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| The notion of academic rigor was the subject of conversation at Friends Select during the school’s recent interview process for a new lower school director. When each candidate was asked to define rigor, the varied and thoughtful responses motivated us to think more deeply about what the term really means in this community and the world at large.
Admittedly, everyone has a slightly different sense of what, exactly, constitutes a rigorous academic program. People outside of education often use verbal proficiency, performance on standardized tests, college acceptances and later on, career success as measurable and easy yardsticks. At Friends Select, we seek a more nuanced approach. We want to employ authentic academic rigor and have it influence students’ future lives in the larger world outside our classrooms.
So, as is typical for us at Friends Select, we are having an extended conversation, first soliciting multiple perspectives and then reflecting on the meaning of rigor in the context of our particular Quaker-based educational community. In the coming months, the school’s administrative council will address this topic in depth; I will report on our findings in future columns.
But as we work to articulate a more refined definition, I want to share a few everyday examples of academic rigor I have witnessed lately in the classrooms at Friends Select:
• The fourth grade is conducting an extended exploration of maps and mapmaking, led by upper school art teacher Lynda Greenwade who studied last summer at the historic Newberry Library in Chicago, home to an estimated 500,000 maps. As a guest mapper, I visited Betsy Lamitina’s classroom recently, bringing along a map of Brigantine, my favorite Jersey Shore town. The fourth graders’ questions were remarkably astute, reflecting the depth of their knowledge about maps. Cartographic literacy is not a phrase usually associated with 9-year-olds, but in lower school, the teachers are making sure that the GPS generation has a solid foundation in the history, function and ongoing role of maps.
• In middle school, student enthusiasts in the MathCounts Club meet once a week at lunchtime with teacher Patrick Cassidy to mull over challenging math problems. These weekly think-ins prepare the students for the annual city-wide MathCounts competition that will be held later this month. Dressed in their team tee-shirts, they will go head-to-head with other middle school mathematicians. Certainly, there is an element of competition here, but the challenge and love of math are the true motivators.
• During mid-term week in upper school, I watched a student take a 30-minute oral final for Stephen Rawls’ philosophy class. As I listened to this young woman calmly articulate the theories of such luminaries as Hume, Kant and Mill, I was astounded not only by her nuanced understanding of their ideas, but by her grasp of the interconnections among complex intellectual constructs.
Clearly, academic rigor is evident in each of these scenarios in which learning is carefully orchestrated by skilled teachers who help young people integrate academic rigor into a fundamental sense of themselves. Friends Select teachers share the goal of helping students to determine their own definitions of academic success and be empowered to take their personal achievement to the next level.
That’s a good working definition of academic rigor, for now. Stay tuned as the conversation on this topic continues.
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| A group of parents got together at the end of January to ponder their lower school children’s next BIG STEP: the transition to middle school. An expert panel of poised and articulate seventh graders (Sophie B., Emmet O., and Sydney L.) fielded questions on a range of topics. Herewith are some of their insights into middle school life:
On the best things about middle school: • Choice. I like that we get to choose a language and a musical instrument.
• The teachers are always there for help or to talk to. • The teachers give us a certain amount of responsibility. It’s good for middle schoolers to know that we are trusted.
On class size: • Mostly 16-17 students, but language classes are smaller. On adjusting to middle school:
• You start getting grades. You go from “good job” to an actual grade. And there is something called a Q-Note which is an e-mail parents get when their children are struggling (or sometimes when they are doing something great). • The teachers hold study help. Sometimes it’s mandatory, sometimes not, but teachers are always available and like to have students approach them with questions.
On homework: • Not much in sixth grade, more in seventh. If you schedule your time, you’re fine. It’s not crazy. On a usual school night, we get 1-1 ½ hours of homework.
On social pressure: • There is always drama, but it’s not like what you see on T.V. • It’s all part of the experience. There are always going to be your typical he/she likes so-and-so. But we really don’t have big social issues.
On starting the school day earlier: • You have to sign in by 8 a.m. If you are late five times, you get detention. If you are late 10 times, you get an in-school suspension. But that’s very rare.
