Last Tuesday fifteen faculty members presented the results of curriculum research and development projects undertaken with the support of LREI’s Summer Grant Program. It was an enormously successful and impressive event. Twelve projects were presented in all. Two were collaborations of more than one faculty member. Four were from the Lower school, four from the Middle School and three from the High School. There was one Lower/Middle School collaboration.  With regard to departmental affiliations, there were two projects in social studies, two in English, three in the arts and one each in mathematics, science and foreign language, plus a project dealing with professional development using an approach known as Critical Friends.

The range of topics and the quality of the work for our progressive pedagogy are immensely impressive and valuable.  Providing opportunities for sharing professional work with colleagues underscores the value we place on collaborative practice at this school as well as our commitment to continually revisit what we do and research new ways to do it better. Such teacher-initiated curriculum development demonstrates that teachers in a progressive environment are truly “theorist-practitioners” in the tradition of Elisabeth Irwin. The work presented last week has the potential for moving the school forward in meaningful ways – and it already has. New pieces of curriculum or new approaches to instruction and assessment make for a richer learning experience for our students and contribute to the professional development of the entire faculty. You can read brief descriptions of the Summer Grant Projects posted in the Who We Are section of the LREI web site. 

Speaking of sharing, there have been a number of opportunities for teachers to share their work with parents in recent months. The Curriculum Nights in each division have been widely attended and extremely well received. In addition, as progressive education is above all “active learning,” parents have been treated to the opportunity not just to learn from their children's teachers, but also to learn with their children during this week’s Lower School Math-Science Evening. On this particular occasion the room was abuzz with kids and parents sitting around tables stocked with lots of equipment and material that they proceeded to manipulate and experiment with, and wrap their minds around. At LREI, “hands-on” learning is always “minds-on,” too! It’s also great fun, as authentic learning should be, and, ultimately - after all the hard work - always is. As I mentioned to Margaret Andrews, who along with Megan Dunphy, conceived of the event, such parent participation stems directly from Elisabeth Irwin’s historic commitment to enlisting families in the educational process of their children, rather than hurrying them out the door away from it.

Another opportunity to learn more about the school’s philosophy and program is coming up on the 8th of November, when we’ll host for the second year an evening devoted to “Exploring Progressive Education.” Teachers from all three divisions will present examples of their curriculum and discuss the progressive approach to learning at our school. Department Chairs, Principals and I will discuss and answer questions about designing curriculum from a progressive perspective – a rigorous process that entails integrating critical skills and core knowledge, teaching and learning in ways that lead to genuine inquiry and thinking, and assessment practices that measure authentic understanding. I look forward to seeing many of you there for this inside look at how we “do” progressive education at LREI!

Nicholas O’Han
School Historian
October 29, 2004