8 minute read
THE Hub
When Tower Hill’s new Neela Patel Center for Innovation opened at the beginning of the 2021-2022 school year, students and teachers were amazed at how the space was transformed. From the spectacular digital wall to the floor-to-ceiling windows, it was hard to believe what they were seeing was in fact the former Middle and Upper School Library. The Center for Innovation looked like something that belonged on a college campus.
“When our students saw the completed Center for the first time, they were stunned by its beauty,” said Andrea Glowatz, Dean of Teaching and Learning. “Everyone is overjoyed to have such an amazing place to work.”
However, a dazzling design and thoughtful vision does not automatically translate into successful adoption. Would the visual awe of the remodel mean that students would fall in love with being in the Center for Innovation? The Tower Hill Educational Hub—affectionately called THE Hub—was designed and planned to be used for interdisciplinary and interactive learning and collaboration. But would students lean into THE Hub to make it the place for studying, problem solving, teamwork and socializing?
The answer is yes! Students and teachers are not only using the space how it was intended—quiet, independent study in glass huddle rooms, small group discussions in the surrounding booths and full class engagement in front of the digital wall—but creative and original ideas are blooming all around.
“The space allows a group to carry on a full conversation in one area while in another, a student can sit with headphones on, laptop in front of him or her, book to the left, water bottle to the right,” said Matthew Jackson, Director of THE Hub. “Kids are just jamming away getting their work done.”
An example of using THE Hub in out-of-the-box ways are “Hub Happenings,” small events that encourage cross-divisional experiences that take learning to a new space, like advanced chemistry students performing fun hands-on experiments for Lower Schoolers. Or Hub Happenings might provide a few minutes of respite from a busy day, like when Benjamin Miao ’22 played a selection of music on his cello. And for Women’s History Month in March, the digital wall played a full suite of documentaries and movies depicting women’s impact and contribution to American history.
Just like all areas of THE Hub, the Teaching and Learning Center (TLC) is thriving and taking full advantage of the expanded footprint. “I use the Teaching and Learning Center every day. Almost any time I have a free period, I’m here,” Megan Angeny ’24 said. “It is a quiet study space but also a space of collaboration to get opinions on my ideas.”
What was once a quaint but purposeful space in the center of the library has now become a cutting-edge five-room suite, equipped to serve more than three times the number of students compared to prior years.
After a comprehensive and thorough inventory and sorting of the collection, thanks to Jackson, the books are back. They line the perimeter of THE Hub and occupy low-profile shelves in the center of the space for easy access and browsing. Head of Upper School Sarah Baker happily reported that when she took her English students to THE Hub, two “fought” over a book, so there is no doubt that the books are being used and loved. Middle School students now enjoy special ease when borrowing titles, thanks to the self check-out system Jackson installed.
Visionaries at Tower Hill expected the Center to be the perfect amalgamation of all aspects of 21st century learning—with human, electronic, hard copy and space resources ergonomically placed and therefore easily accessed. The Center for Innovation has truly become the nexus and hub of the school, and what was long-imagined, has now become reality.
“The best learning happens when students are organically engaged and feel comfortable collaborating and connecting. Student-centered learning is what I see in real time every time I am in THE Hub, and I could not be more proud of the way our children and teachers are embracing the new space,” Head of School Bessie Speers said.
The Theater Department collaborated with fifth grade science on a unit about light and color theory; students were tasked with sorting Skittles by color under a variety of different colored stage lighting.
CROSS-CURRICULAR LEARNING
COLLABORATION BETWEEN DEPARTMENTS ENHANCES STUDENT LEARNING
BY ANTHONY PISAPIA, ASSOCIATE HEAD OF SCHOOL AND CHIEF INNOVATION AND INFORMATION OFFICER
“The life of today is a constantly and rapidly changing thing made so by the increase of science, discoveries and inventions. The need for open-mindedness, adaptability and self-reliance is apparent.”