On academic demands: • My first day, I was like, “I want to go back to lower school.” Then I got used to it. • It’s important to make sure your child is organized. We have orientation and get FSS planners that have the days of the week and places to write in assignments. Tr. John [history] likes us to stay organized, so he checks our planners.
On friendship:
• It’s important to keep strong relationships with old friends and also become friends with the new people and make them feel comfortable. The final question of the morning, posed somewhat sheepishly, was about college. Were the seventh graders thinking about college yet? The panelists, after a brief pause, replied, “It’s not really a big worry,” and “I haven’t thought about it yet.” Right now, their focus is clearly on the here-and-now of middle school life.
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| The Bard himself would be delighted with the upcoming middle school production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream on Friday, March 5 and Saturday, March 6 at 7 p.m.; and Sunday, March 7 at 2 p.m. In a departure from the usual, the play will be performed in Bailey Circle, instead of the theatre. The staging is distinctly Elizabethan in spirit, with seating for 133, standing room for additional “groundlings,” and plenty of spirited interaction between the actors and the audience. The troupe of actors will move continually, using the staircase, upper landing and aisles between the seats as the stage. They are embracing the formal language and quirky characters of the Shakespearean comedy in an abridged 1-½ hour production of the classic drama.
The production has engaged the time and talents of many members of the community: • Terry Kessel, director of middle school, gamely plays the part of Queen Elizabeth, dressed in full regalia and seated on a throne in the audience.
• Curio Theater in West Philadelphia has lent lighting equipment to convert the space into a theatrical venue.
• Lower school students cut out the paper leaves used to transform structural columns into trees.
• Seventh grader Sophia V., an accomplished singer-songwriter, composed original music that she also performs as Puck.
• Eighth grader Connor A. is creating a photo diary of the production, from initial read-through to final curtain.
The concept of a less-traditional staging of the play was the result of the artistic collaboration between director Paul Kuhn (also artistic director at Curio Theater and father of a ninth grader) and assistant director Mwazhuwa Kuretu (also lower school assistant).
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| It’s a familiar conundrum: By mid-year, seniors have filed their college applications, maybe received a few acceptances and are on the down-slope of their upper school careers. They are a happy and easily distracted group, overall, ready to catapult into the next phase of life. Yet, there are several months of school to finish and plenty to learn before graduation day rolls around.
The Urban Internship Program is the upper school’s solution to the challenge of keeping seniors focused and engaged. For three weeks before graduation, seniors participate in a hands-on experience connected with a particular interest or anticipated professional path, working a minimum of 80 hours in a program preapproved by the internship coordinator and the upper school director.
"The self-directed nature of the experience offers a chance for seniors to develop and test new work-place skills," says history teacher Carolyn Shank who coordinates the program. “We ask each student to design his or her internship by researching possibilities, making introductory phone calls, arranging appointments, drafting a proposal and getting it approved,” she explains. “It’s a tall order, but we offer students plenty of help along the way, including sample scripts for their introductory phone calls to potential mentors and pointers on how to dress for work.”
The range of internships is as varied as the students themselves. Last year, for example:
- Luke Poethig (now at the University of Pennsylvania) worked on exhibits at the National Constitution Center.
- Emalyn Feitshans (now at Sarah Lawrence College) worked with the director of education at the Arden Theater.
- Anna Butler (now at Pace University) worked at Untitled Entertainment, an entertainment management company in Los Angeles.
- Ted Fletman (now at Drexel University) worked as an audio engineer at the Tin Angel in Philadelphia.
- Simon Solis-Cohen (now at the Culinary Institute of America) worked in the kitchen of Daniel, a restaurant in New York City.
- Lily Colman (now at Hampshire College) worked in Annie Leibovitz’s photo studio in New York City under her assistant Jesse Blatt.
As liberating as leaving campus for three weeks may feel, seniors are held accountable for making their internships meaningful. The Friday before graduation, they give oral reports to small groups of faculty, family members and peers on what they have done and what they have learned. These presentations are the seniors’ swan song in a way, their chance to demonstrate, in a formal setting, their emerging maturity and readiness to go out into the wider world.
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