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Leadership & Literature: The new English 10 course emphasizes leadership
Summer 2016 Volume 21, Issue 1 St. Mark’s School of Texas Alumni Magazine
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Thinking Forward Goals for St. Mark’s IV
“The lives of the students are bound together by an invisible band of something that makes them as one great family of brothers, and as a family they began to labor and to accomplish for their school.”
(above) A student studies outside on the Perot Family Quadrangle
While this sentiment certainly applies to the
School until its force may be felt after us and its
St. Mark’s of today, it was written more than 100
principles travel down through the ages, with
years ago by the editor of The Terrill School’s 1914
honor just as pure and unchallengeable as the
Terrillian yearbook. It is a sentiment that has been
respect and love we feel for our School today.”
carried through generations as the Terrill School morphed into The Cathedral School, and later, as it
Even in 1914, the students of the Terrill School felt
merged with Texas Country Day School to become
their school was special. They knew they attended
St. Mark’s School of Texas.
an exceptional school, one that “has put Dallas on the educational map,” as the 1916 yearbook
“From the first, a spirit enshrouded the new, little school,” the Terrillian continues. “This spirit united
declared. But they also felt the responsibility to maintain that excellence.
us all in our one great desire to immortalize this
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opportunity for the School to study and evaluate itself and identify growth opportunities. It is a community-wide project, seeking input from every corner of campus and beyond. Led by a 40-member
(clockwise from top left) Faculty member Jason Lange shares his input at the Winter Weekend in-service day
committee that represents the whole community, it includes parents, alumni, current and past trustees, past Presidents of the Board, parents of alumni, administrators, faculty, and staff members. For more than a century, the institution that today
During the school year, the Committee held
is St. Mark’s has strived to improve itself, just as
community engagement events, hosting
it strives to improve its boys. The School cannot
small-group meetings that focused on various
fulfill its mission of educating leaders of character
goals and topics. At sixteen separate group
by sitting still. To ensure that St. Mark’s remains
sessions, more than 250 key volunteers worked
a future-thinking institution, in 1984, the School
with the Planning Committee to further hone
created its very first strategic plan, Goals for
the community’s mission and values. Parents,
St. Mark’s. This guiding document captured an
faculty, alumni, and students shared their favorite
assessment of every aspect of campus life, from
traditions and their visions for the School’s future.
Upper School students sing with their Lower School Buddies Middle School teacher Rebecca Jenkins works with two of her students
the classroom to the boardroom, and produced actionable recommendations to strengthen and
During the 2016 Winter Weekend in-service day,
advance the mission of the School.
nearly 200 teachers, coaches, and staff collaborated around tables in the Great Hall, taking a hard look
In November 2015, the planning process to
at “who we are as an institution.” Led by members
create the fourth iteration began with the launch
of the Planning Committee and the School’s
of Goals for St. Mark’s IV. This endeavor is an
strategic planning consultant, RJ Valentino of
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(opposite and below) Students of all ages mingle between classes
the Napa Group, the faculty reviewed St. Mark’s
The work on St. Mark’s latest strategic plan will
mission and goals. By the end of the day, the walls
continue through Fall 2016 and the School will
of the Great Hall were covered in poster-sized
continue to seek feedback from the community.
Post-It Notes upon which each group had written
But in the end, Goals for St. Mark’s IV will be all
ideas like “model the character we want our boys
about the boys. While this process will determine
to learn” and “discuss integration of character
tangible goals like campus improvements and
education on departmental levels.” On one poster,
curricular enhancements, the end product is to
bulleted and underlined, was the phrase “our
produce men of character who will make the
primary focus is the boys.” These statements serve
world a better place. This past year, sophomore
as good reminders to the passionate group of
students were introduced to a redesigned English
educators of what the School’s mission is all about.
10 curriculum and experienced firsthand St. Mark’s dedication to moving toward its goals.
