by Mike Davis, Ph.D.
Head of School


This week, I had the opportunity to see the kind of unique learning that can only happen in a Pre-K-12 community. There are so many distinctive aspects of being part of a school community that nurtures children between the ages of 4 and 18. From our Senior/Kindergarten Buddy program, to cross-divisional faculty classroom tours, we have a number of programs that pair students and teachers together across divisions to observe and enhance the continuum of how students learn at CA.

 

Recently, ninth and fourth grade teachers collaborated on a project that illustrates just how much can be achieved when students learn from one another. The connected content was all about folk tales by famous African author, and this year’s NSK Neustadt Prize for Children’s Literature award winner, Meshak Asare. Ninth grade students were tasked with reading aloud and then teaching the elements of folk tales to the fourth graders.

 

As students from Upper School English Teacher Tom Thorpe’s class entered Suzanne Kolsun Jackson’s fourth grade class to teach, they loomed large, squeezing into the small desks.  If you haven’t seen it, KJ’s classroom is lined wall-to-wall with books.  She is a teacher who delights in teaching reading, and she is thrilled to bring in more multicultural literature into her classroom.  The class began with welcomes and a brief description. Then the students separated into small groups, with ninth graders leading a discussion with the fourth graders.

 

After reading aloud The Magic Goat and Sosu’s Call, students compared these stories with other award-winning African folk tales. As Thorpe notes, the exposure to these different versions is unique and broadens a student’s cultural understanding.  After reading the stories, the students talked about the common elements of an African folk tale. Kolsun Jackson advised the ninth graders not to just “give the fourth graders the answers.” She challenged her students to dig deep and look beyond the obvious.  As they broke into groups, it was fun to watch the ninth graders gently lead a discussion on their own and to see the truly funny and insightful interactions that ensued.

 

The result was that the older students had the unique opportunity to practice their understanding of literature by actually teaching it. And the younger students got to interact with older students in a meaningful way; all gained a deeper understanding of different literature. At the end of the day, the fourth grade students had a variety of answers to their teacher’s question of “How was it working with the ninth graders today?” Here is what they said: “Fun,” “It was awesome!” “Excellent,” “Fun and sweet,” “Interesting,” and “Funny.”

 

In the coming weeks, the freshmen will take the lesson one step farther and write their own folk tales. The English Department will judge those pieces, and the authors of the winning selections will attend this year’s Neustadt awards ceremony in Oklahoma. There, the lesson will come full circle and students will get the great opportunity to meet Asare. Two to four students attend the Neustadt awards ceremony each year, thanks to a generous gift by CA parent Kathy Neustadt, mother of Tess Hankin, class of 2016, and Josh Hankin, class of 2019.