All boys. All boarding. Grades 9-12.
History Teachers Attend Cambridge Summer School
Five Woodberry Forest School history teachers attended the Ancient Empires Summer School at England's University of Cambridge on July 6-12, 2014. They took courses including Athens and Sparta: Rivals for Greek Domination, heard lectures by prominent professors, and spent time in conversation.
The participating instructors -- shown left to right: Frank Tallman ’95, Nolan LaVoie, Ben Axelrod, Will Sutherland ’09, and Matt Boesen -- will use what they learned to teach Woodberry's new third-form history course being launched this fall. Called Stories and Histories, the course exposes students to both the history background they need and the reading and writing skills they will use in later courses.
"Students like stories that get their attention," said Matt Boesen who has worked for the past two years developing the new course. "Good stories help boys become curious about historical events -- and they serve as effective points of entry into deeper analytical questions that guide the study of history." Stories and Histories is centered around compelling events like the assassination of Julius Caesar, Napoleon's coronation, the trial of Galileo, and the deployment of the atom bomb.
The change in the third-form history course is a step in the Woodberry history department's long-term plan to update its curriculum. "The survey approach to teaching history risks losing the complexity and depth of historical situations," said Fred Jordan, history department chair. "We want students to delve deeply into some historical events that are particularly compelling, so they can read primary sources from the participants, appreciate the complexity of understanding and interpreting the event, and learn to think and work as historians do." Plans are underway to move the study of US history to the fourth form and add new fifth-form courses that address both European and non-Western topics.
The summer faculty development opportunity was made possible by a gift from J. Kyle Spencer, whose son Richard is a member of the Class of 1984.
The participating instructors -- shown left to right: Frank Tallman ’95, Nolan LaVoie, Ben Axelrod, Will Sutherland ’09, and Matt Boesen -- will use what they learned to teach Woodberry's new third-form history course being launched this fall. Called Stories and Histories, the course exposes students to both the history background they need and the reading and writing skills they will use in later courses.
"Students like stories that get their attention," said Matt Boesen who has worked for the past two years developing the new course. "Good stories help boys become curious about historical events -- and they serve as effective points of entry into deeper analytical questions that guide the study of history." Stories and Histories is centered around compelling events like the assassination of Julius Caesar, Napoleon's coronation, the trial of Galileo, and the deployment of the atom bomb.
The change in the third-form history course is a step in the Woodberry history department's long-term plan to update its curriculum. "The survey approach to teaching history risks losing the complexity and depth of historical situations," said Fred Jordan, history department chair. "We want students to delve deeply into some historical events that are particularly compelling, so they can read primary sources from the participants, appreciate the complexity of understanding and interpreting the event, and learn to think and work as historians do." Plans are underway to move the study of US history to the fourth form and add new fifth-form courses that address both European and non-Western topics.
The summer faculty development opportunity was made possible by a gift from J. Kyle Spencer, whose son Richard is a member of the Class of 1984.
Woodberry Forest School is an exceptional private school community for high school boys in grades nine through twelve. It is one of the top boarding schools in the United States and one of the only all-boys, all-boarding schools in the country.
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