Redesigning School Terry Dubow

Recently, the Mastery School of Hawken hosted our newly accepted families for a Covid-safe on campus event during which they could tour the buildings, speak to faculty, and experience a bit of the pedagogy that makes the school so distinctive. 

Families could also stop by the ReDesigning School booth to record a question for Julia Griffin, Director of the Mastery School, and Rasa Drane, Director of Admission.  In this episode, host Terry Dubow poses those and other questions to Julia and Rasa, whose responses shed more light on the Mastery School.

Now that it’s winter break, we all have a chance to take a breath and reflect a bit about the fall and just what we accomplished and what it asked of faculty, students, and families.  And just in time because many schools will begin 2021 in remote...

In this episode, Terry Dubow and Garet Libbey invite Courtney Martin, Hawken’s Director of the Lower School, and Dr. Michelle Harris, Director of the Middle School to talk about lessons learned and tips for how to make the most from the next round of remote learning. 

Educators and parents will get a glimpse into best practices for helping young students thrive during this heightened but temporary (!) moment.

Recently, the Mastery School of Hawken hosted a virtual Open House that invited members of the community to learn more about the school, its values, and its ambitions. As a part of of the program, the ReDesigning School podcast hosted two sessions with students and Ambrose Faturoti,  Dean of Students of the Mastery School.

In the first session, Ambrose and the students describe life at the school, and in the second, they explore how issues of diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice are woven through everything from activities to the real-world challenges they face in their Macros.

Edited by Nick Fletcher
Music by  Krackatoa track and Scott Holmes

As schools consider ways to redesign their approach and programming, they might want to investigate a field that likely does not appear in the established curriculum: architecture.

While teaching architecture in high school is a rarity, it may actually offer deeply effective ways of helping students learn everything from complex mathematics to the intricacies of collaboration. Founding faculty member at the Mastery School of Hawken, Katie Zielinski joins the podcast to describe her architecture Macro and the ways it can help students grow in more ways than one might expect.

ReDesigning School is not a political podcast -- there are enough of those -- but a few days before the 2020 election, Terry Dubow and Garet Libbey sat down (virtually of course) with Laura Tavares, Program Director for Organizational Learning and Thought Leadership at Facing History and Ourselves.

The goal: to explore how schools can build programs and cultures that inspire what's become something of a rarity in our democracy -- civil and engaged citizens. The good news is that many educators are working hard on this necessary, urgent enterprise.

Laura leads strategic partnerships, designs learning experiences for educators, and creates innovative classroom resources. She writes about history, current events and education for publications including the New York Times, Educational Leadership and Social Education. Laura joined the staff of Facing History in 2005 after several years teaching history and literature in independent schools. She is also a faculty member at the Harvard Graduate School of Education's Project Zero Classroom. Laura graduated from Wellesley College and received graduate degrees in literature and history from Oxford University, where she studied as a Rhodes Scholar. 

A few helpful resources mentioned in the episode:
Resource Guide for teaching about the 2020 electionHow to Foster Civil DiscourseDanielle AllenThe Better Arguments Project Ron Ritchhart and the Eight Forces of Culture

It's been a long time coming. The Mastery School of Hawken was a mere idea a few years ago, and now it's a thriving school with students, faculty, and an approach that upends how school generally works. 

Julia Griffin, Director of the Mastery School, and Nick Cheadle, return to the podcast to share their reactions and reflections on the opening and what's next.

Be sure to check out the Mastery School's new website to learn more about some of the program elements discussed.