How does a teacher make the facts on a page turn into meaningful information for a student?  How do a teacher’s words become fluid thoughts in a student’s mind, generating visual pictures which come alive even outside the classroom setting? By making the content personal. I believe this is one of the key factors that marks the exceptional quality of teachers at Webb. Great content can be found in hundreds of thousands of books, but great teachers make that content vivid, interesting, and most importantly, personal for their students.

One of the ways we achieve this is by designating small, single-sex classrooms for 9^th and 10^th graders (typically ranging from 12-16 students). While most boys tend to be fueled by a fast-paced, competitive environment, the vast majority of girls benefit from the supportive atmosphere and suitable pacing found in an all-female classroom. The flexibility allowed by the separation of sexes gives a teacher the ability to designate extra time for core topics and significantly reduces the fear of embarrassment in calling for additional help when confusion occurs. Feeling comfortable to ask even the most basic questions and understanding the material at a deep level becomes the standard.

The overwhelming multitude of textbooks and resources - especially in chemistry and physics - have been generated by male educators, often leaving facts stated without context or relational ties. In my own classroom, the single-sex environment allows me the opportunity to rewrite lessons or worksheets with female-friendly problems. I have found that simple modifications can completely change the attitude of my classes. By altering a word problem regarding iron (II) oxide to tell instead a story about a girl getting into a rusty old truck, suddenly the entire process becomes more inviting, if not downright enjoyable. In the end, the same mathematical skills are accomplished and my girls are excited for more! The confusion and trepidation commonly associated with chemistry are replaced by enjoyment, confidence, and desire to learn.

Rather than simply memorizing the facts, my students approach the elements with the goal of learning their “personalities.” Our objective is to find out who each element will most likely join up with, and when they do, what new characteristics will arise. When two soluble compounds mix, forming a precipitate, we make it a story: Two couples with minimal attraction go on a double date, but “chemistry” happens when girlfriend A meets boyfriend B… and the precipitate forms! By introducing chemistry to the girls as a series of chemical “relationships” akin to daily life, the content becomes more relevant, more visual and easier to identify with. While some students can generate these visualizations on their own, teaching from this perspective allows all students a window into the world of particles that so many find inaccessible. The exclusive science club mantra of “you either get it or you don’t” is crushed by creating a highly inviting and visual realm of chemistry, available to all.

I have heard science educators argue that making science more exciting by use of large scale demonstrations is the key to interest, engagement, and motivation. While I agree that exciting demonstrations do help keep enthusiasm high, I believe that when students understand chemistry - not just with the ability to do the math, but to actually visualize the particles and personalize the laws those particles obey - chemistry comes alive in their minds. That way, on their own, they can deduce why oxygen is a gas at room temperature and table salt (sodium chloride) is a solid crystal, or why tap water conducts electricity and pure water does not. It’s not just memorization of rules and properties but rather getting to know the personality of a good friend!

The ultimate gift we can give our students is a fundamental understanding that is 100% theirs: core content and solid tools that have been made personal through creative presentation of that content. For many trained in science, these may seem like strange ways to approach teaching these topics. But if your goal is to get girls interested and passionate about science in the higher levels with genuine understanding, then this method has proved highly effective in my experience.

Of course, good content is enhanced by real life experience, and lighting things on fire in chemistry class is undeniably exciting. Blowing sodium up in water does create an adrenaline-pumping BANG! accompanied by a good show of sizzle, fire and smoke, and always a few high-pitched screams. But for students who really understand the chemistry, for whom sodium has become that old unstable friend who lets his outer electron hang so far out he’s just looking for trouble, the truly astonishing marvel is that the loss of one little electron can create so much excitement. And as far as I’m concerned, if my students think that makes him a little dysfunctional, that’s okay by me.

“Your final college list is due today,” I reminded a few seniors this morning as I saw them hanging out in front of the library. “We know,” they answered me with a nervous grin. “What’s the magic number?” I asked them. “Ten!” they replied. I quickly replied with a smile, “Yes, that’s right—so choose wisely.”
 

