Teamwork is required for almost every industry. Even if you work solo, consideration of the endeavor in the context of the larger entirety, whether it be the family, the company, the organization, the school, or society as a whole is vitally important. Give and take, respect, listening, and mindful speaking are important for all members. This holds true within the daily Sparhawk School experience.
When giving a tour at the Lower Campus, I always speak of our school as a community, by philosophy, by design, and by geographical logistics. Every teacher is everyone’s teacher. While students always have the anchor of their homeroom, their educational experience here will inevitably be affected by every teacher on campus. During our daily math period, for instance, each teacher takes on a grade-band of students who may or may not be in the teacher’s homeroom group. Students have special faculty for Spanish, art, music, and athletics. Classes work in concert with their neighboring group and perhaps most unique of all, every child at the Lower Campus is part of a PreK-5 mixed group of 7-9 students who work together a few times a week. Students stay in these special constellations all year, forming a special “family” bond. At Fridays’ Village Meeting, Wednesday’s Community Time for theme exploration, and as a basis for our mixed-age book buddies. This year we named these groups after yoga poses related to balance in honor of our year-long theme.
As a small-by-design school, teachers also have ample opportunities to work individually as well as collaboratively. Just as we support children in utilizing their strengths to reach their highest potential, teachers too have ample opportunity to share their strengths and passions. Our weekly theme is orchestrated by different duos of teachers, each time, making this curricular experience fresh, creative, and interactive, not only of great value for the students learning, but also for the teachers working together in the process of collaboration.
Philosophically we subscribe to a strength-based model. It allows us to have a stellar athletics program, to give first-graders extra reading support, to directly teach second- and third-graders computer skills, to have a fourth-grade photography class, and a fifth-grade debate class. This model also allows us to teach yoga, practice mindfulness, and is the basis for every diverse and exciting choice for our six-week enrichment opportunities throughout the year. Teachers are afforded opportunities to shine and to share their passions which incorporates new circumstances to ignite students of new interests.
As a staff we have the ability to multiply multiple benefits. By identifying teachers’ particular strengths beyond the classroom, be it music, sports, technology etc., we can provide students with a wide array of offerings. Teachers at Sparhawk are the finest in the craft. Smart, creative, out of the box thinkers, they are passionate about the work they do. Our teachers bring together a unique blend of education, experience, and value sets that make them exceptional human beings. The excitement around and love for the students is palpable and children feel this!