Involved parents stand by during morning assem-
bly, marveling at their playful children’s attentive start to the day. Many parents invest time and energy into their child’s education at Howard. The managing board, which oversees finances, is comprised mainly of parents. The secretaries, teachers and headmaster have children at Howard as well. “I wasn’t a big fan of private schools,” says Maureen Losther, secretary and parent. “Then we found How- ard.” Her three children are Howard graduates and Losther remains the secretary. Inside the classroom, students spend a good chunk of time in independent study—even first-graders— with groups of three or four (from a classroom of 12) rotating to the teacher’s desk to share work and receive the next round of instructions while the others work on their own. The small group interaction forces a shy student who might not have a voice in a larger setting to learn self-expression. “Kids just don’t disappear here,” says parent and board of directors member Jim Robbins. The concept of nudging children toward confident,
independent study, along with the entire curriculum at Howard, would seem radical or nuanced in the sense that it is an alternative to a typical lecture in the classroom. However, the instruction method be- gan developing in 1934 by passionate educator Mae Carden (1894-1977). The curriculum has remained stable over decades of changes to standards and teaching styles in other approaches to education.
All texts and all course work at Howard are Carden
specific. For instance, the practice books designed to teach students how to read have no illustrations. “There’s a beautiful illustration,” says Reed. “It’s in
the child’s imagination.” After a student finishes a sentence, which may read:
“The cat drinks milk,” a teacher asks the student to close his or her eyes. Then the teacher asks, “What color is your cat?” In the student’s response, whether black, red or turquoise, a teacher knows the student has absorbed the sentence and learned that within the words is meaning. The cat on the page became a cat in the student’s mind. In addition to language arts, each Howard student
is expected to attain mastery of math, science, and the standard subjects offered at any school. Howard also places emphasis on the arts—theatre, music—as well as physical education. A key philosophy of Carden is to encourage joy in learning, so students will come to want to enrich themselves. “Children intuitively want to learn,” says Reed. “We
fan that flame.” Also building a solid foundation in language arts,
students are taught French throughout their early education, and later Latin is introduced. The Howard School, established in 1912 in
summer2010 47
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100