Yes, it’s that dreaded deadline date! And it’s just one of many that the Class of 2010 will be faced with this year. However, coming up with the final college list takes a heck of a lot longer than almost anything else that relates to applying to college—even longer than writing the college essays for some. At Webb, I begin working with each student at the beginning of the 2^nd semester of junior year in composing the “college list.”  How do we take over 3,000 different colleges and universities in the U.S. and reduce them to a manageable list of ten or fewer appropriate “good fits” for each graduate? For a small number, it takes a couple of meetings with me, and we are pretty much set to go. For most, however, it takes months, if not almost a full year, before they are ready to commit to their final college choices; and that’s only after many visits to my office and numerous revisions to that final list. After all, picking which colleges one applies to is almost as important as deciding which college to attend. If the list is good, the decisions tend to match.

Ten colleges! Doesn’t that sound like a lot of schools and applications? If you would have asked me five years ago, I would have been the first to say “YES!” and I would have likely suggested paring it down to eight or fewer. Ten years ago I would have laughed if I would have been told that now I would be approving college lists of ten different schools. I remember when applying to five was pretty normal. For many of us in the “X Generation” or before, it was perfectly common to apply to only two or three different colleges and not think much about it. I remember in my high school, only a handful of seniors were applying to more than three colleges. I applied to four, and only one boy was rumored to have applied to ten colleges, and we all thought he was crazy from the start. Well, folks, times have indeed changed and applying to as many as ten colleges is actually considered the norm. In fact, some people worry that it’s not enough, and perhaps spreading a wider net will gain a better catch. Given that predicting which colleges will admit a student has become much more difficult to do because of the dramatic rise in selectivity over the past decade at most four-year colleges and universities, I can see why some students would be tempted to apply to more colleges. However, what I have found is that keeping the list to no more than ten actually helps our students get into better colleges. 

Webb is actually very well-respected by so many colleges and universities in part because we are known as a place that limits the number of college applications a senior can file—and for very good reasons. First, colleges know that our students have done their homework well when it comes to researching their college choices. They aren’t just randomly applying to unknown schools or places that are not a “good fit.” Second, the list is manageable and realistic, with places that make sense for the most part and were not just someone else’s idea. Thirdly, colleges know they have at least a 1 in 10 chance of getting the student, not 1 in 20 or even 30 that a few other high schools have been known to allow. Colleges want to know that the student they are considering is serious about them, and isn’t playing any “games.” In the end, colleges appreciate that Webb students have a thoughtful and purposeful list of colleges that means something to each student.

Let me also add that ten is the maximum number of colleges that we like to see on someone’s list, not the minimum. So, it is very common to have eight colleges or fewer on a final list. In fact, on average, a Webb student applies to seven colleges and gets admitted to four. That average is more than enough colleges to apply to and more than enough offers to make a good choice. 

If each student has spent the time and effort in researching his or her college choices and has listened carefully to the advice we offered in College Guidance, there is no reason why any Webb senior should feel pressured to apply to too many colleges because of a fear of being rejected by every school. Ultimately, applying to too many colleges can not only increase a student’s chances of making errors or presenting poorly prepared applications, it may also upset the college admissions officers. Most college applications will ask the student to list the other colleges to which they are applying. If the admissions committee sees too many schools on the list, they assume that the student is not serious – or worse, desperate.  These are two things we don’t want any college admissions officer to think of any applicant from our schools.

A winning college list is one that fits each student like a well-made, custom-tailored suit.  Each student is different and one size does not fit all.  Good thing that Webb has been custom-fitting our graduates with just the right colleges for almost 90 years.  With so many outstanding colleges and universities from which to choose, I know our seniors will choose wisely.

November 9th-14th was Webb’s annual Theme Week, a series of spirit events organized by the ASB and collaboratively produced by the entire student body. This year’s Theme Week was based upon the movies of Will Smith. Each day represented a different Will Smith film/show: Men in Black, Ali, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Hancock, and Wild Wild West. Each class gains spirit points by dressing up in accordance with the day’s movie theme and also by participating in competitions, such as “super diving” for Hancock day or mechanical bull riding for Wild Wild West day. Additionally, spirit points are deducted from the class for individuals who miss academic and afternoon commitments.

