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Learning and Leading Through Conversations
St. Luke’s students recently participated in the Community Goals for Learning (CGLs) Discussions—St. Luke’s approach to teaching civil discourse through engaging and often challenging conversations. Led by the Center for Leadership and its Office of Equity and Inclusion, CGLs were first introduced to the Upper School and later expanded to include the Middle School. This year, St. Luke’s offered CGL discussions for parents.
St. Luke’s Director of Global Education Beth Yavenditti recaps the first CGLs of this year in her excerpt below.
What is the role of technology in a middle schooler’s life? What does it mean to be you at SLS?
These were the topics last week at St. Luke’s as students dove into thoughtful conversations, launching our CGL programs in both the middle and upper school. CGLs, as they are known to our students, are the discussions we have in advisories several times a year in which we lean into conversations around complicated, complex, and often emotional issues facing our community and world today. The name CGLs comes directly from the St. Luke’s Community Goals for Learning--seeking truth and understanding, integrity, reflection, curiosity, and open-mindedness. The goal of these conversations is for students and faculty to practice listening for understanding, rather than entering conversations with the purpose of convincing others.
CGLs are new to the Middle School this year. Head of Middle School, Amber Berry, felt it was important to bring the program to the students given their innate curiosity, eagerness to talk about issues and need to practice the skills of dialogue in order to have more meaningful discussions. Our students are already having these conversations and they are interested in learning and sharing with one another. Practicing the skills to become close listeners who are open to sharing with one another supports their leadership development.
The Middle School focused on the role of technology in their lives which, given the pandemic, has become more of an issue than ever before. Head of Middle School Amber Berry shared, “In our room, student experiences with personal technology were a range. It is a myth that every child has a cell phone or is allowed to create social media accounts. They were honest about themselves and their friends in our discussion. Rules and restrictions around technology are a matter of safety and are best practice.”
In the Upper School, students and faculty thought about their identity and what that meant for their, and others’, SLS experience. In a short video montage, SLS students and teachers talked about what it meant to be Jewish, transgender, Black, white, working class, Southeast Asian, young, and female at SLS. They generously gave us a window into different experiences so we could reflect on what the SLS community means, what each of us brings to our community, and how we can become more inclusive.
Head of School Mark Davis said, “I’ve been here more than 18 years and I don’t even know how many advisory conversations I have had. Maybe hundreds. Not one has come close to the one we had today. It was the brave speakers in the videos, who spoke from the ‘I perspective’ and inspired my 10th-12th grade boys to move to a deeper place of understanding.”
For more information about St. Luke’s CGL conversations or how to join in the parent CGLs, please contact Beth Yavenditti, St. Luke’s Director of Global Education. Learn more about the Center for Leadership.
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St. Luke’s Director of Global Education Beth Yavenditti recaps the first CGLs of this year in her excerpt below.
What is the role of technology in a middle schooler’s life? What does it mean to be you at SLS?
These were the topics last week at St. Luke’s as students dove into thoughtful conversations, launching our CGL programs in both the middle and upper school. CGLs, as they are known to our students, are the discussions we have in advisories several times a year in which we lean into conversations around complicated, complex, and often emotional issues facing our community and world today. The name CGLs comes directly from the St. Luke’s Community Goals for Learning--seeking truth and understanding, integrity, reflection, curiosity, and open-mindedness. The goal of these conversations is for students and faculty to practice listening for understanding, rather than entering conversations with the purpose of convincing others.
CGLs are new to the Middle School this year. Head of Middle School, Amber Berry, felt it was important to bring the program to the students given their innate curiosity, eagerness to talk about issues and need to practice the skills of dialogue in order to have more meaningful discussions. Our students are already having these conversations and they are interested in learning and sharing with one another. Practicing the skills to become close listeners who are open to sharing with one another supports their leadership development.
The Middle School focused on the role of technology in their lives which, given the pandemic, has become more of an issue than ever before. Head of Middle School Amber Berry shared, “In our room, student experiences with personal technology were a range. It is a myth that every child has a cell phone or is allowed to create social media accounts. They were honest about themselves and their friends in our discussion. Rules and restrictions around technology are a matter of safety and are best practice.”
In the Upper School, students and faculty thought about their identity and what that meant for their, and others’, SLS experience. In a short video montage, SLS students and teachers talked about what it meant to be Jewish, transgender, Black, white, working class, Southeast Asian, young, and female at SLS. They generously gave us a window into different experiences so we could reflect on what the SLS community means, what each of us brings to our community, and how we can become more inclusive.
Head of School Mark Davis said, “I’ve been here more than 18 years and I don’t even know how many advisory conversations I have had. Maybe hundreds. Not one has come close to the one we had today. It was the brave speakers in the videos, who spoke from the ‘I perspective’ and inspired my 10th-12th grade boys to move to a deeper place of understanding.”
For more information about St. Luke’s CGL conversations or how to join in the parent CGLs, please contact Beth Yavenditti, St. Luke’s Director of Global Education. Learn more about the Center for Leadership.
St. Luke’s School is a secular (non-religious), private school in New Canaan, CT for grades 5 through 12 serving over 35 towns in Connecticut and New York. Our exceptional academics and diverse co-educational community foster students’ intellectual and ethical development and prepare them for top colleges. St. Luke’s Center for Leadership builds the commitment to serve and the confidence to lead.