Those words, written in 1929 by the then academic leaders of Tower Hill, seem prescient in retrospect. Even then, the rapid pace of invention and discovery was demanding a new form of education, one in which self-efficacy and the ability to ask questions was primary.
As I look back at my schooling, the experiences that stick with me are the ones that made me ask new questions and dive deep into a subject beyond the classroom. My high school chemistry teacher sparked my curiosity in patent law during a lesson about peroxalate esters and Dr. Chandross, the inventor of modern glow sticks, who never sought a patent. I remember being daunted by a Shakespeare project and finding the answer in theater class. I recreated an old-time radio show version of Macbeth, Act 3 and earned an A! Tower Hill has a spectacular lineage of great teachers and great teaching. Teachers acted boldly to help students create connections between subjects, encouraging students to ask even bolder questions. In describing the first grade circus, a feature of Tower Hill’s 1929-1930 school year, our forebearers write, “One morning, a few weeks after Christmas, a little boy brought in a toy monkey. For several days there was a group play among a number of the children centered around the monkey. Gradually more and more children became interested in the play, and so our ‘real circus’ evolved.”
What is most striking about the description is the effect this circus was said to have on students: “A greater interest in their own pets was very evident, clippings of all sorts were brought in about dogs that were being trained to lead the blind, experiences of Commander Byrd with Eskimo dogs, and schools of whales.” Large easel paintings, songs and performances were all mustered by students. “As a result of all of this, the children developed an ability for group organization, a greater love for and interest
in animals, an eagerness to know more about them, more skill in reading, an enriched vocabulary and added power in oral self-expression, a beginning to writing technique, skill in all art and handiwork, more rhythm in movement, and a real development of muscular coordination.”
So much of learning takes place in between subjects, when students begin asking cross-curricular questions and bring together knowledge from various subjects.
In his book “A More Beautiful Question,” Warren Berger asks, “What if our schools could train students to be better lifelong learners and better adapters to change, by enabling them to be better questioners?”
Tower Hill has focused on questions like these and found answers in cross-departmental and crosscurricular collaboration. One of the primary venues for such collaboration is our Department Chair group, which meets monthly to identify opportunities and challenge colleagues to adopt current pedagogies.
Department Chairs at Tower Hill have a large impact on our school and the way our curriculum is developed. In their roles, they lead and oversee the development and implementation of their departments’ curriculum, pedagogy and assessments in grades 5-12 and provide influence in curriculum decisions K-4.
In collaboration with one another is where the magic happens. It is during these meetings that opportunities for collaboration are identified. The outcome of some of that activity is apparent in our Floating Gardens Tinker Term (read more on page 20!), our Art History course (History and Art departments) and our Web Design Course (Science and Art departments). Unseen, but equally important, are the many ways in which Department Chairs work to bridge gaps between divisions and ensure that students have a single experience, PK-12, that leads them to a place of great understanding and gives them the ability to ask more beautiful questions.
The benefits of collaboration are many. Teachers, being the quintessential lifelong learners they are, have much to learn from one another and from encountering new topics with their students. Many discoveries await when we stretch ourselves and our students outside of our realm of expertise. Of this, Berger writes, “One of the many interesting and appealing things about questioning is that it often has an inverse relationship to expertise—such that, within their own subject areas, experts are apt to be poor questioners.”
When we ask questions of each other, and of other experts—questions we don’t know the answer to—the understanding of all involved expands. Questions like these, where we purposely push ourselves beyond our comfort, are at the heart of learning.
When contemplating the kind of preparation society demands of citizens, Berger says, “The consensus seems to be that this new world demands citizens who are self-learners; who are creative and resourceful; who can adjust and adapt to constant change.”
We agree, and through collaboration we ensure our students become the kind of citizens society demands.
Top to bottom: A Lower Schooler works on a Tinker Term project in the Lower School library. Lower Schoolers work on floating gardens.