The culmination of the week is Theme Night: performances showcasing the talent and creativity of all four classes. Theme Night could be considered Webb’s version of the Super Bowl. Each class spends countless hours preparing to impress the school community with a special 15-minute performance. In fitting with this year’s theme, each class chose a different movie as the basis of their performance. The 9^th-graders danced, sang, and performed to the "Fresh Prince of Webb." The sophomores depicted a story of a young woman championing the male-dominated sport of boxing. The juniors told a story of an abandoned ghost-town in the Wild West and the seniors did a spoof of six futuristic movies. In the end, the juniors took home the coveted Theme Week trophy, but each class deserves tremendous recognition for the amazing show that they collectively produced.   

In the midst of all the spirit, it is important to note the overall objective of this high-energy week. The final performances are only a by-product of a much higher purpose: to provide opportunities for students to demonstrate their leadership abilities. Numerous students in each class take on leadership roles in order to execute a specific aspect of their performance. Committees coordinate dances, props, costumes, script, and others are all part of the class machine. Students learn how to capitalize upon the talents of their classmates. In the end, the final performance is an example of the leadership principle of synergy: the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. The teamwork, dedication, and creativity of the class are at the heart of Theme Week.

            The pioneering American composer John Cage once declared that an artist’s “proper business” is the cultivation of curiosity and awareness.  We arts teachers at Webb embrace this charge.

            In teaching students how to draw, we induce them to become more attentive and discerning observers. 

            In directing their dramatic efforts, we exhort them to descry the elusive emotional heart of diverse human predicaments. 

            In guiding their music-making, we invite them to listen acutely and to attend to the marvelous nuances of musical narratives.

            In exposing students to the defining efforts of their pioneering predecessors—to the remarkable re-cast worlds of Michelangelo, Klimt, and Rothko, of Shakespeare, Strindberg, and Kushner, of Beethoven and Ellington and Radiohead—we introduce them to the extraordinary richness of the world’s artistic heritage, and awaken thereby their sensitivity to the range, scope, and intensity of human creative endeavor.

            Describing the compositions of another American, Christian Wolff, Cage observed that “Wolff’s works invariably reveal to both performers and listeners energy resources in themselves of which they hadn’t been aware, and put those energies intelligently to work.”  An important parallel to our abetting keen student engagement is our nurturing students’ awareness of their own abundant creative energies.  We believe that anyone willing to try is capable of producing arresting work in art, theater, and music; and we are committed to creating the conditions in which students may feel emboldened to unleash their nascent talent.

            Ultimately, our students become fervent transmuters.  Deft, intrepid assayers of images, sounds, texts, and ideas, they imaginatively seize and transform the objects of their perception.  They absorb, parse, and temper, weaving these seminal, metamorphic phenomena into their disarmingly vivid artwork and revealing therein new ramifications and possibilities. 

            Withal they confirm another Cageian adage: Art is self-alteration.  Cultivating greater perceptual acuity, relishing the new discoveries that such acuity yields, and tapping their own teeming resources, our students develop dexterity and suppleness, a capacity for canny, nimble, eager response to anything they might encounter. 

            The goals of arts education, one quickly learns, jibe beautifully with those of liberal-arts education.

(Click here for more on Webb’s arts programs.)

Earlier this week, I arrived in my office to find a note from the founder and President of the Webb debate team. “I am unfortunately out sick today,” he wrote. “Are you up to running practice?” He is a junior at Webb right now. I am the faculty advisor. And yet, for this meeting, I was his substitute teacher.

Those who spend time on Webb’s campus come to realize that this is our standard. Our faculty members go beyond teaching; they coach, they mentor, they study, they advise. Similarly, we expect our students to go beyond traditional learning. We encourage them to teach and guide and lead.

Webb’s debate team has lived up to these expectations. A handful of student leaders started the team last year, and they have led us to remarkable success. Dakota Santana-Grace ’11 is our President – an enthusiastic leader who dominates a room during policy debates and organizes clever lessons to teach the basics of argumentation. Our second-in-command is Elena Scott-Kakures ‘11, whose command of the facts and quieter brand of leadership serves as a guide for the less experienced debaters. Together, they organized, taught, and led a team that hosted its first-ever debate tournament two weeks ago – and brought home the top award in every category.

