Senior Exhibitions After careful preparation in their English courses during their years of study at St. Andrew’s, students participate in a culminating project their senior year: the Senior English Exhibition. This project is a public expression of academic mastery in the model of the artist’s exhibition (an idea originally conceived of by educational reformer Ted Sizer). Students read a novel (chosen from a list established by the English Department) over the summer, re-read it during the school year, and commit fully to a drafting process as they write their papers. This drafting process allows them to develop an original thesis and sophisticated argument in a 10-15 page paper. Students then assess and further complicate their arguments in oral exhibitions with at least two English Department faculty members. Students also participate in exhibitions in Religious Studies and Modern Languages courses. We find our students embrace the exhibition process, which provides them with the opportunity to advance their thinking; discover new analytical approaches; expand, refine, and reflect on their writing; and imagine what the next, stronger version of their papers might become. Students learn to self-critique and revise both their thinking and writing, and to engage in complex, dialogic reading and writing processes. The exhibition process is born out of an approach to learning that assumes learning never truly concludes, and creates a collaborative space for deep learning, rather than strategic learning “for a grade.” Students define these learning experiences as exciting and rewarding because they are authentic, challenging, and meaningful. “Best academic experience of my life was the Senior Exhibition. It was harder than I thought it was going to be, and I thought it was going to be very hard. But it was so rewarding to work out those difficult thoughts, and to go into that exhibition feeling confident that I could identify the strengths and weaknesses of my argument and have an insightful conversation about the book with some really awesome teachers.” —VI Form student A SAMPLE OF RECENT SENIOR EXHIBITION TITLES Lily Briscoe and the American Transition from the Victorian Era to Modernism in Woolf’s To the Lighthouse Para My Vida: The Purpose of Storytelling in Allende’s The House of the Spirits Storytelling as an Individual and Collective Means of Resistance in Tommy Orange’s There There The House of Spirits: Brushstrokes of Fate Exit West: Letting Go To Find Yourself
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