,
experienced communication trainers, led the
Authentic Dialogue: Developing Authenticity and
Respect seminar. These presenters helped participants
to understand their own communication patterns
and to learn how to communicate in ways that create
a successful learning and working environment.
In the seminar Implementing Growing Success:
Assessment in Ontario, Damian Cooper, a writer and
consultant in the field of assessment practice, focused
on the big ideas in assessment theory and practice
and provided specific strategies to help teachers
understand how to use assessment for, of and as
learning to improve student success.
Peter Cobb, an experienced educator interested
in the moral and ethical development of children,
looked at how education is changing in the 21st
century and why we need to change along with it. He
helped educators consider how to change the story of
learning to be one of co-learning and collaboration.
Ralph Sneeden, from Philips Exeter Academy, along
with David Sumner, Laura McRae, Paul McCulloch
and Ruthanne Wrobel from Havergal co-hosted the
Learning Through Dialogue seminar. Participants
went back to school and experienced different
models of learning including the Harkness method,
the Socratic seminar and the tutorial.
Jay McTighe, an educational consultant and
author, and I led educators through a four-day
workshop exploring the question: “What is
important to understand and how do we teach for
understanding?” Educators left the seminar with a
well-designed curriculum unit, which focused on
what was most important for students to know, do
and understand.
Havergal teachers Britney Coleman, Laura Logaridis,
Leslie Siegrist and Katie Tranter led a large group of
educators through a two-day seminar focused on
examining the best practices in the early years. They
highlighted the inquiry-based learning model being
successfully implemented in our kindergarten classes.
We are already planning for next year’s Summer
Institutes. More details will be available in the spring
of 2013 at .
Seonaid Davis,
Director of
Curriculum & Faculty
Development
FACULTY