Torch - Spring 2015

Junior School

What do you hope students experience in the Junior School? I believe deeply in the capability of our students. The ability to be self-aware is critical in each child’s development. Why? Students who are able to identify their strengths and challenges as learners, set achievable goals and self-reflect are better able to take responsible risks, to be flexible in their thinking and to exude confidence in all that they do. We hope the Junior School is an environment in which students can try out a number of things, ask questions, make mistakes, see the humour in situations, develop healthy relationships and learn. Moving forward, what areas will you be focusing on to support students in the Junior School? Working with Leslie Anne Dexter and the administrative team, we have many exciting initiatives in the works for next year. We are looking at ways to further define the

Havergal experience in the Junior School and to make greater connections between clubs, House, the Student Institute Team, Prayers, athletics and intramurals. One of our greatest strengths is our community, and we want to do everything we can to build upon this. Can you define what “Havergal College” means to you? What I love most about this school is the careful blend of long-standing traditions and innovative approaches to education. There is a real sense of confidence that comes from being an educational institution for 120 years! Our strong history gives us a solid foundation to ask why we are doing things and how our values are connected to everything we do. I feel privileged to be able to share my passion and expertise with a community that not only asks young women “What will you do?” but also supports them with concrete opportunities to put their thoughts and ideas into action.

Investing in Education—Havergal Chair of Teaching & Learning

To investigate the range of their possibilities, Laura will work with teachers who are interested in these methods, as well as with Learning Teams and teachers who already use these varied tools in interesting and effective ways. She also plans on having discussions with students to determine which methods they find most fruitful and to identify nuances of application that make various teaching strategies most effective for them. She will fully examine the many varied ideas and initiatives we currently use, identify those that are most useful to us and most beneficial for students and make them as accessible as possible for the widest range of teachers.

Professional development is the R&D (research and development) of education. It provides teachers with the opportunity to gain new knowledge, to explore innovative concepts, to share learning with colleagues and to advance the practice of teaching. A member of Havergal’s faculty gains the opportunity to take on a leadership role in enriching the life of the school as the Havergal Chair of Teaching & Learning, an opportunity made possible by an investment from Michael and Heather Gardiner who established an endowment at the school in 1998. Since then, the appointees to this position have focused their research on a diverse range of topics (for more information, visit www.havergal.on.ca/chair ).

Havergal Chair of Teaching & Learning: September 2015 to June 2018 Congratulations to English teacher Laura McRae on her

appointment as next year’s Havergal Chair of Teaching & Learning. As the Havergal Chair, Laura will explore ways to promote a culture of thinking in the classroom by bringing together the rich range of initiatives (such as Harkness Dialogues, Cooperative Learning and Project-Based Learning) that we already have at Havergal College. In this role, she will also consider how we might enhance the effectiveness of these initiatives to enrich our students’ learning.

14  HAVERGAL COLLEGE