Seeking Wider Audiences

While the relationship between student and teacher will always be at the core of learning, I believe that if students are going to be genuinely engaged in their school work, they need an audience that transcends the classroom. It is for that reason that our teachers try to provide as many opportunities as possible for our students to share their work in public.

Just last month, the North Tahoe Arts Center in Tahoe City hosted a variety of multi-media works created by Art teacher Alison Arcaris-Weiss's Kindergarten-8th grade students. While munching on finger foods and sipping cider, over 150 people attended the opening night reception and viewed the art work created by students.

It was an exciting evening and the artists, some dressed appropriately in artsy shades of black, stood proudly by their works to explain the process and the purpose of their creative endeavors.

Last week, our 5th-8th grades held their annual declamation contests. Declamations are opportunities for students to deliver a memorized speech in front of an audience. As exercises in elocution, declamations help students conquer the number one phobia of Americans - the fear of public speaking.

In front of their assembled peers as well as their families and friends, students articulately reflected on such topics as the unhealthy menu items found at McDonalds, reasons why our government should support stem cell research, the pernicious impact of negative political ads, and the societal benefits of capital punishment.

While only the top three orators from each grade were honored, the opportunity for all students to master a topic and then present their opinions in a public forum proved to them that they were capable of communicating their thoughts clearly, concisely, and eloquently.

This week, our students have temporarily put aside their clay and their sketchbooks, their toothpaste and their mirrors in order to participate in our annual Science Fair. Student experiments ranged from exploring the process of desalinizing water to the result of filtered light on photosynthesis to an analysis of harmonics to the effect of pattern recognition on memory.

But the common thread amongst all of these experiments was the internalization of the scientific method - pose a question, develop a hypothesis, create a materials list, test the hypothesis, record the results, and form a conclusion - and the opportunity to be publicly evaluated. It was exhilarating to wander around a roomful of students standing confidently next to their triptychs ready to explain how they came up with their hypotheses, the relevance of their conclusions, and what they would have done differently.

While these examples are but some of the work that Lake Tahoe School students have been sharing with the public, students from other schools have been also been in the public's eye. Incline High School student Ivet Contreras will be serving as an editorial intern at the Bonanza; three winners of our local Spelling Bee competition were recently crowned; every week athletes of the courts, mats, and slopes compete in front of appreciative and supportive audiences; and next week some elementary students will be participating in their own Science Fair.

One of the complaints often voiced about school is that there is a disconnect between the work that students do in the classroom and its relevance to the "real world." By inviting students to expand their horizons outside the classroom, educators provide opportunities for students to demonstrate their passion for their subject matter and their creativity - both of perspective and of expression - in a public forum that provides immediate and authentic feedback.

A public audience helps students own their work and makes them accountable to their ideas and their creative process in way that is difficult to replicate in the artificial confines of the insular classroom.

Of course all audiences volunteer their time, and students and teachers owe a large debt of gratitude to peers, families and friends for serving as such a supportive and critical audience for the meaningful work in which our students are engaged. Thank you.

--Steve McKibben
2/11/07