Showtime

When I was younger and playing basketball in the 1980's the Boston Celtics-Los Angeles Lakers rivalry was in its prime. I will state my own preference upfront- Celtic Pride all the way. Perhaps not surprising for someone with my ethnic background who lived in South Boston as part of the immigrant experience. While I thoroughly enjoyed watching the Celtics and Lakers duke it out for basketball supremacy, always happy when Larry Bird and the Celtics got the upper hand, I secretly admired the Lakers for their "Showtime" brand of basketball. It was upbeat, creative, and exciting. The games were more of an event than a fixture.

It was with these sentiments in mind that I set out, along with my colleagues, to create an opportunity for students in the intermediate division of our Lower School (grades 7 and 8) to be able to showcase notable school work across all subject areas in our grade team. With an eye on the impending introduction of the IB Middle Years Programme (MYP), we wanted to create a forum whereby students would be excited to share their best work. The key components of the Intermediate Showcase were as follows:

- Personal connection (inquiry-based learning)

- Public presentation (audience/accountability)

- Lifelong learning (relevance and rigor)

Students were asked to share work that was personally relevant to them. Teachers were asked to select the best examples of that personal connection in their subject areas. The public presentation part was an audience consisting of classmates, teachers, and family members. In total there were over 125 people in our school auditorium- a facility that has a large stage space, big screen, and all the technological capacity anyone would need. The goal of course, is to inculcate a desire for lifelong learning, and an appreciation of learning for its own sake.

A variety of presentations took place. Some were live presentations including music and dance (Physical Education, Arts), others were powerpoint presentations (Humanities, Language A), still others utilized pre-recorded video (Language B), and several involved demonstrations that included a variety of media to present the work (Science, Technology, Mathematics). All subjects were represented and well-received by the audience.

As a first time exercise, the Showcase was well done and well-liked. Helpful feedback from students, teachers and guests assisted the necessary process of reflection, and moving forward, will provide the basis for improvement. While we have a long way to go to create the kind of legacy like that between Boston and LA, wouldn't it be nice if our students were able to have the same kind of exciting platform to showcase their work as basketball stars? Think of the kind of world we could create if our students' work was as valued as athletic achievements.

I will leave the final words on this post to a parent, who provided this unsolicited feedback:

"It was impressive to see the work being done by the students and I was very proud of my son's  presentation. Our experience at your school has been nothing short of outstanding.  I commend the faculty for all their time and dedication to the students in providing them with the education and tools they need to excel."