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“These aren’t just abstract principles that hover in conceptual space,” Dr. Stegemoeller said. “We want the boys to develop and understand, in a real way, compelling answers to key questions.” While Leadership and Ethics has long been a part of the St. Mark’s education, it never had a curricular home. For years, the administration worked to develop a course driven by leadership education where boys don’t just learn their subjects — they learn how to become character-driven men. In 2015, with the coordination of the entire English Department, this course came to fruition with the debut of English 10: The Habits of Thriving. The purpose of the new English 10 class, as stated in its syllabus, is to “teach all tenth-grade students, through the study of language and literature, the concepts, virtues, and skills that will help them to become good men.” All of the basic tenets of an English class remain. Students still learn grammar and vocabulary, how to analyze text, and how to
Leadership & Ethics (above) Kannan Sharma ’18 in a 10th grade English class
The ultimate goal of a college-preparatory school is
write research papers. But every lesson has been tailored to teach the boys how to be better men as well as better scholars. “English 10 is a home for deliberate and extended
to prepare its students for college. St. Mark’s takes a
teaching of the School’s longstanding focus
broader view on education, striving to prepare boys
on character education,” English Department Chair
for manhood. For years, the Leadership and Ethics
Michael Morris said. “We want the boys to acquire
Program, led by Dr. John Perryman, Assistant
the wisdom and language necessary for thinking
Head of Upper School; Dr. Martin Stegemoeller,
about and communicating their plans for
Malcolm K. and Minda Brachman Master Teaching
the future.”
Chair; and Amy Reck, Middle School math teacher,
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has encouraged students to consider how they
From the moment students walk into the classroom,
can help move their communities forward and
leadership takes a front-row seat. Students are
care for one another. The Program asserts that a
expected not just to excel, but also to help their
strong education is about more than imparting
classmates excel. Even the class rules have been
knowledge; it’s about training young men to take
rewritten to put character first, with expectations
responsibility for their actions and duties with
like “be appropriately critical of your classmates’
courage and honor.
opinions or performance, but never cross the
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line into mockery or condescension.” English 10’s
“The writing prompts have allowed boys in the class
vocabulary includes words like empathy, modesty,
to recognize their roles in communities and how
and constancy. Students are expected not only
they can learn to thrive in those roles,” he said.
to learn their definitions but also to ingrain the concepts in their daily lives.
The summer before attending the English 10 class, students read This Boy’s Life, Tobias Wolff’s
“All of our papers have been related to how we can
memoir of adolescence, filled with difficult choices
grow as men and how we can care for the people
that molded Wolff’s own path to manhood. In
around us,” said Kobe Roseman ’18, one of the first
classroom discussions, questions about Wolff’s
students to experience the new course.
character naturally meld with academic analysis.
(below) Lynne Weber’s class sits outdoors as they discuss Truman Capote
GayMarie Vaughan’s English 10 class (below) An excerpt from This Boy’s Life
“We look at the literary artistry of any book through the lens of character education,” Michael Morris said. “For example, we might discuss how Wolff uses the motif of mirror to reveal how Toby is thinking about himself as he progresses through his middle school years.” While English 10 is a sophomore course, it represents a team effort across all divisions and departments to make each Marksman’s education a single, coherent journey. Among the St. Mark’s faculty, there is a culture of collaboration. With all grade levels on the same campus, St. Mark’s has a unique opportunity to shape a student’s entire
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journey. Teachers from different grade levels are encouraged to observe one another’s classes to experience new techniques and gain a wider lens on their students’ experience. And before the school year started in August, the entire faculty engaged in small-group sessions that mixed all departments and divisions and resulted in a greater spirit of teamwork. Likewise, while English 10 focuses on sophomore students, it is also one of many steps along the path to manhood. The English class seems like the most natural environment for discussing leadership, but most departments have already adopted similar themes. Leadership and ethics is a major component of the Middle School humanities curriculum. AP environmental science is an obvious setting for teaching boys about ethical decision-making. The Lower School is already a strong incubator for future leaders with programs like Peacemakers and the Leadership Wall election. Every class, no matter the subject, has the ability to teach boys about character education. “Each boy has a responsibility to make his classroom the most positive and productive environment possible,” said sixth-grade math teacher and Leadership and Ethics Program Assistant Director Amy Reck. “While we certainly want our boys to experience strong character education that will help them make ethical strong ethical men in their personal lives.”
“We look at the literary artistry of any book through the lens of character education.”
Across campus, the themes of the Leadership and
“One motto of the Leadership and Ethics Program
decisions in their careers, we also want them to be
Ethics Program are guiding the teaching process.
is ‘boys are cared for, men care,’” said Philosophy
Boys are encouraged to step up in their classes
Club president Jackson Cole ’16. “The themes
and help one another implicitly as part of the
of servant-leadership extend to every area of life
culture rather than explicitly as part of the course.
and encourage students to go beyond just
For generations, Marksmen have been taught
what’s expected.”
(above) English Department Chair Michael Morris discusses a passage from This Boy’s Life in his classes
that character is just as important as scholarship. Now, that ethos is being codified into the foundation of St. Mark’s curriculum.
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