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Goal II
{Goal II . Criterion 1}
Community Understandings
STRENGTHS
All constituent groups overwhelmingly agree that 91st Street educators and students engage in challenging experiences that inspire intellectual curiosity, a global mindset, and a life-long love of learning {II.1}. To do so, educators and students use a variety of strategies to teach and learn—to continually grow and improve.
Faculty and staff leverage professional development opportunities throughout the school year and in the summer, many of which school leaders share and encourage {II.3; II.7}. Opportunities range from recurring annual conferences for ongoing professional networking to once-in-a-lifetime experiences at master institutes that enable adults to inspire and refine their craft and expertise, to distinguished practicums during which leaders apply their study to 91st Street. Inspired by this professional growth, teachers, deans, and division heads develop new curriculum, experiment with different instructional methodologies, and drive divisional initiatives rooted in current educational research and ongoing evaluation {II.2; II.3}.
Academic, cross-disciplinary, and co-curricular programming work together to integrate and develop creativity, critical thinking, and problem solving {II.4; II.6}. Eager to leverage one another’s specialties, teachers and staff initiate most of these collaborations and integrate emerging technologies and future-ready skills. Divisions also hold space and time to nurture peer learning and collaboration in program development and evaluation {II.3; II.7}. Faculty members across divisions and disciplines are
one another’s best sources of inspiration in learning new skills and cultivating the creative use of the imagination.
It is through our adult educator learning that 91st Street students cultivate their own life-long love of learning. Educators model learning for students and inspire growth and development in and out of the classroom through a variety of teaching and learning strategies {II.3}.
For examples of how 91st Street lives Goal II, please ✦ see pages 25–28.
Figure 3. Très Bien Card. During a day of professional development, faculty and sta were asked to write Très Bien cards recognizing their colleagues and the school. Later posted for all to read, these cards illustrated how committed the faculty and sta are to ✦ creatively engaging the students in the life of the mind.
Figure 4. Sensory and Empathy Map for
Parents. When community members were asked to visualize and explore the future behaviors, emotions, and perspectives of dierent community constituents through a sensory and empathy map, some faculty and sta examined the experience of 91st Street parents.
CHALLENGES & OPPORTUNITIES
Constituent groups vary in their perspectives on the greatest opportunities for growth for 91st Street.
Faculty and students across divisions and disciplines are already enjoying the advantages of teaching and learning in our new state-of-the-art FutureLab. Still, faculty and staff know we can further explore
options for optimizing classrooms, spaces, and buildings to better support student learning and encourage more progressive and effective pedagogy {II.5}. We also know that technology will continue to affect all constituency groups, so adults will need to wield expertise in evolving technology while teaching young minds to be free thinkers and balancing their own relationship with technology {II.4}. As agents of change, students will need to understand their roles and digital footprints in a digital world, leverage technology for good and for growth, and balance external forces with their life of academic learning.
When surveyed, Upper School students express that they want classes that are more specialized and tailored toward their interests, with a greater emphasis on learning and less focus on grades {II.2; II.3}. When asked about their visions for the future, Upper School students envision more student-led learning as well as discussion-based seminars that emphasize deepening learning and familiarity with topics of interest such as philosophy, ethics, and current events. They believe the school needs to adopt, embrace, and integrate new technology at a faster pace {II.4}. At the same time, Upper School students seek a better balance in the range of courses, so that there is an emphasis on both the humanities and STEM disciplines and on both hard work and enjoyment {II.6}.
Trustees want to see a more dynamic curriculum through co-curricular programs {II.2; II.4}, and parents want to see enhanced professional growth for faculty and staff {II.7}. Given that faculty and staff regularly develop curriculum and their professional growth, the school may need to communicate more intentionally with families and trustees this fundamental and ongoing work that undergirds the 91st Street educational experience.
Herstory
Grade 4 Social Studies focuses on the theme, “In Search of Freedom & A Call For Change. ” The curriculum considers a variety of perspectives and examines essential questions, including those on ethical judgment and racial justice. Lessons are enriched with curricula from Learning for Justice which focuses on identity, diversity, justice, and action. This curriculum culminates in Herstory, an interdisciplinary project for which every student researches and embodies a notable woman in history, such as ✦ Rachel Carson and ✦ Shirin Ebadi. Herstory is an interdisciplinary unit that includes research, writing, art, creative drama, and public speaking. Students choose from a list of women who represent a range of fields, expertise and accomplishments; comprise a mosaic of racial and ethnic backgrounds; and rose to prominence in ancient times, recent years, or in-between. The list is updated annually based on the whole school’s focus goal for the year. For example, when the school focused on Goal III, the Herstory list focused on artists, activists, changemakers, and legislators. As part of their project, students explain how their woman and her legacy embody the Goal that year.
