Fostering Student Expression

At The Willows, we believe each child brings our community an extraordinary gift: a curious mind, ready to explore, and eager to learn. We believe that in order to allow our children to grow into lifelong learners who discover, ask questions, make connections, and take creative risks, we must foster student expression.

Fostering student expression starts within the classrooms:

The Willows encourages students to ask questions, be creative, and take initiative in their own learning

Projects The Willows’ assigns allow for students to have substantial autonomy. Students are encouraged to think outside of the box, think for themselves, and find new and creative ways to connect their learning. This type of learning fosters more creativity, creates a sense of ownership, and provides new opportunities for students to express what they have learned through their own unfiltered lens.

One week during the school year, The Willows departs from the day-to-day curriculum to offer an in-depth, cross-disciplinary study of the school wide theme called Intersession. Intersession offers a different approach to project-based, experiential learning and an opportunity to fully integrate our disciplines in a fresh, illuminating academic experience. Intersession fosters deep learning and allows for student expression in a variety of ways by letting them choose their class and spend a week of diving deep into open ended projects.

The Willows values individuality

Willows’ teachers embrace differences and out of the box thinkers. We encourage and foster, creativity, new ideas, new perspectives, and dialogue. We want students to speak up and to be passionate about their learning.

In middle school, students can team teach an elective with a teacher. This unique team-teaching experience allows middle schoolers the option to dive deeper into a subject and learn how to create a curriculum, manage a classroom, and collaborate on a professional level.

There’s also an annual middle school fashion show. The fashion show is a collaborative effort between the art teachers and middle school students. It is an opportunity for self-expression through wearable art that takes its inspiration from the school wide theme. Students are encouraged to create fashion out of a variety of materials and often repurpose other clothing or recyclables to create finished pieces. Under teacher guidance, students design outfits, walk the catwalk, MC, and DJ the show. The Fashion Show embraces creativity, diversity, and personal interpretations of the theme.

The Willows promotes inquisitiveness

We teach our students that anything is possible. If there’s an issue at the school, try and fix it. That’s what happened when we didn’t have an efficient rack to hold all the sports equipment on the yard. Instead of bypassing the problem, our middle schoolers decided to find a solution using the Design Thinking process. They interviewed teachers and students from all different grade levels asking them questions. After reviewing all the data, they created blueprints and a prototype. They then tested it out and eventually made a final product for all students to use.

The Willows understands that in the real world many problems are not always linear, and it takes creative thinking, inquisitiveness, and the ability to view the problem from a different perspective to solve a problem.

The Willows removes constraints for creativity

Many of the projects that are done at The Willows are open-ended. This provides students with the opportunity to find creative ways to tie in their learning. Open-ended projects reach and engage more students as it gives them the chance to explore and present in a way that’s meaningful to them.

Projects at The Willows come in all shapes and sizes. By allowing students to create in their own medium, they can explore the content more fully. Teachers are constantly evolving lessons and activities to make sure there are bountiful opportunities for students to take control of their learning.  

The Willows also offers many outlets for students to be creative such as being part of Rock Band, Dance, Electives, Fashion Show, Intersession, and Theater. These are just a few opportunities that allow students to embrace their creative side.

The Willows learns by doing

Hands-on learning is integrated into everything at The Willows. We believe children learn best when they are fully engaged using all their senses. Students are immersed in hands-on learning throughout the day. Instead of showing what students can do, we have them do it. Through trial and error and pushing them outside of their comfort zone, students begin find out a lot about themselves as an individual, student, and learner. It allows them to dive deep into an introspective view on the type of learner they are, their interests, and their passions.

What we teach in the classroom, we hope extends beyond the classroom. We believe that our approach to fostering student expression in the classrooms will provide our students with the skills and tools needed to live fulfilled, meaningful, and joyful lives.