Navigating the Rapids: Seventh Grade Experiential Learning

Hear from two teachers who accompanied our seventh graders on experiential learning trips!
From Simon Sjogren: What I took most away from our 7th grade trips was the enthusiasm and energy shown by all the students throughout both days. I often heard, “This is the best experiential learning trip yet,”referring to our Shenandoah river excursion. I also had fun and some first time experiences rock climbing and rafting! So I wasn’t only a chaperone on the trip — I was a participant myself. See the video below!

From Evan Jones: Imagine the strange beauty of six rafts filled with 7th graders splayed in front of you approaching the first rapids on the Shenandoah River.
My first instinct as a teacher was to worry. The rapids are very mild this time of year on the Shenandoah so safety was not my concern. Really I wondered, how will five smart, willful, and bright 12- and 13-year-olds achieve the coordination it takes to navigate the shoals and rocks of the river without getting stuck or falling behind…how would they make it through this group challenge without dissolving into a cacophony of five shouting matches?
I should have known better. This group of 7th graders have come to know each other and appreciate each other better than many groups I have been with over the years. They understand each other’s strengths and foibles. They know how to blend. Nothing brings this out better than these experiential challenges.
So what I heard as I paddled amidst the student-driven boats weren’t shouts and accusations but instead peals of laughter, shrieks of encouragement and applause for a job well done.
To be honest, there were a couple of ruffled feathers here and there where oil and water weren’t mixing in the confines of a small rubber raft. I ached to intervene but held back and watched as the kids worked it out themselves diplomatically and patiently, even changing up raft groups mid-stream less to match up cliques than to match up strengths and personalities. The kids worked it out themselves! And they did it while floating down a river because they had to.
Then the races started. I watched as rafts full of students who had been for the most part grouped randomly appointed a navigating stern-person (without being told to) and could be seen strategizing their way through tricky areas where one false turn would have them stuck on a sandbar. One raft with a student at the helm that had been as much as a half-mile behind the lead boat got down to business and dedicated themselves to touching first at the take out. In fact they made up the difference and wound up touching first 100 yards before the next teacher-driven raft was able to land.
The guides shot me several “Are these kids from Mars?” looks as they observed the leadership and politeness of the students. I heard several tell our shuttle bus driver that this was the best school experience they had, and would definitely be back again.
Perhaps the best testament to the way these kids roll is that they did not fret even though we returned later than expected, and they had themselves organized and prepared so that even though they arrived 20 minutes late for a soccer game against Highland, the teams won and several of the by now exhausted 7th graders played significant roles in the hard fought A-team and B-team victories.

Simon Sjogren is Director of Technology Integration at Wakefield. He also coaches tennis and advises middle school students.

Evan Jones teaches sixth grade English and seventh grade history.

Coming to a Consensus: Sixth Grade Experiential Learning

Well, it was a great two days!  The sixth grade class is an exceptional group of young people who obviously enjoy each others’ company and they have done a fantastic job of making the new members of the class feel welcomed.  I was so impressed with the level of cooperation and respect I observed in the very thoughtful, well-designed  team building exercises.  The words “consensus,” “encourage,” “cooperate,” “problem solve,” and “be positive” were stressed and repeated with every activity to the point where the kids were calling out the words to each other as they rotated through the different challenges. See the video below for an example!

The culminating event was the tower climb.  Harnessed, helmeted, and attached to a secure belay line, each student was encouraged to literally climb out of his or her comfort zone and try to make it to the top of the 50-foot tower. Many of them did, and the cheerful encouragement by class members to one another was the embodiment of the Wakefield motto: “Seek the challenge, make a difference, and live an extraordinary life.”  The first sixth grade experiential event truly was extraordinary!

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Teresa Duke teaches Lower School Art in the first through fifth grades. When she is not teaching art, she is painting in her studio. It is all art, all the time!

Henry Cole Brings His Passion To Wakefield

If there was such a thing as an animated dictionary, Henry Cole could serve as the definition for “passion.”
He is a talented illustrator and writer, which is why we invited him to Wakefield, but he is also hysterically funny, noisy, wildly energetic, and inspiring. During two packed sessions in our Lower School Library, he kept a standing-room only crowd of students and teachers completely focused on his story, his work, and his message.
Mr. Cole was a classroom teacher for many years, and his natural connection with children is obvious from the minute he begins to talk. My mother was the school librarian at one of the schools where he taught, and she used to tell us about him — how he could captivate a class. I thought she meant by his drawings — and she did, but now I know it was more than just his artwork that drew his students in.
When he illustrated his first children’s book, she passed on the news. Over the years, a few copies of his books made their way from her to me. In my fourth grade classroom, I use Livingstone Mouse as an introduction to our unit on explorers, The Boston Tea Party as a fun interlude during our unit on the American Revolution, and sometimes Barefoot as a wrap-up to our unit on the Underground Railroad.
A year ago, I happened to visit his website and noticed that he has a home in Loudoun County. I emailed to say (playing up my connection to his former co-worker, my mother) that I was teaching down the road and used his books, and to ask if he might like to come and visit us. One thing lead to another, and we were pleased to welcome him to Wakefield a few days ago.
If you go to his website, http://www.henrycole.net, it’s easy to see why he seemed such a good fit for us: His talents and passions touch so many areas that are dear to us! His work weaves together the joy of childhood with the beauty of the world around us, history and science, art and music, care for the environment — and of course, reading and writing. He talked to the students about how he found his passion, and the effort it takes to produce a polished finished product, impressing them with his dedication to a job well done.
They asked if he could come back next week… and I’m not surprised. The time flew by as we listened and laughed, each one, I think, inspired by his passion.

