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When it comes to history, Barnard describes the tech-
nique she employed when teaching her Third Form
Humanities class about Ancient Rome. In lieu of a lec-
ture on why students should care about Augustus, she
instead raised the essential questions of the unit: What
does it mean to be a good leader? What are the obligations
of a leader to his or her people?
“Those are questions they can engage with on many
different levels,” Barnard says, “which might make them
a little more interested in figuring out who this Augus-
tus guy was, what we can learn from his model, and
what effect his example had on our notions of citizen-
ship or leadership.”
Subject matter is irrelevant, explains Barnard, arguing
that the student-centered aspect is about developing
students’ desire to ask questions.
“As a teacher, it’s feeling not like you have to force a
certain amount of material into their heads, but rather
to be a resource for them,” Barnard says. “Instead of see-
ing the students as empty vessels that need to be filled,
you’re cultivating their curiosity.”
PROCESS OVER CONTENT
Although opponents to SCL are likely out there, it is
difficult to get them to speak. Still, Hirschfeld admits
the application of SCL to non-sciences is “one of the
tensions,” among the faculty.
“In mathematics and language,” Hirschfeld
says, “content actually drives the depth of your
understanding. You need a mathematics
vocabulary to do math, and a German 1
teacher can’t say, ‘Figure out how to
say good morning in German.’ You have
to teach content. The trick is how to
teach content. How do you get your
students to own their learning?”
Ironically, Hirschfeld identifies the
SCL lexicon as the underlying trouble-
maker. “You get into these mantras,
and that mantra doesn’t really fit
languages or mathematics neatly.
The [SCL] vocabulary is tricky. We trip
ourselves up in its emphasis on process
over content.”
SCL is founded on a rapidly evolving
body of knowledge. As research continues to
transform our understanding of how the brain
works, perhaps we’ll discover that we learn more
when our brains are less active, or that aspects of
discarded teaching methods are more effective than
newer techniques. One of the appeals of SCL is its
flexibility – just as it aims to imbue students with the
ability to adapt to any scenario, it’s inherently built to
change with the times.
Hirschfeld is confident in the faculty’s ability to
adapt, too, particularly with the ongoing professional
development and opportunities to
experiment in the laboratory
classrooms of the Center
for Innovative Teach-
ing. “We have out-
standing teachers
who work incred-
ibly hard,” the
Rector says.
“The key is
establishing
the best way
to educate them
without clobber-
ing them.”
“
We have to
prepare our students
not for our world, but
for the one they’re
going to inhabit
and lead.
”
