St. Andrews-Sewanee School
“A Spontaneity To Good Teaching”
Teenagers rarely use the words “hard” and “fun” in the same sentence, but at St. Andrews-Sewanee School , the students seem happy to be pushed to their intellectual limits. “I am taking the hardest English class I’ve ever taken, and I’m getting lower grades, but I am enjoying it much more,” said Daniel S., ’09. “I feel like I’m really learning how to write.”
There are many reasons why learning flourishes at SAS, beginning with a faculty that is deeply committed to the welfare of young people, and to the life of the mind. But just as important, SAS refuses to put its students on a forced march through human history to cover what will appear on a standardized exam. SAS faculty members don’t teach to a test; they teach to their students.
Teachable moments are everywhere. In the fall of 2008, Burki Gladstone’s World History class was humming along in its studies of economics in the developing world. But then the subprime mortgage crisis hit, and the questions were everywhere. What is a housing bubble? Or a mortgage-backed security? Why were huge banks failing? Gladstone had a choice: the class could either put its collective head down and stick to the syllabus, or deal with the topic on everyone’s mind. With some hasty improvisation, the class spent two weeks learning about the crisis that they were also living through. Gladstone’s class gets rave reviews from her students. “It’s more in-depth learning than taking a test and spitting back answers,” said Greer S., ’10. “We learned how to write.”
“My favorite thing is talking with Mr. Gladstone for an hour at lunch about a book we’ve read,” said Tanner B., ’10.
Gladstone’s class is not the only one in which flexibility is a watchword. “There is a spontaneity to good teaching that really works here,” observed Head of School Father John Thomas. According to Zoe P., ’10, SAS’s flexibility means that “we can learn more about what we want to know. If there is a freak snow storm, we talk about the weather.”
Part of the reason that improvisation flourishes at SAS is the deep subject-matter knowledge of the faculty. To respond to the interests of students, teachers must know their stuff. To Math Chair and Calculus teacher Cameron Sisson, curricular independence means that he can “pick an idea and go very deep with it.” In last year’s Calculus class, he devoted extra attention to techniques such as integration by parts and exponential substitution, which often get no more than passing mention. This approach helps Sisson lay bare the creativity in math that is often obscured by courses that race to cover as much as possible. “There are lots of different ways to solve problems,” he said. “You don’t have to learn just one method.”
The richness of classroom life notwithstanding, much of the best learning at SAS takes place in the dorms and dining halls. “My favorite thing is talking with Mr. Gladstone for an hour at lunch about a book we’ve read,” said Tanner B., ’10, referring to Tom Gladstone, the other half of a dynamic teaching couple. Tanner cites a short story called “The Drumming Sands” by Ibrahim Al-Kouni as one of his favorites. Though it is a staple of advanced college courses in Middle Eastern Literature, the book seldom appears on high-school course lists. Tanner and his classmates were so motivated by Gladstone’s class that, a year later, they have formed a book club. “Our goal is to top Oprah,” said Tanner, who dubs the group as “the Gladstoners.”
“If you understand thoroughly a few concepts in physics, you can learn other physics. But if you’ve covered physics in a blur, you’ll be at a loss.”
SAS is one of the few schools in the nation with a single faculty member who teaches advanced courses in English, Biology, and Physics. Originally an English teacher, Celeste Shibata went back to school in her 30s to do a masters degree in Biochemistry. Few teachers have the breadth of knowledge of Shibata, or a better understanding of why homegrown curriculum is so crucial to a dynamic learning environment. “If I am teaching the things that I am passionate about, my chances are greater of reeling in the kids and making them love what I am teaching,” she said. Like other teachers, she emphasizes depth over coverage. “If you understand thoroughly a few concepts in physics, you can learn other physics. But if you’ve covered physics in a blur, you’ll be at a loss.”
SAS is a testament to the possibilities in an academic community that is finely tuned to the intellectual, personal, and spiritual needs of its students. In the words of English teacher Susan Core, “If we can give our students the passion, that’s just as important as giving them knowledge.”
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