When I step into Lower School classrooms, I see a collective, exploratory nature to the learning that occurs, a sense of everyone taking steps into the unknown, and the very human aspects of curiosity, imagination, empathy, and collaboration at play at every turn.

I left school with a clutch of grades I had earned, but I couldn’t tell you what I earned them for. Sure, I remember my French AS level oral exam (I was raised in the UK), in which I had to become an expert in selling kettles, but I remember that more for the joyous, almost onomatopoeic sound of the French word for kettle (une bouilloire) than for the actual grammar or syntax of which I had to display mastery. 

Similarly, I remember not the specific essays I wrote about Shakespeare or Samuel Taylor Coleridge but the sense of wonder I experienced at authors’ turns of phrase or the total immersion I felt in acts of imagination; these were the things that made me want to continue learning, continue reading, and continue exploring how to make sense of the world around me and my role within it. 

In my work at Westridge as the Director of Teaching and Learning helping shape and guide conversations around child development and pedagogy, these personal reflections often surface as they relate to much of the current research on the science of learning. 

When I think about the core purpose of education, I am not sure that I think only about the accumulation of grades or even the mastery of specific content. I think about it as providing pathways for children to develop an understanding of themselves, as they begin to understand how to make sense of the world that they are part of and that they will move into. 

These aren’t new or particularly original thoughts—we have long known that Habits of Mind¹, for example, lie at the core of social, emotional, and cognitive behaviors. And current neuroscientific research by Mary Helen Immordino-Yang and others has established how learning is dynamic, context-dependent, social, and subjective: it involves weaving together knowledge, skills, and dispositions to develop an understanding of oneself and the world. 

Until this year, however, how we’ve reported on student development and achievement in the Lower School has traditionally focused mainly on academic outcomes with some reference to behaviors in the classroom. In some ways, we haven’t put words to the web of influences on how a child might experience school as a holistic journey of identity formation and emerging self-knowledge. 

Our mission speaks of developing adventurous thinkers and courageous, compassionate leaders. It’s a mission that drew me to Westridge and continues to inspire me in my role. And when I ask myself how these qualities develop in young people, I find myself returning to the experiences and habits that shape who students become as learners and as humans. 

It’s thinking about our mission and core purposes of education that lie behind this year’s addition of five Learning Dispositions to report cards in grades 4 – 6. These are: 
 

1. Self-Awareness and Reflection; 

2. Curiosity and Flexible Thinking; 

3. Critical Thinking; 

4. Collaboration and Inclusivity; 

5. and Responsibility, Resilience, and Integrity. 

These dispositions emerged out of faculty diving deep into thinking about the kinds of skills that transcend the classroom. They reflect something that has always mattered deeply to us and is evident every day on our campus: the development of the whole child. When I step into Lower School classrooms, I see a collective, exploratory nature to the learning that occurs, a sense of everyone taking steps into the unknown, and the very human aspects of curiosity, imagination, empathy, and collaboration at play at every turn. Now students will see how these habits are valued, teachers will use a shared language for describing them, and families will have an opportunity to celebrate growth that extends beyond academic achievement alone. 

I think that this shared understanding of how to talk about what we value is important. I didn’t have that reflective meta-cognitive practice in the schools I attended. But, when I do remember significant moments of my school days, I remember directing plays, forming bands, playing team sports, putting into action the things I learned in the classroom alongside the social-emotional aspects of self-awareness, resilience, collaboration, and applied critical thinking. These exploratory, collaborative, self-defining moments are what made me feel like a vital part of a community and allowed me to extend my learning and make it tangible. They were the human side to the academic achievement and the tests I took.  

Those memories are what my mind wanders to when I think of school, and they are also what makes Westridge a place of authentic learning. The deep relationships, the appreciation of potential that adds up to high expectations with high support, and the loud celebrations of achievement and excellence from adults and children alike. There’s a sense of shared understanding that what people do here, what they learn here, matters. Not just for the grade itself, but for the emergent human who is learning how to make sense of themselves and of the world. 

We would like our Lower School report cards to reflect that development, to help everyone engage in the examined life that is worth living, so that alongside academic achievement, our students can talk about their growth as reflective, collaborative members of a community of learners and developing humans. 

After all, as Mary Helen Immodino-Yang says, and as the faculty will attest, the ultimate aim of school is human development, with academic learning serving as a critical foundation rather than an endpoint. It’s this focus on allowing time to reflect on who they are becoming that will allow students to really thrive in and beyond the classroom. 

¹Explore SEL

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Director of Teaching & Learning James Evans has been at Westridge since 2021, working with Westridge faculty and administration to plan, direct, implement, and evaluate the functions of curriculum, instruction, and assessment. In his 20+ years in education, Evans has been committed to promoting a student-centered pedagogy that emphasizes process, the importance of self-awareness, and the development of transferable skills. He holds a B.A. in English Literature from the University of Sussex.