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In our culture, there’s a tendency to think of our lives as a declarative sentence, one with a period at the end. There’s a tendency to think that real-world experiences begin when we settle into a profession, assume a mortgage and start a family. And there's a tendency to describe ourselves almost solely as the profession we choose. Period. End of sentence.
At Friends Select, however, we prefer to think of people as run-on sentences that are never completed and to which no period is ever affixed. Instead, we encourage continual exploration, learning, growth, and even reinvention within the safety of our community.
While people can develop intense interests at any points in their lives, sometimes aspirations take root very early. Stuart Land, director of alumni/ae programs, tells a story from his years as a third grade teacher about a student who was reluctant to go outdoors for recess. Instead, this boy preferred to stay in the classroom, where he constructed a television news desk from which he “broadcast” the weather and local coverage, with the help of a few classmates. “It was clearly his passion,” Stuart told me, “so I just stayed out of the way.” Ted Greenberg ’92 is now the New Jersey Shore bureau reporter for NBC 10 and has come back to Friends Select several times to speak with students about his career.
The halls of Friends Select are full of aspiring musicians, engineers, athletes, artists, business owners, animal behaviorists, chefs and photographers. The list of dreams goes on and on.
All of our students, even those who know what profession they will follow, are in the process of lifelong discovery. Friends Select teachers pay close attention to their students; notice natural abilities; and help students identify and articulate what excites them. Teachers never say, “This is what you will become.” They say, instead, “Let us join you on the journey.” Friends Select is a safe environment, where students can try many things – Mandarin, crew team, drama, year abroad - to name a few. If they stumble, they are not defined by their missteps. Teachers and students alike send the clear message that it is great to try new things, and it’s okay to fail; there is always a safety net of supportive adults and a peer culture of caring classmates. And, there is always the next endeavor, like another clause in the run-on sentence.
It may be somewhat counter cultural to suggest that students deserve to own their individual aspirations. Moreover, some parents find it challenging to give up their own dreams and expectations for their children, even when these aspirations are not a good fit. A parents’ future attorney may, in fact, be drawn to the visual arts. A passionate aspiring chef may prefer culinary school to a more traditional college or university.
The obvious question – “Who owns the aspiration?” – inspires us at Friends Select to honor children as individuals who chart their own journeys. Still, teachers, working closely with families, give students the skills to make important decisions and offer appropriate guidance along the way. And always, we believe that aspirations are the core of personal revelation and guide us in the act of becoming who we are at the end of the journey.
Note: This is the first in a series of columns on the inherent and unique value of education at Friends Select School.
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The lower school music room is located at the busy intersection of the two main corridors on the first floor at Friends Select School. Passersby of all ages pause to watch exuberant young children gleefully respond to Derek van der Tak’s very special brand of teaching. A recent conversation with Teacher Derek revealed the depth of knowledge and creativity that he brings to his work:
What is your philosophy of music education?
Children are in their natural element around music. They already know how to sing, dance and play. My job is to facilitate this aptitude and inspire their exploration of elemental music. Their musical journey through the lower school years is a weaving together of speech patterns, rhythms and rhymes, movement schemes, body percussion, dramatic play, musical stories and wonderful song and dance. In the classroom, this is all delightfully enhanced by their learning the use of carefully designed musical instruments and sound toys that give life, character and energy to our collective play.
I constantly study; music education is a lifelong process for me. In addition to a wide range of aesthetic influences and pedagogical approaches, I bring to the classroom my training in Orff Schulwerk, developed by the German composer Carl Orff. I also practice Dalcroze Eurhythmics, created by Emile Jacques-Dalcroze. This Swiss music educator and visionary viewed the musician as a small-muscle athlete and advocated training musical awareness by wedding deep listening to our kinesthetic sense.
Why did you become a music teacher?
Certain questions have always fascinated me: How do we think musically? Where does music fit into the spectrum of cognitive and emotional experience for human beings? Why is music such a pervasive glue and spiritual force in every culture?
My “gig” is the cultivation of awareness. I studied philosophy and the history of science at the University of Pennsylvania and later did a master’s degree in music theory and composition at Temple University. When I started teaching in the Philadelphia public schools, I found it to be challenging, exhilarating and extraordinarily humanizing. I still relish the physical energy, humor and creativity that come with teaching music to little people.
After some more time in the public schools and 2-½ years at The Philadelphia School, I came to Friends Select in 1995, where I have continued to study, learn and grow as a teacher. I have begun leading workshops for educators, most recently at Temple University, and would like to keep developing constructive avenues from music to other learning disciplines.
What kind of music education did you have growing up?
I went to a French school in Washington, D.C., that, surprisingly, had no music in its curriculum. I sang in the boys' choir at church and began my piano studies with an old Viennese task master in my neighborhood. As a teenager, beyond being a guitar hero in various garage bands, I worked with the curator of American popular song at the Smithsonian, who was a major role model in bridging different styles of music. After that, I studied classical piano with his venerable teacher in New York City for many years.
How does your experience with theater influence your teaching style?
