Humanities

What can a girl discover if she knows where and how to look?

Due to the cooperative nature of the Middle School humanities faculty, the English, world languages, ancient civilizations, citizenship in action, and global cultures teachers are able to blend concepts and values across disciplines for the benefit of their students. This interdisciplinary approach, combined with an inquiry-based process, prompts a student to learn while employing a variety of resources. As a result, she becomes a careful reader, a curious questioner, and a clear communicator.

The more we provide girls the opportunity to find relevance in their own lives, to personally connect with the people and topics they are studying, and to bring to life the content, the more they learn and comprehend.

—LYNNE MACZIEWSKI, GPS HEAD OF MIDDLE SCHOOL

Most GPS Middle School humanities classes begin the year with essential questions— queries that drive the curriculum and provide a way for girls to connect the content to their own lives. For example, simply asking, “How do I fit into a global environment?” can drive analysis of a literary text or reflection about another civilization or country. She also experiences cultural immersion in her world language classes.

Girls are exposed to many different lived experiences—both of their peers and students around the world. They are taught how to curate evidence and gather quality information, as well as share their thoughts and ideas through civil discourse. Whether through a Socratic seminar or the Harkness method, sharing of thoughts, ideas, and perspectives with peers in a respectful and supportive learning environment leads to a greater understanding of the subject matter. In English, her teachers integrate Latin into methods to increase her vocabulary.

Often away from their desks and spread across the classroom floor or huddled in small groups, girls might use design-thinking to propose solutions to real problems such as creating an artistic map on how a bill becomes a law. In every project, students are challenged to use evidence to support their findings—aloud or on paper—and to consider more than one position along the way. Acquisition of these skills sets the stage for success in the GPS Upper School and beyond as our girls become global citizens and critical thinkers.