about the exhibition of learning

All ABOUT THE XHIBITION E OF L EARNING

“Nerdy and beautiful” is how Mrs. Hovanec, an English and an AP ™ Captone teacher at Oakton, described our Exhibition of Learning(EoL) which is quickly approaching. On April 9 and 10, our students will gather in the gyms to share stories of their learning with peers, staff, county personnel, and community members in the annual EoL. The exhibition is an amazing opportunity for students and teachers to present things they have learned in and outside of the classroom in a celebration of learning.

The EoL is not like a traditional classroom presentation. At the exhibition, people from across the community have the opportunity to listen to these innovative presentations, and, more importantly, students get to present about topics they genuinely care about. Mrs Hovanec described talking to one of her students at EoL several years ago. This particular student hated English class and “always looked angry,” but at the exhibition, he presented something he had made in his art class, and “he was smiling,” Mrs. Hovanec said enthusiastically. She explained how the “transformation on his face” was indescribable, and how it allowed her to see this student differently. “It would be totally irrational for me to expect all 165 of my English students to love English, but to know that the kids that don’t love English do have something that they love makes me feel very happy,” she said. When asked what she thinks makes a good presentation, Mrs. Hovanec simply said, “passion.” Picking a topic that is important to the student is a key factor in creating a meaningful presentation. Mrs. Hovanec explained how it’s not difficult to decipher which students are talking about topics that are truly significant to their learning and which are presenting about last-minute or ‘easy’ topics. Those who choose to present about something they care about “would

Photo courtest of Mrs. Hovanec.

stand there and talk to somebody about this topic regardless of EoL,” said Mrs. Hovanec.

Mrs. Hovanec shared some of the most memorable EoLs that she has seen in past years. First, one student presented on traditional iron smithing. He displayed pictures and videos of him pouring molten metal into molds to create things like swords in the forge he had set up in his garage. Another presentation was about a brother-sister pair who did Taekwondo together. What made this presentation so memorable was that the sister was in middle school, but she so eagerly wanted to present with her brother that her parents excused her from school for the day so she could come to the EoL with her older brother.

As of right now, Oakton is the only school with an EoL, but several schools are joining us in the journey of the Capstone experience. Soon these other schools will start implementing EoLs and “we are going to bring that joy to some other schools and I’m very happy about that,” said Mrs. Hovanec. In addition to spreading the EoL, Mrs. Hovanec hopes that in the future more family and community members can come to the EoL.

Whether it be about learning to cook, origami, or an extreme LEGO build, the Exhibition of Learning is a place to demonstrate learning in a non-traditional and joy-provoking manner. Members of the Oakton Community are lucky to get to take part in the cutting-edge and pioneering EoL.