主题研究推动新中学课程规划

尽管有这么多的伤害, the COVID-19 pandemic drove many school administrators and teachers to explore new opportunities for pedagogical innovation. 在Waynflete, 中学 Director 迪夫Muralidhara sought out fresh ideas to make the school’s grades 6–8 program more interdisciplinary, 更多的相互联系, 更加相互依赖, 从而在学年和年级之间建立更大的凝聚力. 在校长Geoff Wagg的支持下, Divya determined that this change would take the form of “thematic studies”—major themes for each of the three grade levels that would serve as the foundation for curriculum development.

在征求了中学全体教员的初步反馈后, 达维亚于2022年3月成立了一个五人委员会. The group comprised both new and seasoned faculty members who were passionate about the thematic studies concept and eager to think beyond their own academic disciplines. Divya granted the team significant autonomy to shape the loosely formed concept into a sequence that would enable teachers to build on the material taught in earlier grades. “我把我的名字写进去是因为我喜欢这种综合思考,卡西Pruyn回忆道, 在委员会任职的英语老师. “我对把所有这些不同的想法联系起来的过程很感兴趣.”

四月假期之后, committee members worked with Divya to put the final touches on the draft themes prior to a faculty presentation in May. “我喜欢我所看到的委员会之间的联系，”达维亚说. “他们作为一个整体充满活力，他们的辩论和讨论具有真正的价值.”

A preamble to the introduction of the themes explains that they were designed “to awaken the imagination, 加深对自我和社区的好奇心, 提供反思和探究的空间, 拓宽自己的世界观.受马斯洛需求层次理论的启发, 六年级的主题, “适应, 生存, 茁壮成长,探讨了需求是如何驱使人类去发明和创新的, 世界各地的文明如何找到不同的方式来满足自己的需求, and how the design of our bodies (and understanding of our identities) reflects adaptations to the needs of survival. 

七年级学生以“探索家园”为主题，开阔了眼界.学生们问:家和社区对我来说意味着什么? 理解社区的作用如何使bet365官网对彼此更加感同身受? 倾听彼此的故事如何加强bet365官网的社区? bet365官网对保护和培育bet365官网的星球有什么责任呢?

最后, 在八年级，最具戏剧性的主题出现了:“改变:毁灭”, 转换, 创建.“bet365官网对‘毁灭’这个词想了很多，”凯西说. “bet365官网知道，对一些人来说，这个词可能有负面含义. 但这是一个令人兴奋的词. bet365官网希望学生们能思考，‘我能做些什么不同的事情?’” Students spend the year exploring how they can harness forces of change to reinvent themselves and the world around them. How must we challenge the thinking of the architects of our societal structure to address profound injustices? How can our passions and leadership skills motivate us to act in the face of challenges and uncertainty? bet365官网怎样才能有效地相互接触，带来改变?

随着学生在三个年级的进步，主题变得更加抽象, meeting them where they are developmentally and ultimately preparing them for a successful transition to the 上学校. Committee members sought to strike a difficult balance—to create a curriculum-building framework that wasn’t stiflingly specific yet not so broad as to be “mushy” (i.e.，太容易将任何内容与主题联系起来). “它会失去一些张力，”凯西说. “The idea was to create openings through which someone teaching in any department or discipline could connect.”

中学 faculty discussed the proposed themes in small groups and provided feedback to committee members. 委员会成员的工作受到了“极大的尊重和赞赏”, 迪夫说.

去年春天，随着学年结束的临近, grade-level teaching teams met in workshops to start sketching out potential changes to the curriculum that would incorporate the new themes. 虽然预计第一年不会进行彻底的大修, 教师们被要求将课堂内容的某些方面与主题联系起来. Stipends were made available to some teachers who were interested in significantly revising their curricula. “教学总是让人觉得很紧迫，”凯西说. “暑假的暂停和津贴真的很有价值. 我几乎可以计划整个前三个月.”

