Torch - Fall 2017

Message from School Leaders

Gauss, Pascal, Fermat and other contests. At each level, students are challenged to solve a wide variety of math problems, along with their peers throughout North America. There are similar competitions available to our senior students in computing, chemistry and languages. As with any form of competition—debate, sports, robotics or Model UN—the math contests provide opportunities for students to explore their interests, test themselves and reach their highest level of proficiency. And just like good technique in muscle stretching, the best contests set the challenges at just the right level so that students can extend themselves to a suitable degree. This is the purpose of a great education, after all. Not a repetition of the same—a Groundhog Day of looping through the known and familiar—but steady advancement into new thinking, doing and being. That commitment to helping our girls step forward and up is evident in the academic challenges our teachers set. Assignments are designed to introduce new methods of inquiry, new ways of working with documents, new approaches to solving problems and new forms for expressing understanding, all of which deepen learning and develop global competencies. Global competencies transcend individual subjects, disciplines and careers, supporting success in all areas of life. Some examples are the ability to recognize multiple perspectives, communicate ideas and translate those ideas into action. A good intellectual stretch—with some mild discomfort of the new—also generates the kind of creativity, curiosity and independence that are the hallmarks of a healthy and engaged mind. We are happier when we are healthier: in this case, that means more intellectual mobility, flexibility and agility. Academic stretch and challenge help our girls develop the supple mental muscle that will power them into the future.

But to stretch our girls further, we also ask them to engage in quite a lot of written communication. It can be even more challenging for a student to express her understanding in writing than in speech. Writing has different demands of form, clarity and organization than discussion, as spoken language allows for repetition and changes in direction whenever needed to clarify a point. A written expression of understanding should be clear and complete on its own. It’s especially challenging when we ask students to write about their understanding in subjects not traditionally associated with written explanations. For example, our Grade 2 math students are using math journals, newly adopted this year. The girls are being introduced to note-taking in which they add explanations or comments to their math work. With this approach, they deepen their understanding of math concepts by writing about what they have learned during the lesson and reaching conclusions about the most important ideas. Through journalling, the girls are being asked to find clear language to communicate their understanding. Their teacher can then access their thinking and build on their understanding—and students have a document of their growth and progress. While math worksheets offer some basic practice of math concepts and processes, their limitation is that they do not provide opportunities for students to communicate their learning in language. The three of us “grew up” on math worksheets. But the research shows that explaining math thinking is a more challenging and sophisticated way to develop math skills. The addition of math journals allows our students to record their strategies and embed their learning, which helps them and their classmates to advance. While we’re on the subject of math, it’s worth mentioning the many ways that math competitions also stretch our girls. Students in the Junior School engage in the Caribou Math Contests. From Grade 7 to 12, our girls participate in the University of Waterloo’s

Grade 5 students solve math problems on whiteboards.

12  HAVERGAL COLLEGE