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Sharing stories about inspired learning in independent schools

  • We Inspire Leadership

    Social Justice Slam and the Power Of Student Voice

    Buckley Country Day School turned its auditorium into a showcase for some of its brightest young minds, sharing some of their most passionate work at the Social Justice Slam. It was certainly a night to remember, as students used their voices and imagery—through poetry and film about social issues and courageous human rights defenders—yielding results […]

    11 Recommendations
  • We Challenge Minds

    Freshmen Students Design and Build Security Robot for Campus Safety Team

    Three robotics and engineering students at The Episcopal School of Dallas have successfully designed and built a security robot for the ESD Campus Safety team. Following a request from the ESD campus safety team, Carter Bakewell ’21, Tripp Benners ’21, and Stella Foreman ’21 began working on a robot that could be used effectively by […]

    7 Recommendations
  • We Shape the Future

    Engineering Diploma Program Helps Students Build Their Futures

    Students at Pinewood Preparatory School who might be thinking of pursuing an engineering degree in college—and possibly even a future career—now have a chance to get an early start. Starting this year, the Engineering Diploma program exposes high school students to a variety of concepts, skills, and applications that, once completed, will provide a solid […]

    26 Recommendations
  • We Strengthen Communities

    Students Explore Climate Change’s Effect, Local Responses, Ethical Ramifications

    In Watershed School’s Global Climate Change course, juniors are introduced to the science of past and present changes, how human societies could be affected in the future, how governments are responding to what is known, and the issue’s ethical ramifications. It culminates in a class project with a practical component that also educates the public. […]

    22 Recommendations
  • We Encourage Exploration

    Headlines and Backstories

    Culminating events get the headlines but the real work lies in the backstories. Every academic year at Kent School ends with students demonstrating their mastery of a subject area or participating in a full circle experience where students can showcase and share their knowledge. The work leading up to these events showcases our teachers’ continuing […]

      Recommend This
  • We Challenge Minds

    6th Graders Decolonize Historical Markers

    As part of the social justice unit on indigenous rights, the 6th graders learned about the purpose, conditions, and lasting impact that American Indian boarding schools had on Native Americans. They created historical markers that tell a more inclusive story of the past by writing new text to more accurately reflect the systematic nature of […]

    1 Recommendation
  • We Encourage Exploration

    STARFEST: Create, Learn, Stargaze

    There are so many reasons to love our rural, riverside campus and recently we added another one to the list. On a cool evening in February, the new moon and resulting dark night sky provided the perfect backdrop for our inaugural STARFEST. STARFEST was born from the discovery that our First Grade students, led by […]

      Recommend This
  • We Inspire Leadership

    Building Empathy Block By Block

    We play the “Empathy Builders” game created by Jackson Westenskow with sixth graders as an introduction to the two year capstone leadership project called weLEAD. It is a unique and engaging cooperative game designed to foster teamwork and empathy among students without relying on verbal communication. The participants work together to construct an 18-block tower […]

      Recommend This
  • We Encourage Exploration

    Code To Inspire, Create, And Innovate

    For almost a decade, we have dedicated a full day of school to our “Day of Code” for the fifth through seventh graders, and wow has it grown to be one of the highlights of the year. When we started this annual event, it was teachers helping students to immerse themselves in computer programming. Now, […]

      Recommend This
  • We Cultivate Character

    Kid Social Entrepreneurs Work Together For Others

    We introduced the concept of teaching first and fifth graders about social entrepreneurship over seven years ago and never looked back. This spring, our first grade entrepreneurs worked collaboratively with 5th graders for another successful year of the Nifty Note Company. This interdisciplinary project-based learning unit reached across subjects, including media, design, branding, and economics. […]

      Recommend This
  • We Strengthen Communities

    Migration's Cultural Impact

    The theme for the 6th grade social studies curriculum is migration, culture and belonging. One of our project-based learning units is the study of immigration and refugees, and how they influence cultural diffusion through the exchange of ideas and technology. Migration of people results from political, economic, and social factors that push or pull people […]

      Recommend This
  • We Inspire Leadership

    HUMM Institute at Trinity Hall Provides Leadership Outreach to Girls in the Community

    This experiential learning activity was introduced through Trinity Hall’s HUMM Institute, an entrepreneurial ecosystem intentionally designed to encourage young women to explore the business of design through an entrepreneurial lens. This collaborative exercise conducted in joint partnership with a number of students from Holy Cross Academy in Rumson, NJ culminated with the following article highlighting […]

      Recommend This
  • We Challenge Minds

    Fraction Timeline

    Fifth graders at All Saints’ Episcopal School connect mathematics with their own real-life experiences. Students created a number line labeling whole numbers through their age on their next birthday. We discuss ways in which we can take a whole year and divide it evenly into fractional pieces. Students suggest days (/365), weeks (/52), seasons (/4), […]

      Recommend This
  • We Strengthen Communities

    Otis and Ira: Friends at School

    Old Trail School (age 2-Grade 8), which had mandated the indoor wearing of masks for all students, faculty and staff since returning to campus in fall of 2020, shifted to a mask-optional policy on Monday, February 28. To help younger students better understand and respect the decision of some classmates to continue wearing masks, our […]

      Recommend This
  • We Cultivate Character

    Small and Mighty Voices

    The Kent School community recently saw the power of a child’s voice in action when Second Grader Lana recognized gender and racial disparity in a video presented by her Lower School Spanish teacher, Elizabeth Greenwell. Greenwell shared an animated video with her students to learn a song in Spanish. After watching the video, Lana noted […]

    1 Recommendation
  • We Nurture Growth

    A Day In the Life at MDS!

    In the Park Slope neighborhood of Brooklyn, we are a small community school with so much life and warm energy. Each day you will hear the hustle and bustle of morning drop off and afternoon pick up; playful laughter of the children; the children singing along to our famous Mr. Huw; or outdoor playing soccer […]

      Recommend This

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