Creating Space for Teaching Excellence

LISA WICHMAN, PECK’S LOWER SCHOOL MUSIC TEACHER, can picture herself standing in the center of her new classroom on the lower level of The Peck Commons. She can imagine the light flooding in through the windows and the sound of music floating in, too, from the outdoor amphitheater just outside her doors. It’s a thrilling vision and one that will be a reality just a few months from now.

“Teaching in a space that’s engineered for music, for our curriculum, for our passions—that’s the ultimate dream,” Wichman explains. Upper School Music Teacher Andrew Lyman agrees. “Working in an environment that inspires us to teach creatively allows us to give the best of ourselves to our students,” he said.

The intention to drive Peck’s academic curriculum toward student-centered learning, project-based opportunities, and meaningful digital technologies was a key driver of the 2015 Strategic Plan. Falling under the pillar of “A Culture of Teaching Excellence,” these goals support a broader vision of prioritizing ongoing faculty growth. Professional development is about more than sending faculty to conferences and keeping up-to-date on pedagogy—it’s also about providing the space, the tools, and the room they need to learn and discover.

The Peck Commons Lower Level Plan

The Peck Commons Upper Level Plan

Head of School Andy Delinsky explains, “Delivering a meaningful program requires inspired, creative teachers who are encouraged to innovate. Creating these enhanced spaces gives them room to grow and thrive, which absolutely invigorates our students to do the same.”

Indeed, the four new spaces that opened in the fall of 2017—the redesigned Kindergarten, the Osborn Idea & Design Lab, the Robotics Lab, and the 7th & 8th Grade Commons—have quickly become integral to their respective programs. The Robotics Lab, for example, supports Peck’s award-winning FIRST® LEGO® League competitors, giving them space to not only build and engineer, but to hone their teamwork and problem-solving skills.

The Higgins Library, renovated in the summer of 2018 to become a more versatile, collaborative space, has seen extensive use of new technologies like a green screen for filming and flexible furniture for group work or independent study. “The library can be what it needs to be at any given time,” says Librarian Mary Kate MacVicar.

This summer’s upcoming work will finish the new Peck Commons building, add an expanded science lab and administrative spaces to The F.M. Kirby Family Lower School building, and create a beautiful outdoor quad. New sixth-through-eighth-grade science labs will complete a STEAM Wing in the Caspersen-Tomlinson building, housing the Upper School’s science, math, visual arts, robotics, and woodshop programs along one corridor. This subject-based clustering of classrooms creates myriad opportunities for cross-curricular projects and team teaching. “To have science labs next to math classrooms and art studios naturally builds connections across programs,” says Upper School Science Department Chair Tim Loveday.

The F.M. Kirby Family Lower School Addition (proposed design)

Peck has already seen the physical improvements to campus working in a virtuous cycle: a renovated classroom or an enhanced piece of technology allows a teacher to think inventively about a new way of presenting a topic, which inspires students to approach problems in new ways and using new techniques, which themselves are supported by the space or technology.

Jen Garvey, Lower School Technology, Innovation, & Design Integrator, adds, “Our students are encouraged to explore and find new opportunities to design something more effectively, ethically, or efficiently. The Osborn Idea & Design Lab allows students to take their ideas further, providing them with the tools to rapidly prototype their designs in ways that would be difficult otherwise.”

The 2016 Master Plan, which emerged from the 2015 Strategic Plan, created the blueprint for the campus transformation that began in 2017 and is slated for completion this fall. It is being funded by The Peck Promise Campaign, a fundraising effort that will continue through December 2019.

For more information, please visit peckpromise.org.

Active Staircase in The Peck Commons