The Property of Light - Telling Stories Through Interdisciplinary Collaboration

This is just about light, how suddenly One comes upon it sometimes and is surprised.

In light, something is lifted. That is the property of light [...]

Alberto Rios, “a physics of sudden light”

How might we best tell our stories? How many ways might we reveal our truths for people to understand? Each year, Park Grade 8 students, as part of their culminating reflections as their Park journey approaches its end, have sought to capture their own core beliefs and vision in English class through their “This I Believe” project.

“THIS I BELIEVE” originated as a radio project hosted by journalist Edward R. Murrow on CBS Radio from 1951 to 1955 (it has subsequently been revived a number of times, including on NPR in 2005). Program guests—some famous, some not—would write brief essays about their personal motivations and beliefs and read them on the air. Students began their work by reading an essay by Murrow that details the reason he launched the “This I Believe” project. The essay explores the importance of talking, writing, and reading about beliefs, and through their study, Park students considered both the context of the McCarthy era from which Murrow was writing and the ways in which our own time period can be similarly charged. Students then dug into the database of essays, and chose 8–12 of them to read closely and annotate as they considered how the essays were written.

THE COLLABORATION OPENED UP NEW PERSPECTIVES ON HOW TO THINK ABOUT COMMUNICATION WHILE CHALLENGING STUDENTS TO WORK TOGETHER, EXPERIMENT, AND PROBLEM-SOLVE IN NEW, HANDS-ON WAYS.

As they explored these materials, students brainstormed beliefs in journals on a daily basis, and then came together to share them as a class. English department head Susan Bogue Myslik reflects, “This is my favorite part—we just circle the room joyfully expressing the things we believe in. Students then narrow their thinking to one ‘core’ belief they want to write about, something central to their being.” She challenges them to consider what belief is so central to who they are that, without it, “you just wouldn’t be you.” Classmates then support each other with peer editing, with every essay going through several iterations before being finalized. The final essays, she says, “are gorgeous.”

In past years, students then shared their completed essays through various media—audio recordings, web pages, and through on-campus presentations to parents. With COVID restrictions making such on-campus events impossible, however, the presentations needed a new form, and this gave rise to a new partnership. This winter, a crossdepartmental collaboration between the Grade 8 English and math teams, with help from the Makerspace, helped students use new tools and skill sets to tell their stories—and in doing so, celebrate who they are, what they believe in, and how much they have learned.

The Grade 8 math team was excited to take the risk in offering something new to their students. Math department head Christy Keblusek notes, “We are always looking for ways in which students can apply their learning, and collaboration between disciplines enhances the impact. We were looking for a project that would provide a connection between disciplines, and this allowed students to visualize a piece of their essays using the language of math.” Park has long challenged students to grow as skillful communicators, and while their ability to express themselves effectively on paper is an important aspect of that element of The Park Portrait, this project pushed students to explore other ways their message could be shared.

But how? Math has its own language that makes meaning with formulas, functions and equations, different from the language of words, grammar, and sentences. How might students apply their knowledge of math to create a visual representation of the ideas they had captured in their written words? The opportunity was exciting, in part, because, as Christy observes, “we all learn and process differently. This project allows students an expanded repertoire for how they might best communicate.” The students began working with Desmos, an online graphing program, applying what they knew about math functions to design a visual representation of the beliefs they had articulated through the writing process in English class.

The learning curve was substantial. Christy observes, “The project challenged kids to apply knowledge that they didn’t necessarily know they had. They went into the project with an extensive knowledge of linear functions and inequalities, but little knowledge of parabolas. Challenged in this project to create curves, students explored other functions and figured out how to manipulate equations that would translate to the images they wanted, all the while without the stress of feeling they had to ‘learn the math.’” The project also served to preview some of the learning yet to come, as Grade 8 would soon be diving into the math of those topics.

A central goal of the project was to allow students the space to define their own challenge and to stretch themselves to make this endeavor as much of an intellectual growth opportunity as possible. The exercise underscored the importance of being a flexible analytical thinker, able to get creative with the tools at their disposal. Just as students began their English essay by reading the Murrow essay and then extrapolating their own beliefs from which to hone down on their central theme, they similarly began the math project with a wide range of ideas that they then narrowed down and applied the math to create the final image. The topics may have differed but the fundamentals of analytical thinking were parallel.

The collaboration opened up new perspectives on how to think about communication while challenging students to work together, experiment, and problemsolve in new, hands-on ways. Makerspace educator Elaine Hamilton says, “They did a lot of exploring, wondering and problem-solving. Some students also came to the Makerspace to see their designs run on the laser cutter. Their prototypes were first done on cardboard to give students the opportunity to offer feedback; the final versions were done on various colors of acrylic of their choice.” It was exciting, she says, because students could challenge themselves with a project that had clear expectations, and yet had no ceiling, no boundaries to what they could create.

The result: a wonderful creation that each student was excited to show off. “This was a project that proved to each student that every one of them is both a mathematician and an artist,” Christy notes. “Every student was proud of their work and saw that they could accomplish something that was hard. That’s what made this really special.” The Grade 8 math classroom is ablaze with sparkling lights and many colors, a vivid display that reminds our students of who they are, what they believe in, and what a beautiful community they create together.