Projects run for weeks, not hours
A question does not close at the end of a lesson. Children begin to learn what it feels like to stay with something past the point where it stops being easy, which is the point at which the interesting work usually starts. Each trimester is built around a deep-dive question that literature, history and inquiry all run through, and at the end of it our students take the lead to explain what they’ve uncovered.
The bridge they built held four textbooks and collapsed under the fifth. Version two took another week and holds eleven.
The failure was the useful part.
Taught where they are
Students work at their actual readiness in each subject. When a child finishes early, we do not hand them more of the same. We hand them the next probing question.
He’d always finished first at his old school and then sat waiting. Now he never finishes, because there’s always another question.
Done early isn’t a reward. It’s a signal we aimed too low.
What they are working on
Reading and writing
With real books, and opinions expected.
Mathematics
Placed by readiness and taught for understanding.
Science
Hands-on and inquiry-driven.
Group projects
Where children learn to build something collaboratively with their team of peers.
“He can probe deeply within the subjects he loves, and still get the support and extra time he needs in other areas.”
— Knox parent, Lower School
And then, Upper School
By fourth grade a Knox student has learned to pick a hard question and stay with it. Upper School is where they learn to defend the answer.
Stories from inside the school
A window into daily school life. What our students are working on, musings about the joys of teaching our learners, and exciting happenings within the school and community.
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