Senior Exhibitions

In their VI Form year, students participate in the “senior exhibition”: an public expression of academic mastery in the model of the artist’s exhibition (an idea originally conceived of by educational reformer Ted Sizer). For the culminating project of English 4 (taken in the senior year), a student reads a novel (chosen from a list established by the English Department) over the summer, re-reads it throughout the school year, then develops an original thesis and sophisticated argument in a 10-15 page paper. The student then assesses and further complicates his 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.” For more information, visit www. standrews-de.org/exhibitions.

“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 The Confluence of Time: The Responsibility of the Present to Confront the Past and Accept the Ramifications of their Actions on the Future in Ward’s Sing, Unburied, Sing

Individual Insecurity as a Catalyst for Global Justice: An Analysis of Narrative and Identity in The Sympathizer

Lily Briscoe and the American Transition from the Victorian Era to Modernism in Woolf’s To the Lighthouse

McCann’s Exploration of the Past: Exploring “Moments of Grace” in the Midst of Division

TransAtlantic: Forging Space for Personal Narratives the Realm of Public Memory

Para My Vida: The Purpose of Storytelling in Allende’s The House of the Sprits

The Impact of Community, Representation, and Normality in Adichie’s Americanah

Storytelling as an Individual and Collective Means of Resistance in Tommy Orange’s There There

Multi-Racial, Multi-Perspective, Double-Minded, Double-Hearted, Double-Agent: A Study of Viet Thanh Nguyen’s The Sympathizer