Deeper Learning

TIME TO COLLABORATE GIVES RISE TO INTERSESSION AND DEEPER LEARNING By Steve Cohen, Head of Upper Division

What an unprecedented and amazing year this has been. Putting aside the pandemic, we had a new schedule, a new divisional structure, and a much longed-for and valuable common planning time in the Late Start. In addition, we re-embraced our commitment as a school to deeper learning through summer reading in 2021 and professional conversations this year. Given these opportunities, we had many ideas of which we could now take advantage. One was an Upper Division Intersession, an idea we had bandied about for years and now had the infrastructure we needed to implement in the way we wanted. So, in the short week following the Presidents Weekend holiday, the entire Upper Division, Grades 5-8, a community of nearly 200 younger and older learners, put aside their regular coursework, schedule, and grade-level boundaries and instead looked deeply into food insecurity.

The entire Upper Division faculty began brainstorming ideas during the Late Start days in the fall. This alone, was truly exciting. We have not had a space until this year when every teacher in the School who worked with Upper Division boys was available. Previously, our meetings were predicated on some of us being with the boys to allow others of us to meet. Now, every teacher from all subject lenses in the School could plan for the boys simultaneously.

We were not sure what subject we would tackle, but several principles guided us. Whatever our focus, it had to speak to our central vision of building boys who make the world a better place. As a faculty, that is our North Star, and we consider it among our most important work. The topic also had to be compelling. It had to be accessible to ten-year-olds and fourteen-year-olds. It had to be important and rich enough to warrant and sustain several full days of intensive study and work that could be approached from multiple angles. And, it had to reinforce our identity as a 5-8 division, mixing and bringing together boys who typically do not interact all that often. We tossed around several ideas during these first Late Start days. Ultimately, we landed on food insecurity, a local and specific problem for us to develop motivating, handson activities that provided opportunities for the boys to make a meaningful difference about a critical problem.

When students engage in deep learning they see the world differently. One can know many facts à la Jeopardy, but that doesn’t mean one understands much about what those facts mean or why they are significant. For example, one can know that 10.5 percent of U.S. households were food insecure at some time during 2020, but knowing that tells us nothing about what that meant for those 13.8 million people, why the situation exists, or what can be done about it. Truly knowing requires extended, in-depth exploration and deep thinking. Facts and figures bob on the surface of knowledge. Understanding is the ocean. We wanted the boys to plumb the depths of the ocean of concepts that made those facts and figures make sense.

We devised a plan where each grade would focus on a developmentallyappropriate aspect of food insecurity. For most of the day, the boys met by grade level, but each day ended with a recap in mixed grade level groups. The Fifth Grade studied where our food comes from, the Sixth Grade nutrition, the Seventh Grade why food insecurity exists, and the Eighth Grade action plans for positive change.

On the first of the three days, all the boys were introduced to the topic. The stage was set for action by discussing our obligations to others. Following this, by grade, the boys participated in a “basketball” activity which had them throwing balls of paper from their seats at a recycle bin placed at the front of the classroom to visually reinforce the message that everyone does not have equal access to sufficient, nutritional food.

Each day ended with mixed groups of boys gathering to answer one question about the day and share their experiences. This part was one of the truly powerful aspects of the Intersession. The boys enjoyed meeting boys they may not have crossed paths with previously, and they were genuinely interested in what each other had to say. Because each grade studied the topic from a unique angle, each boy had something interesting and special to add to the conversation.

Our Opening Presentation

Alex D. performs for guests in line at All Souls

The boys shared their efforts and learning on the final day. All the boys participated in a gallery walk where fifth graders displayed food packaging they had designed that revealed the often hidden origins of the food we eat and the circumstances by which foods reach us. Our sixth-grade “master chefs” plated the nutritious meals they designed and “made” in clay and other media. The Seventh Grade held a “conference” in the Performing Arts Space where groups presented their action plans for ways to tackle the problem of food insecurity. Head of School David Trower selected a winning plan for future development by the School. The Eighth Grade, who had been meeting with local community organizations, such as Immigrant Kitchen and All Souls Church, presented to all the boys several community service ideas to garner interest and participants.

We have boys currently exploring ways to participate in the Midnight Run to deliver toiletries to unhoused individuals, to support the various community organizations that are working to feed our fellow New Yorkers who need help. We have even had boys perform while the guests at the All Souls Food Pantry waited in line to be served on 80th Street. We surveyed the boys and the teachers, and the response was better than we could have expected. While there are clearly things we can tweak the next time around, the Intersession was a resounding success.

Here is a typical Jamboard from the final mixed group session:

A fifth grader responded to our postIntersession survey with “I learned to always eat your food with a grain of salt.” He expressed a theme that ran through many of the responses. Upon being asked what the most important thing they learned was, boy after boy mentioned that they didn’t know just how significant a problem food insecurity is, that food insecurity was a problem right here in our community, that food insecurity could look very different from person to person, and that the problem was complex and intertwined with other social issues. One eighth grader summed up that what he learned was “To always understand things to the fullest.”

We have already begun thinking about next year’s Intersession and how we can find ways to collaborate more, learn deeply, and make the world a better place.

A Place at the Table A chef at work Food Packaging Design

Presenting their plans