In my remarks to parents of new students at the beginning of the school year, I celebrated the fact that Burgundy students, more than students I have seen at any other school, are genuinely excited to return to campus each Fall.

Why? First, because our community is so nurturing and takes great care to help students feel connected and appreciated for who they are. With basic emotional needs met, students are prepared to learn, and our inquiry-based curriculum is inviting and fun!

Recently, Pat Bassett, President of the National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS), published an article that highlighted many of the reasons I feel excited and privileged to lead a school like Burgundy.

I often say that schools and teachers should be “zappers,” not “sappers,” igniting and not extinquishing children’s innate curiosity and zeal for learning. Many facets of our distinctive learning community — nearly all of them, in fact — make the Burgundy experience a “zapper!” This is true for teachers, staff and parents alike. We experience, through students’ eyes, the joy in learning and we share in a most rewarding journey. It is true, too, that so much of what we have always regarded as foundational is being touted today as part of “21st Century Learning” or “the next big thing.”

This is not to say that we are not constantly learning and striving to improve our mission and philosophy. But many of what Pat Bassett refers to as “The Big Shifts in Education” are not new at all to Burgundy’s approach to learning.

A sampling:

From Knowing to Doing. Burgundy’s curriculum emphasizes project-based learning, which is always more than hearing or reading about X. Growing butterflies from pupae is more than just reading about them. Designing and building a rocket, then testing it and evaluating the results is really learning physics. And inhabiting the roles of a medieval serf or tradesman or vassal, and having commerce or debate in character, equates also to real learning: learning by doing.

From Teacher-centered to Student-centered. Our teachers have the freedom and the encouragement to follow their students’ passions and questions, as well as their own. Teachers begin with skills and enduring understandings in mind but recognize that there are many essential questions that lead to similar understandings, and bending to where students are and what they know encourages engaged learning.

From the Individual to the Team. Burgundy students in their major curricular projects often work in pairs and teams, or interact in role-plays. Our teachers interact with students more as guides and facilitators than fillers of empty vessels.

From Consumption of Information to Construction of Meaning. Our students construct personal meaning from their own experiences, analogizing with the experience of historical or scientific figures.

From High-Stakes Testing to High-Value Demonstrations. We are interested in knowing what our students are thinking about, how they are learning. Therefore, authentic assessment allows students to demonstrate learning by creating, applying, speaking and writing, not by answering multiple-choice questions. We do not allow our students to value themselves based on a test score. We know (and research supports) that students learn more in diverse hands-on assessment. We encourage students to experiment, to take risks and to learn from their failures. In this way Burgundy students come to know themselves as learners.

Most of all, Burgundy graduates know how to learn and retain a real joy in learning — those are two of the biggest gifts we can offer.

Jeff Sindler, Head of School
Constant Comment, August 31, 2012