Of course, plenty of individuals have helped guide and coach these student leaders. Notably, Mr. Lee Harris is the team’s coach, and several faculty members have offered insight and guidance. All of the guidance, though, came at the request of the team’s student leaders. Dakota and Elena sought out Mr. Harris and asked me to serve as faculty advisor. Dakota and Elena asked for advice from Mr. Stockdale and Mr. Bartlett when they needed it. We work for them.

Working in the Office of Admission, I know that parents and students who are new to Webb sometimes scoff at the level of responsibility in the hands of students. “The students teach?” they ask, incredulous. “Yes,” I respond. “They also manage student check-ins, hear disciplinary cases, and sit on some of the school’s most important planning bodies.” The bewildered looks on their faces tell a familiar tale: Webb’s emphasis on true student leadership is singular and exceptional.

Thompson Webb established a school that would educate its students to be honorable leaders in their communities. They were to be principes, non homines: leaders, not ordinary men. To prepare for that role, our students must practice. And so, you’ll find Webb students taking the reins in every arena. In class, ninth grade students teach their peers the complexities of geometry. On the athletic fields, team captains teach skills and model honorable behavior in competition. During meeting blocks, student groups – clubs, class officers, the honor committees, and more – bustle with activity, almost always organized and led by students.

As we sift through hundreds of applications every year, the members of the Admission Committee pay attention to those traits that will allow a new student to carry on and to expand this tradition of student leadership. Is the student willing to be an active, engaged member of the Webb community? Does she have the potential and the desire to find her passion and pursue it with honor? Four years down the road, with the guidance we provide, will he be a leader, or an ordinary man?

For students already here, we know the answers. They think deeply and differently. They demonstrate the kind of initiative and responsibility one struggles to find in most adults. They push their peers and themselves to branch out, to try new activities, and to achieve at an ever higher level. I have been lucky enough to witness this first-hand with the debate team, but it is not an isolated phenomenon. You will not find many ordinary young men and women at Webb.

As I am traveling throughout Asia visiting current and past Webb parents and alumni, I've been engaging everyone in conversation about Tony Wagner's book, The Global Achievement Gap, and particularly about the first of his seven “21st century survival skills” - critical thinking and problem solving. It's exciting to hear people's views, especially those of parents who have read the book and alumni who have had the "Webb experience" as their foundational, formative educational experience.

When I ask "what do you think is the most important survival skill?" there are some differences in the words but the essence of the answer is nearly universal: independence of thought spurred by questions. It's about the questions, not the answers everyone says. That's how critical and independent thinking develop and that's how problems are solved. And, people continue, it's the basis of creativity and innovation.

Parents - those who know the Webb of today best - offer several examples of independent, critical thinking and problem solving in action. One example that is named over and over again is Integrated Math. One parent offered that when his son first described the classroom - few answers, lots of questions, students in charge, teacher as guide not resident expert, no traditional textbook, etc. - they were both confused. "You see," he said, "this would never happen in one of our schools now. Here students aren't expected to think for themselves or solve real problems." Others refer to how we "do science" naming Peccary trips, museum research, project-based environmental science, use of the Hefner observatory, etc. as exemplifying the development of critical thinking and problem solving.

Interestingly, alumni often refer to our Honor Code and character development mission as an example of how Webb students are urged constantly to ask questions - especially challenging and serious questions - about how to think and act. As one alumna put it, "one cannot be a person of character and honor without thinking independently and critically and without knowing how to break things down, how to connect the dots, how to test assumptions." I'd argue, too, that one cannot participate in our democracy without these skills and cannot live a thoughtful life that contributes to the entire human endeavor without these skills. If you're waiting for answers instead of asking questions, you might as well be a specimen in The Alf Museum.

Of course, we can't be self-congratulatory or complacent about the ways in which we develop the world's future leaders and the ways in which we give teenagers an opportunity to figure things out. The top-down world of specialization that placed a premium on content and the narrow skills of quantitative computation and reading comprehension is moving the way of the dinosaur. Ironically enough, it’s possible that the learning and teaching that is characterized by our Alf Museum’s study of paleontology has helped to shape Webb's forward-looking emphasis on independent, critical thinking and problem solving.

Thoughts?  I'd love to hear from you