Love of Learning in Math
The Lower and Middle School Singapore approach to the math curriculum focuses on mastery, which is achieved through intentional sequencing of concepts. Students learn to think mathematically and rely on the depth of knowledge gained in previous lessons. Infusing traditional and progressive methods, we nurture not only proficiency and excellence in math but also the love of it. Students are encouraged to interact with mathematics in a variety of ways, from the playful to the studious, cultivating in them the belief that mathematics learning is both important and fun. The Singapore math approach enables teachers to differentiate the program to meet a wide range of student learning.
The school year begins with an investigation of how mathematics is infused in our daily lives as students are encouraged to think about the idea that ✦ math is everywhere. As an example, the first homework assignment in Grade 4 math asks students to bring an item that represents math in everyday life. Beyond calculators, measuring spoons, and rulers students also bring maps, legos, magnet tiles, and timers with ✦ a written explanation of how their items represent mathematics. This assignment provides an opportunity for students to derive their own answers for commonly-asked questions like, “How will I use what I’m learning now when I grow up?” Beyond Singapore math, accelerated and advanced courses are available for students who are ready to take Algebra I in Grade 7, Geometry in Grade 8, and Linear Algebra and Multivariable Calculus in Grade 12. The math curriculum reflects skill mastery and incorporates problems that explore multiple perspectives. As an example, Grade 7 students demonstrate their understanding of algebraic equations and inequalities through the ✦ Figure Me Out Project. This alternative assessment requires students to write their own algebraic equations and inequalities in which their solutions correspond to a fact about themselves. To explore the diversity of their class, students share at least one fact about their identity, heritage, or culture.
Dynamic Research Projects
Throughout all divisions of 91st Street, research is a key skill that encourages students to investigate information from multiple sources and make sense of it for themselves.
In the Lower School, the STREAM (science, technology, research, engineering, art, and math) curriculum builds on children’s natural curiosity and creativity. As an example, the Grade 2 STREAM project is all about biomes. In library class, students research their individual animal and its unique adaptations using online and print resources and graphic organizers. In science, students learn about relationships between organisms in their animal’s biome, and as a class, create food webs to show how all of the animals in their biomes rely on each other to survive. Students then create ✦ a diorama of their animal in its ideal habitat. In technology class, students use Google Slides to create ✦ a “zoo card” with key facts about their animal. In their homerooms, students read and listen to ✦ pourquoi tales, fictional narratives that explain why something is the way it is. The project culminates in the ✦ Biome Project Celebration, where families come to view the students’ dioramas, zoo cards, and pourquoi stories. By the end of the project, students develop their understanding of interconnectedness between living things in nature world-wide.
In the Middle School, research skills taught in library class are the driving force that link disciplines together to create a rich and integrated learning experience for the students. In the ✦ Animal Adaptations Project, Grade 5 students learn how to use various research databases, such as Gale in Context: Middle School and ProQuest: SIRS Discoverer, to research animals and design their own unique animal with physical and behavioral adaptations that help it survive. Then, students use Tinkercad to create three-dimensional models of their animals and eventually 3D print them. Progressing through ✦ four steps, students have designed the ✦ Comminationix and the ✦ Lady Panda. The Grade 11 Theology independent research course focuses on the person of Jesus Christ, reflecting on the place of Christ in the New Testament, in subsequent theological, ethical, and sacramental reflection and in the visual arts. Students learn to do exegetical work and to use the historical-critical method in their interpretation of biblical texts. Each student proposes a research project on a specific Christological theme and shares their research with the class in a 40-minute presentation at the end of the year. In 2022, ✦ oral presentation topics spanned an incredible range, from Byzantine Ecclesiastical Architecture to biomedical ethics o Castro’s Cuba.
