building community… Telling Tales 22 Aug 201822 Aug 2018 One of the opening exercises at the Exeter Humanities Institute is the "Group Fairy Tale." This gets the group warmed up, everyone must listen carefully, everyone must participate. It generates…
building community… Building trust at the table 22 Aug 201822 Aug 2018 It's the end of August and so a time to think about "beginnings" again... How do we get a class loosened up? How do we work to pay attention to…
building community… “How are you?” 18 Oct 201718 Oct 2017 Monday and Tuesday of this week I had the chance to visit classes at Noble Academy in Chicago. Exeter has been collaborating with Noble Academy, a charter school in its…
Orienting students to Harkness… Sentence Stems…to enter discussion 10 Oct 201718 Oct 2017 How do we enter discussions? First, we have to look for the cue that we can enter without trampling on the previous speaker. I am fascinated by the linguistic and…
Orienting students to Harkness… Harkness Demo 10 Oct 201724 Oct 2017 One of the first classes that new ninth graders have at Exeter is a demonstration of a Harkness class, with twelve seniors and an English teacher discussing a poem or…
building community… Student Orientation 19 Sep 201724 Oct 2017 This year the Dean of Students office developed a new orientation program for ninth graders. A big component of the community building orientation occurred on the first Sunday of the…
Orienting students to Harkness… All Thoughts Harkness 18 Sep 201718 Oct 2017 "How do you get your students oriented to Harkness? How do you teach these discussion skills to your newest students?" These are questions that colleagues from other schools have asked…