Why Prep

Hello, Sandia Prep Community! 

I hope you had a restful Thanksgiving holiday and had the chance to spend some time with the people whom you love. I am grateful for the time I had with my immediate and extended family - eating lots of good food, catching up on each other’s lives, and comparing notes on recent books read, music listened to, and shows watched.

The time between Thanksgiving and winter break is always a whirlwind of activity as we wrap up the first semester (how are we already almost finished with the first semester?!). We also have sports games and preparation for upcoming performances. School is truly in full swing. 

As you know, we believe strongly in the value of the whole child at Sandia Prep. What this means is that we not only encourage our students in their academic pursuits but also in athletics, arts, and activities. This helps create an atmosphere of engagement - you can feel it when you walk on campus. Our Five A’s are a hallmark of what we do. In talking with teachers, visiting classes, and going on trips, I’ve discovered a sixth A at Sandia Prep - authenticity. At some college preparatory schools, you might find students who are high achievers, getting good grades and participating in extracurricular activities, seemingly successful. But when you look more closely, you’ll find that many of these students are going through the motions, looking at their school experience as a means to an end, and are simply “doing” school to get ahead. 

In her book Overloaded and Underprepared, Stanford professor Denise Pope explores the downsides of this way of life. Students who constantly push themselves through a grueling schedule of advanced classes, hours of homework, and multiple extracurricular activities often burn out or check out. Even if they are able to keep their heads above water, they often graduate from high school looking impressive on paper but lacking in basic skills needed to operate in the world (a similar finding to what Julie Lythcott-Haims writes about in How to Raise an Adult, the book I referenced in my last blog post). Pope encourages schools to take a step back to create time and space for deeper, more authentic learning.

At Sandia Prep, teachers are doing just that. They are taking the time to truly know their students and to foster intellectual curiosity, collaboration, and integrity. This is what I mean by authentic. When teachers are able to connect with students and when they can encourage students to apply what they are learning to issues and situations outside of their classroom walls, students remember more and also develop important skills, including critical thinking, compassion, and creativity.I’ve had the chance to talk with teachers, visit classes, attend games and performances, and travel with different groups of students. I have loved seeing how our teachers work to create authentic learning experiences for our students. In Anna Wilkerson’s sixth-grade science classes, students are exploring how to create a “spacewalk” that will provide campus visitors with information about our solar system and give an idea of the distance between planets. The students in Dan de León’s class on running a small business are learning the ins and outs of running a successful coffee shop. Katy Crawford-Garrett’s English students created multi-modal memoirs that reflected on which experiences in their lives have been most impactful. Helen Haskell’s geoscience classes visit the volcanoes in Petroglyph National Monument and get to understand firsthand how one of the largest rift valleys was created right in our backyard. Claudio Perez’s Spanish 5 and Heritage Spanish students have the chance to travel to El Paso and learn more about the border, talking to immigration officers, immigration attorneys, volunteers at shelters, and people seeking asylum in the United States. 

These are just a few of the examples I have seen of authentic learning - there are so many more happening every day. All of these experiences develop in our students' invaluable skills that will help them not just in college but in their lives. They are learning and practicing empathy through hearing other people’s stories. They are developing critical thinking skills and discovering how to ask questions that dig deep into various issues. They are implementing creative strategies in developing their own content and products. Through more open-ended explorations, they have the chance to try, fail, and try again, and this is how true learning occurs.

What a joy it is to see authentic learning happen in all corners of our campus (and beyond!). And what a joy it is to hear students reflecting on the value of their experiences. I am grateful to our faculty for continuing to develop ways to connect students with the material and with each other. These experiences serve to enrich and engage our students so they can navigate the world with confidence. I can’t wait to hear what they do.
 

All the best,
Heather