Wonder Week 2010

By Devon Lynch-Huggins-Szep

Michelle Brickner and her Body Art class display "body parts" made of plastic wrap.

Last year, sometime during the winter, I was having a conversation with a senior who commented to me that she was troubled by the fact that sometimes there is so much business to take care of at school that teachers and students never get to know each other as human beings. Aside from being impressed by the seriousness with which this student approached the possibility that I was, in fact, a human being I felt troubled because she was right. Sometimes school gets in the way.

We know that relationships are essential to learning. In order for learning to happen, there has to be a mutual sense of trust - some rapport between teacher and student. While genuine learning certainly happens in our classrooms throughout the course of the year, we know that often the most meaningful learning experiences happen in a way that is much more organic than the traditional classroom setting can facilitate.

Last spring, one of my really, really smart friends and colleagues, Adam Musser, proposed the idea of taking a week away from the confines of our complicated school schedule to let learning happen in a different way. He borrowed the idea of “Wonder Week” from a friend who teaches at another area high school. The idea is simple: for one week each adult in the community is asked to teach something that he or she loves. A small group of adults met to discuss the possible rewards (engaged learning, literacy and numeracy in context, relationships between adults and students rooted in shared interests) and challenges (a week away from curriculum, the logistics of scheduling 435 students, space, transportation, funding) of such a week. We decided that the potential benefits far outweighed the challenges and we took the idea to our administrators who trusted us enough to say yes.

We held our first Wonder Week during the week of October 4-8, 2010. Students participated in a whole range of courses that week: Cleveland’s Ethnic Neighborhoods, Graphic Novels, a running clinic, Hip-Hop Consciousness, modern dance, how to rebuild a motorcycle, yoga, Lunch Impossible (cooking lunch for the entire student body every day for a week) and many more. Each course that was offered represented an interest of some adult in the community. Most students took two classes each day: one in the morning and one in the afternoon and some sessions lasted all day.

The week was simultaneously draining and reinvigorating. We had strong attendance all week and both teacher and student feedback reflects that it was a positive experience. The week did not go off without a hitch, but because it was planned so carefully and because of the openness that we, our students and our administration approached it, the challenges that arose represent opportunities for growth and reminders that taking chances is both risky and rewarding.

Wonder Week 2010 was a fabulous learning experience for all of us. We are currently evaluating this year’s successes and challenges and are in the early stages of planning Wonder Week 2011. If you have questions about Wonder Week, please contact me at dlynch-huggins@stmddphs.org.