National History Day Contest
National History Day frames students’ research within a historical theme, chosen for broad application to world, national, or state history and its relevance to ancient history or to the more recent past. Each year, Grade 10 students participate in the National History Day Contest. Students choose a ✦ historical topic related to the annual theme, and then conduct primary and secondary research. They look through libraries, archives, and museums, conduct oral history interviews, and visit historic sites. After analyzing and interpreting their sources and drawing a conclusion about the significance of their topic, they present their work in one of five ways: as a paper, an exhibit, a performance, a documentary, or a website. Enjoy Sofia Brennan’s documentary on Ping Pong Diplomacy.
Test Prep for All
We are now entering our sixth year of partnership with Compass Education Group, which entitles students to 18 hours of one-on-one instruction subsidized by 91st Street. Our partnership with Compass not only includes tutoring, but also covers their proprietary curriculum, director support, a document camera, and access to proctored tests and grading services. Our goal in this partnership is to make sure that all students, regardless of their own means and resources, have individual test prep made available to them because that is ultimately the best way for our students to reach their full potential.
Dance Education
As part of the physical education program, the dance curriculum coincides with many academic subjects and also combines DEI themes into the lessons. Grades 3 and 4 are the perfect example of this:
In the winter, Grade 3 students combine their dance knowledge with their close reading skills of poetry. Working in small groups, students use the Language of Dance notation to create short dances inspired by a poem, such as ✦ Amanda Gorman’s “New Day's Lyric. ”
Grade 4 students learn about dance styles from many different cultures as we honor heritage month celebrations. For example, in the fall students learn ✦ Latin ballroom dances as we celebrate Hispanic/Latinx Heritage Month and in the winter students learn Black American dances such as Lindy Hop and Hip Hop in conjunction with Black History Month.
Les Misérables
A vibrant example of a dynamic, innovative, collaborative experience that crosses the disciplines, leverages the physical environment, and explores history through theater, the spring 2022 immersive production of Les Misérables gave attendees the opportunity to move and engage with the actors. Les Misérables, known for its unmasking of social injustices and its push for love and compassion, asked audience members to see where feeding off of the actors' energy led them, take the risk to be close to the characters they met and imagine what their circumstances might be like, consider whether they would form the relationships that the characters form and whether they would fight as they fight. Audience members moved to ✦ different performance spaces during the production, ascended and descended stairs, and stood to watch scenes. Accommodations were available for audience members in need of them.
FutureLab
The recently completed FutureLab is already creating new approaches to teaching and opportunities for learning in science, technology, engineering, art, and math. The new facilities—two makerspaces, a research lab, science labs, multipurpose STEM classrooms, a performing arts media lab and sound booth, faculty offices, student lounges and working spaces, as well as a connecting atrium linking the two mansions and a renovated dining hall—will touch virtually every student at Sacred Heart.
With undertaking the project, the School has reimagined teaching and learning spaces to encourage imagination, collaboration, and innovation. Each space has been carefully designed to maximize space and flexibility, curiosity and creativity. Across the disciplines, faculty, staff, and students are now making, building, and bringing to life so much that they previously had limited capacity to do or had to purchase—creating completely new learning experiences, expanding opportunities for exploration with subject matter, and increasing collaborations among educators to create more dimensions in coursework.
Little Einsteins Club
Little Einsteins Club is a student-led science club where Upper School students volunteer their time, once or twice a week, to educate and teach Lower Science students science. Upper School students prepare and design classes which run for 45 minutes and lead Grade 3 students in engaging with various activities.
Diversity Audit
After attending a summer institute in 2019, the Libraries began to thoughtfully audit the library collections and ✦ work with other departments and disciplines to help them identify the diversity within class materials. In order for our pedagogy to reflect our students and our world we needed to reflect, mirror, and expand our community’s understanding of diversity and make sure that our collections are representative of many stories. With the School’s continued focus on equity and inclusion it is imperative that we think about our natural biases as we analyze the books we have, the heroes we highlight, the artists and scientists whose work we hold in esteem. The Libraries have targeted specific sections to analyze: holidays, history, realistic fiction, etc., and this is a work in progress. The long term goal is to teach the adults in our community to continually evaluate their choices to represent diversity, inclusion, and social justice in their own work.
Robotics Team
The Robotics Team, open to Grades 7 through 12, uses FIRST LEGO to design, program, and build a robot for competitions hosted by FIRST Robotics. FIRST LEGO League hosts an annual competition for the robot that best solves the year’s problem that students design a robot to solve. In 2021, the team designed and programmed a device to unplug on its own when not in use and conserve energy, winning second place in the competition for their environmental innovation.
