Center for Teaching & Learning

5/3/24 - “Authentic” Learning

CTL has welcomed visitors to our school on the hill this week, from newly interested families at our Spring Open House, to USM professor Dr. Mindy Butler, to faculty candidates for our open positions. Conversations with visitors provoked discussion amongst the faculty and staff about CTL and our values. A recurring theme in these discussions has been authenticity. 

CTL’s mission statement reads: “The Center for Teaching and Learning is a Pre-K–8 demonstration school dedicated to the development and dissemination of authentic, joyful methods for teaching across the curriculum. We seek to teach and influence both a cross-section of children of mid-coastal Maine and, through our intern program, speeches, and publications, classroom teachers throughout the U.S.”

What does it mean to be an authentic student, an authentic teacher? To us, it means doing the work, providing opportunities and field experiences for students to be real writers, readers, historians, mathematicians, scientists, artists, performers, athletes, musicians, and so much more. 

Our students are authentic writers that are honored and sometimes even paid for their work. We recently learned that eleven CTL students were recognized for their poetry by the Poetry Society of Virginia. Congratulations to Gannon, Flynn, Violet, Jackie, Charlie, Molly, Eni, Octavia, Carter, Lily, and Alice. Additionally, five students were honored by the Scholastic Writing Competition for their writing. Congratulations to Meghan, Octavia, Morganne, Lily, and Vivian. Incredible work by our young poets! We are so proud of you all. 

This past Saturday, grades 5-8 traveled to Boston to see Hadestown, an acclaimed new show that intertwines two mythic tales, that of Orpheus and Eurydice, and that of Hades and Persephone. This experience came mere weeks after the 5-8 performed their own dramatic adaptation of Greek mythology with their production, Myth. Students could reflect on the performance thoughtfully, discussing and ruminating on voice projection, colored lights, set elements, costuming, and the overall experience, which echoed through the middle school and out to the rest of the school at Monday’s morning meeting. With CTL’s shared history curriculum, even the students who weren’t able to attend the performance in Boston found value and shared understanding with the discussion, as they too had learned about ancient Greece this year. 

Authenticity is at the heart of what we do here at CTL. We are so grateful to share this with your awesome, insightful kids.