Torch - Fall 2017

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A liberal arts approach also equips our girls to participate fully in a civil society.

—Andrea Charlton

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A Grade 3 student writes in cursive in her journal.

key thinking skills,” Tulli explains. “We focus on a global approach. How can we understand a text? What is good writing? How do the different forms work? And literature is important, too. Studies show that exposure to fiction increases empathy and collaboration. As we enter into fictional lives and adopt many perspectives, our experience broadens and our minds become more open. Young people benefit from exposure to various points of view.” In the Senior School, Head of English and Drama Andrea Charlton builds on the literacy skills her students have been developing over the years. “Words matter. We can skim through a speech or written text and miss quite a lot of what’s being stated both on the surface and in the subtext, through suggestion or implication. Or we can empower ourselves by slowing down, reading carefully and unpacking what someone else wants us to consider. Our girls become more confident as they figure out how to do that. High-level literacy skills serve them in every part of their lives.” The Grade 10 English teachers introduce their students to a version of the hevruta (also spelled chavrusa or chavruta) approach to understanding texts, which

numbers and symbols. That may sound fairly basic, but what it demands in terms of thinking and understanding is not. Junior School Literacy Coordinator Nancy Tulli emphasizes the role literacy plays in a person’s ability to shape and share their ideas. “Communication is all about conveying thinking,” she explains. “The ability to do that clearly and well, in both spoken and written language, is especially important in these times of rapid change, when seeing even 10 years ahead is a challenge. We can’t predict what careers our girls might enter. Literacy skills are timeless and transferable and will allow them to navigate relationships and livelihoods in a new world.” Teaching for transfer is a priority for Tulli. In the Junior School, the basics are taught—reading, writing, grammar, spelling, exposure to many genres—with an emphasis not on telling girls what to think, but on teaching them how to uncover thinking in texts and express their own in writing. Being able to both see ideas and share them with others is then put to use in every subject and life context. “Teachers provide multiple and differing opportunities to acquire and demonstrate

may be a talented engineer, but much that is required to appreciate why women are underrepresented in the tech sector is missing. So are healthy skepticism, genuine curiosity and the ability to accurately synthesize relevant data points. A liberal arts education equips students with precisely those skills and habits of mind, among others. Its emphasis on breadth and diversity introduces students to new ideas and varied perspectives and encourages them to think beyond one field of study or mode of inquiry. Seonaid Davis, Vice Principal Teaching and Learning, puts it this way: “A liberal arts approach emphasizes multiple thinking frameworks. The big issues that shape our lives and the lives of those around the world can’t be addressed from only one stance. For example, our Grade 12 students are asked to understand and explain the Rwandan genocide. That requires several lines of inquiry—legal, historical, cultural, political. It’s not a single-perspective issue. Very little in our world can be well understood through a single lens.” At the heart of Havergal’s liberal arts approach lies a fundamental commitment to cultivating the ability to read widely, write clearly and work meaningfully with

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