And an exciting note: One of Henry Cole’s illustrations that he created during his visit will be hanging in the Lower School library starting next week!
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Katie Hutchison teaches fourth and fifth grade history and geography, and fourth grade English. In her spare time she enjoys reading children’s books, Irish dancing, and anything to do with horses.

Wakefield/Cheetah Conservation Fund Partnership Recognized

“The school’s partnership with the CCF, the Conservation and Research Center, and the Smithsonian Institute allows for real-life observation and training in the field of wildlife conservation and management. Students may visit CCF in Namibia over spring break as part of the coursework for classes in conservation ecology and animal behavior. There, students observe cheetah rehabilitation and tour the veterinary hospital and museum of conservation.” — Virginia Living Magazine editors on our partnership with the Cheetah Conservation Fund

Did you know Wakefield School’s partnership with the Cheetah Conservation Fund (CCF) was recognized as one of the state’s best Co-Op/Partnership programs by Virginia Living Magazine? We are one of only 16 high school partnership programs to be selected! Virginia Living’s Top High Schools & Colleges 2013 recognizes schools for their innovation and excellence in five categories: Arts & Humanities; Science, Math & Technology; Co-Ops & Partnerships; Athletics; and Capital Improvements. After careful review of each school’s programs, the magazine’s editors selected schools that have instituted academic programs, excelled in athletics, or recently begun capital improvements, any or all of which are aimed at strengthening students’ experiences in the classroom, on the field and in their communities. From large public research universities to small private liberal arts colleges, and from public schools systems to private and boarding schools, Virginia Living’s Top High Schools & Colleges is the resource for anyone interested in knowing why Virginia’s schools are consistently ranked among the country’s best.

Wakefield School’s student-produced publications win Gold Medal

Both of Wakefield School’s student-produced publications, the 2012-2013 Talisman and the 2012-2013 Amulet, were Gold Medal Award Winners in the Columbia Scholastic Press Association’s annual critique. The Gold Medal is the highest rating, and Wakefield’s literary magazines have consistently earned this hono

Talisman’s 2013 cover.

Amulet’s 2013 cover.

The Talisman, Wanderlust, is the Upper School’s literary/art magazine, and the Amulet, Head in the Clouds, is its Lower School companion. Entirely student produced, these showcases of Wakefield students’ writing and art reflect both the quality and diversity of the writing and art work submitted, and the unique professionalism of the student editors and staff. Prose, poetry, art, and photography pieces by 56 students in the Lower and Middle Schools contributed in the production of the 2013 Amulet.  

Dr. Thomas Perry, faculty advisor for the publications, said, “This is the first time in my tenure as Faculty Advisor that we submitted both publications individually and both took the gold. Outstanding jobs by the publications teams!”

The 2012-13 Talisman publication team was EricaJoy Oliverio and Alex Simon (Co-Editors-in-chief), Caroline Kessler, Caitlin Wagner and Kate Weimer (Staff). The 2012-13 Amulet publication team was Juliet Mayer (Editor-in-Chief), Morgan Hadlock (Art Editor), Nicole Andersen (Prose Editor), and Devon Vickery (Poetry Editor).

To see both Gold Medal-winning publications, visit http://issuu.com/wakefield_school/docs. To learn more about Wakefield, visit http://www.wakefieldschool.org.

New Beginnings & Nostalgia

One of the great traditions at Wakefield takes place at the first assembly of each new school year. The new class of seniors addresses the new class of first graders, then takes the littlest class by the hands and leads them to their classroom. Watch it above and try not to get a little nostalgic about the passing of time!
This tradition represents a sort of official beginning of the educational journey for the first graders— and the beginning of the end of the seniors’ time at Wakefield. It’s strange to watch the seniors (who you can remember as the younger versions of themselves) enter their final year of high school.
Some of our seniors, who we call “lifers,” have spent 12 years in our uniform and can remember their time in the first grade with Ms. Bohardt. Watching them reminisce about their time in the younger grades is heartwarming. They often have advice, warnings, and memories to share with the first graders, who spend the time walking to the classroom with their eyes trained upward with admiration for the senior.
Poetically, the tradition has another side to it. At the end of the year, at the seniors’ last Wakefield assembly ever, the first graders take them by the hand and lead them to our senior garden. The realization that their time at Wakefield (as students, at least) is nearing its end gradually comes over them.
This is just one of the many unique Wakefield traditions that have marked their time, however long, at the school, and one that they will be sure to take with them on their next journey.