I was involved with theater in high school and loved it. Over the years, I have been involved with various dance/theater projects as a musician and performer. Teachers are on stage all the time, so they have to be actors to some degree. Good teachers explicitly and passionately perform their interests. I enact the music. I’m always learning and having fun. I hope that spirit communicates to my students and infuses them with their own sense of what is possible.
Winter Concerts Are Happening Soon!
Grades 3, 4 & 5: Friday, December 3, at 9 a.m., Blauvelt Theatre
Grades 1 & 2: Friday, December 10, at 9 a.m., Blauvelt Theatre
Holiday Sing: Friday, December 17, at 2 p.m., Race Street Meetinghouse
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Middle school history teacher and musician John Colgan-Davis is also a keen observer of the world around him. In this excerpt from an essay written for followers of his blues band, The Dukes of Destiny, he shares his own personal take on the ubiquity of technology in daily life.
Throughout the ages, people, from the Buddha to Francis Bacon to William James to Wayne Dyer, have advocated finding a working balance in their lives: time to work, time to relax, time to think, time to play, etc. Seeking balance is especially important in the hyper-speed, super-linked world of Internet connections and cell phones. As a result of all this instant “connectedness,” we often feel rushed, and that we have to know the latest about everything. We are drowning in information and losing our ability to think deeply, make connections between ideas, and seek and achieve deep understanding.
Changed Brains
Nicholas Carr’s book, The Shallows: What the Internet is Doing to our Brains, examines research on how the human brain works and how it is being changed by technology. While the Internet has provided unquestionable benefits, says Carr, it is definitely altering the structures and responses of our brains. As he points out, however, every learning technology does this; writing on paper, the book, and the printing press changed lives dramatically, too.
As we do more of our communication via e-mail, cell phones, texting, chats and blogs, we rarely are not plugged in. We are constantly bombarded with new information, new sites, links between sites, pop-ups, ads dancing across the page, and more.
One byproduct of this onslaught of information is that our brains are being trained to receive bits and pieces of information and to continually navigate through multiple messages. Most of us rarely take the time to read or think deeply before responding; instead, we almost reflexively send out another text or e-mail. As we struggle to separate the important from the trivial, we have lost our sense of time, and of cause and effect. It is all just information, strewn about and jumbled up.
Impact on the Classroom
I see this paradox in my classroom: Students are accomplished at finding information on the web, but resist taking the time to think seriously and make connections between facts and ideas. They struggle to separate the truly important from the merely cute or interesting. They find it challenging to synthesize what we did in class last week with what we are studying this week.
As a teacher, it is my responsibility to respond to this reality, so I have modified my classroom practice accordingly. I ask my students to consider specific types of questions before they start their research, so they are less distracted by auxiliary information. I give them plenty of time away from the computer to interact and learn face-to-face with their classmates. I emphasize the need to consider how the elements of any situation contribute to knowledge of the whole. I talk about how considering multiple perspectives helps us attain more mature and nuanced understanding.
Incorporating technology into our lives, without becoming consumed by it, is not just a challenge for students, by the way. I am consciously trying to establish a balance in my own life. I am becoming more aware of how I use my days, and I am trying to find time for deeper, more contemplative and thoughtful endeavors. I need to make the time and take the time; it is up to me. And I need to “walk the walk,” so I can guide my students with integrity.
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Upper school students continually ponder a wide range of issues – from the definition of negative numbers, to Shakespeare’s use of imagery, to the interaction of the branches of government, and much more. For five days this winter, however, the entire division will pause to consider a single overarching essential question: What is the global impact of the Middle East, past, present and future?
InterSession is a ground-breaking international studies immersion program being launched on January 31. Regular classes will be suspended for five days between semesters while upper school students and faculty investigate the Middle East—its geography, peoples, natural resources, governments, culture, religions, economies and politics. (A different region of the world will be selected as the focus in subsequent years.)
"The concept for this program began three years ago," says head of school Rose Hagan, "and we secured funding, in the interim, to make the concept a reality. The goal was to create an intensive, sustained block of academic time during which upper school students might develop a solid knowledge base and deep understanding of specific areas of the non-Western world." During the week of InterSession, students will have no other academic responsibilities or obligations.
Experts will come to campus to engage directly with students in a variety of formats: large seminar-style survey lectures, small-group meetings with study teams, films and guided discussions and debates around topical issues. A different essential question will structure each day’s activities. On day one, for example, students will consider, What do we mean by the Middle East? On day four, the question will be about the impact of class, gender and education on self-determination. Throughout InterSession, students will make entries in individual “field books” to reflect their understanding of the topics being explored.
“The goal of the program is to help students understand the ‘connectedness’ of the world,” says upper school director Jesse Dougherty, “so we are glad to welcome guest speakers who will provide multiple perspectives on the Middle East.”
“Too often,” Dougherty continues, “we get partial information and make judgments based on it. By telling a fuller story of the Middle East, without making judgments, we hope that InterSession will help convey the complexity and nuance of the Middle East.”
Note: InterSession is made possible through a matching grant by the Edward E. Ford Foundation and is part of the Friends Select School International Studies Program.
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