A MESSAGE FROM HEAD OF SCHOOL ANN V. KLOTZ and DIRECTOR OF TEACHING AND LEARNING MEGAN WEISKOPF
OWNERSHIP
OF LEARNING
T
o provide a superb education for girls has been Laurel’s goal since 1896. As we move into our 126th year, our understanding of teaching and learning continues to evolve. We know now, for example, that attending to social and emotional wellbeing improves academic achievement. To thrive in school, girls must feel seen and heard and valued. We seek to empower girls and young women, reminding them that they are not passive recipients of knowledge, but participants in and designers of their own education. Agency, voice and choice matter.
Too often, girls subscribe to the myth of effortless perfection; brilliant grades must be achieved without breaking a sweat. At Laurel, we seek to interrupt this dangerous misconception by making learning visible, by commending the struggle to master a challenging concept, by offering opportunities to try out ideas, and to show deep learning. Emphasizing understanding over points; honoring process as much as product; holding high standards while simultaneously showing students a variety of paths they can take to scale those heights are all tools our teachers use to help our girls understand that education is not something that happens to them, but something that happens for them, with them, even led by them. In conjunction with Laurel’s Center for Research on Girls (LCRG), over 4
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the last two years, the Coronavirus notwithstanding, the academic faculty and divisional leadership have been hard at work on ways to encourage ownership of learning in students, Kindergarten through Grade Twelve. Ownership of learning means that a girl is in charge of her choices as a student. This past year more than ever, girls at all grade levels were keeping track of their supplies, remembering to wash hands and stay distanced, and generally taking more responsibility for themselves and their spaces. These were not just critical health and safety protocols in an unusual time; they were the kind of habits that encourage attention to detail, sense of purpose and agency, ability to take responsibility—all transferable skills that are foundational for learning. They were a pandemic-specific part of “readiness to learn,” a category on the
LCRG-designed “Ownership of Learning” documents used by a student, together with her teachers and/or advisor, to guide and chart her growth. The strategies outlined in these documents create a kind of checklist for executive function, which is itself a critical foundation for learning. Students work with advisors and teachers to set goals and identify areas of strength and areas on which they need to focus. At student-led conferences, girls share progress against those goals. While there are, of course, developmental differences between the targets a Fourth Grader and a Junior have, girls know what they need to do to be successful. While teachers and parents serve as guides and resources, we want girls to develop habits of mind that will inspire them to think deeply, to take responsibility for their work, to understand that the degree to which they apply themselves will have an effect on outcomes. This is an exciting new shift in the focus of education, and it requires that adults learn along with the girls to see teacher/ student/classroom dynamics in new ways. Adults are accustomed to thinking of teachers as people of authority, and that is, of course, one of a teacher’s roles. However, at Laurel, we know learning happens best when the students do not simply depend on the authority of their teachers. When girls look exclusively to
