Students show off studies at exhibition of learning

Posted on April 13, 2023 by Ryan Dahlman

By Anna Smith

Commentator/Courier

S

tudents and parents alike crowded into Senator Gershaw school on April 4 to see what, exactly, goes on both in and out of class, for those proud to be Gators.

The exhibition went far beyond their core classes, showcasing a drumming circle as well as a student-written play, well before the youth took their places beside the various displays that were laid out in the gym.

“You’re often invited in for things like an exhibition of learning basketball games or an exhibition of learning volleyball games, when students are going through lots of practice and lots of reiterations and getting better and better, you get to come watch,” said principal Scott Angle. “But we don’t do that as often, we’re gonna come to some of our learning that we do in class. And that leads us to today. So there’s been a lot of iterations, a lot of drafts, a lot of projects going on all the greats before tonight, every student in grade 4–9 housing a project within our gym.”

These projects varied from hexagonal shelves from the shop class, to some students sporting their experiment in learning to make a cake and buttercream icing, to persuasive essays written in English Language Arts.

“So what’s the purpose of an exhibition of learning? The purpose is to give us an authentic audience,” said Angle. “We do a lot of building, a lot of projects within our school. But at the same time, parents often don’t get to actually see it and not only that, often you don’t get to talk through the process. So it’s about talking about the process. It’s about community pride, equity and dialogue and working on our students’ communication skills.”

The event also featured a tour of the school’s greenhouse, and their current young plants that are getting their roots under them despite the snow still on the ground.

This marks the first exhibition of learning at Senator Gershaw School, admitted Angle, and there still may have been a few bugs to iron out, but they were determined to make it the first of many, and to refine the process as they go.