Having the role of “Teacher” or“Faculty member” at Stuart can mean a plethora of things. Running this school takes a team effort, so if that means we all have five different hats to wear, so be it! However, what would happen if our teachers and faculty had a different primary role in the Stuart community?
An anonymous form went out to the teachers and other faculty this week asking them, “If they had to teach a different subject to a different division of students than normal, what would they teach, to which division, and why?” This led to some very interesting answers, with some thinking surface-level, and some quite in-depth. The most desired course to teach was Spanish, with two faculty members choosing it. Additionally, there were some classes listed that we see on the Stuart curriculum currently, like English, History, and Environmental Science. There were some unique courses put on the form as well, with one of them being “Farming and Food: The Story Behind The Food You Eat.” There was also a “soft skills” class that was suggested! Asking this question led to learning a lot about the hobbies and interests of some faculty members.
The next part of this question was what division each faculty member would teach. The preferences of the divisions varied, with four members saying Lower School, two saying Middle School, and one saying Upper School. Some faculty members at Stuart teach both Middle and Upper School, so the Lower School got a lot of attention on this form.
The last question, “why,” led to some extremely cool insight into our faculty members. Some teachers wanted to teach a group of kids they weren’t usually placed around, while others wanted to teach a subject they were interested in. The faculty who wanted to teach Lower School had a variety of different reasons. One member explained that “little kids are funny,” while another expressed that she would “love to teach little kids about Spanish culture, food, and music.” Another faculty member said they would like to teach Upper School because “it would be a nice change.” There was a common theme of wanting to share culture in many of the responses, showing that diversity is a core value of Stuart. Overall, our faculty wants the Stuart girls to enter the world as good humans with a holistic perspective and approach to life.
Regardless of what our faculty’s roles are at Stuart now, it is clear that their interests in teaching don’t stop just at the curriculum they teach us now. Stuart now knows what the teachers would like to teach, so hopefully, they will get the opportunity to switch up. In the meantime, everyone can have a wonderful time imagining their teachers in these new and exciting ways!
