The idea was to have classes taught at Raymond during the summer that featured the "Harkness Method". This method is how all classes at Phillips Exeter are taught. According to the Phillips Exeter Academy website about the Harkness Method, "It's a way of learning: everyone comes to class prepared to share, discuss, and discover, whether the subject is a novel by William Faulkner or atomic and molecular structure. There are no lectures." The website further states that Harkness includes: " interacting with other minds, listening carefully, speaking respectfully, accepting new ideas and questioning old ones, using new knowledge, and enjoying the richness of human interaction." It is a unique way for students to learn and is something they can apply to other classes taken throughout their lives.
At the beginning, all classes were taught by Phillips Exeter teachers. We now have a combination of our own staff who have been trained in the Harkness Method, along with staff from Exeter.
This has been a wonderful partnership and one that I hope lasts for a long time. This year, students who attended the summer program had the following things to say. If you think our students don't want more opportunities to learn and to learn in different ways, you might be surprised by their comments:
Raymond Roundtables Student Feedback
Math Summer 2015
Rising 10th graders who explored statistics:
Q1: What, if anything, did you look forward to in regards to this class this summer?
- Learning more about my classmates
- Learning in a new way
Q2: Did you learn anything about/from your classmates this summer?
- My classmates are pretty smart.
- They are better than me at coming up with creative solutions
- They think similarly to me but they also have ideas that I never would have thought of
Q3: Did you learn anything about yourself this summer? If so, what?
- I have a pretty good interest in statistics and I am still fairly quiet.
- I will speak up if no one else does and I don’t always have the best ideas
- I work better in small groups because I feel more comfortable sharing my ideas
- As long as I am informed, I can participate in groups with ease of mind and not put myself in an uncomfortable situation
Q4: What have you learned about statistics this summer?
- I like statistics because you can relate it to the real world
- Much more enjoyable than regular math
- It isn’t just about probability
- I learned about variability and sampling
- It is not as straight forward as I had thought
- Statistics plays a huge role in our everyday lives – they are everywhere!
- A discussion setting is actually good for helping people who really like to talk, while giving quieter students an opportunity to step outside of their comfort zones.
- We can all learn from each others' ideas and there is often more than one way to solve a problem.
- Statistics should be taught more and communicating with one another is key to having a fun environment.
Rising 9th Graders
Q1: What, if anything, did you look forward to in regards to this class this summer?
- Keeping [my] mind alert in the summer
Q2: Did you learn anything about/from your classmates this summer?
- There are many ways to solve a problem
Q3: Did you learn anything about yourself this summer? If so, what?
- I like doing challenging problems and discussing them as a group really helps me
- Math can be solved in many different ways
- I really need to put my brain to work because the problems really aren’t as difficult as I think
Q4: Would you take a similar class next summer?
- 4 yes, 1 no, 1 abstention
- There are many different ways to solve one problem
- An improvement of shy students participating and solving problems
- To let kids have more control
Rising 8th Graders:
Q1: What, if anything, did you look forward to in regards to this class this summer?
- Working with classmates
- Learning to think in a different way
- To stay sharp over the summer
Q2: Did you learn anything about/from your classmates this summer?
- How to explain things better
- If I do not know something, they can probably help me
- Some of them are smarter than I thought
- Some people are smarter in different ways
- Some people participate in discussions more than others
- As a group, we work well together to solve problems
Q3: Did you learn anything about yourself this summer? If so, what?
- Don’t be afraid to put an answer on the board even if you think it is wrong
- To take time and give seemingly impossible questions a second try
- To be more independent with my tasks in and out of school
- If I do my homework right when I come home from class, I do better than waiting until the last
Q4: Would you take a similar class next summer?
5 yes, 2 maybe – want it later in morning, 3 no
Other insights made by these students:
- Students can run their own class and need to be challenged more
- If you give students some time and a little hint, they can solve any problem
- Students can teach themselves
- Tougher problems are easier to solve when we work together