These programmatic changes were also intended to open up new opportunities for cross-departmental collaboration. “We need to meet the highly integrated brains of our middle schoolers with a highly integrated program, 在这个世界里，知识不是单独对待的，而是相互联系的,达薇亚说. 这种情况已经在一定程度上发生了. English teacher Alyssa Goodrich and history teacher Hannah Walton had sought out common threads in their curricula and designed a shared theme of courageous citizenship. Science teacher Stephanie Dolan and visual arts chair Jona Rice had collaborated on an exploration of the scientific applications and artistic uses of light. 然而，教员们想要更进一步. “对主题的真实参与将导致真正的跨学科联系,卡西说。.

丽莎·利比(Lisa Libby)六年级的生物课已经很适合“适应”这个主题了, 生存, 茁壮成长.她说:“我在那门课上教的几乎所有东西都包含了这一点。. 所有优秀的老师都会珍惜重新思考课程的机会, 然而, 所以合作的想法是丽莎整个夏天工作的首要任务. 当时她正在设计一个关于动物结构和行为适应的新单元, 一个想法开始具体化:如果让学生们设计一种想象中的动物会怎么样, 用整块布做, 基于一组随机分配的特征和适应性? 我打电话给同事、视觉艺术老师金·法尔(Kim Farr)，为即将到来的学年制定了一个计划. 六年级学生在科学课上创造了“新”动物(和它们的栖息地)之后, 金将帮助他们将工作扩展到视觉艺术领域. 你如何通过插图来展示特征和行为? 以及如何画出逼真的羽毛和爪子? 

约翰•麦克德维特表示:“这些主题可以贯穿所有课程。. 这对六年级学生来说尤其重要, 谁生平第一次在每门课上都有不同的老师.作为研讨会老师, John occupies the unique position of being the only faculty member to instruct every middle school student over the course of an academic year on a range of developmentally appropriate topics ranging from self-awareness and self-management to social awareness, 人际关系的技巧, and responsible decision making (he also provides counsel to faculty members on advising activities). “每个人现在都在关注如何利用这些主题来指导bet365官网在课堂上做什么,他说. “But we’re already having some great conversations about how we can do more to incorporate the themes into advising.”

这是成功的第一年. History teachers are leading their classes in discussions about ancient civilizations that thrived through innovation and adaptation. Students have examined the concepts of destruction and transformation during their units on the Reconstruction era, 吉姆·克劳时代, 以及民权运动. 七年级的学生bet365官网了美国的土著居民, bet365官网每个人都有家的感觉, 不管它在哪里. (A unit on Ukraine led to a discussion about what happens when your city or nation is taken away from you and how this could affect your sense of belonging.) English classes have explored how our essential needs catalyzed the invention of stories—what power do stories hold, 以及它们在人类历史进程中是如何改变bet365官网的?

Eighth-grade Spanish students have discussed what it means to leave a place that has always been home and the reasons why we might be forced to leave. 在体育课上, students have explored how our movements influence those around us and how we can coexist in tight spaces. 虽然机器人课程基本上是关于创造和转化的, 专题研究进一步推动了课程的发展. 学生们研究了这个领域是如何创造新的可能性和摧毁某些工作的. 

随着第一年的专题研究接近尾声, Divya和中学的老师们很快就会见面分享他们的成功, 为那些寻找创新方法将主题与课程联系起来的人提供支持, 并探索明年教师之间更广泛合作的想法. “Our students will be going into 上学校 with a different sensibility around knowledge and understanding than perhaps they’ve had before, 因为bet365官网有意地教授这些想法和问题,达薇亚说. “There is real potential to continue this approach of essential questions informing every aspect of our teaching and our work with young people. I think that we live in a world where finding commonality is an essential part of the journey of life.”

丽莎他. “Making a curriculum that is cohesive and interconnected means we’re all moving toward the same goal,她说。. “这个框架对我来说很有意义. 我想这对学生来说也是有意义的.”

上图为专题研究委员会成员David Jaffe, 妮可Wiesendanger, 希瑟·科特斯·哈特, 迪夫Muralidhara, 卡西Pruyn, 和纳特·西尔弗森.