Harwood Harkness leaders take it on the road

May 13, 2022  |  By Jacqueline McCarty

Harkness in action at Mt. Abraham Union Middle/High School. Photo by Kathy Cadwell

The Harkness Student Driven Approach to Learning has become a cornerstone of classroom teaching at Harwood Union Middle/High School, including in the middle school where the “Power Skills” of the practice are developed and honed. Power skills include learning to speak in turn, how to respectfully disagree, using non-verbal cues to further discussions and connections, and using sentence stems to help smoothly enter Harkness discussions.   

This year, high school English teacher Kate Stauss is teaching a course called Harkness Leadership which is an English elective open to students in grades 10-12. The student leaders in the class are highly trained and skilled Harkness facilitators. 

Former longtime Harwood teacher Kathy Cadwell, who pioneered the Harkness practice during her 40-year teaching career at the school, has now turned to these students for their expertise. 

Currently teaching a course on the Harkness pedagogy at St. Michael's College, Cadwell made good on her promise to continue her work with Harwood students when she retired in 2021. This year, she has given Harwood’s Harkness student leaders opportunities to extend their reach beyond the walls of their school.

Cadwell suggested Stauss take the Harwood group on tour to share their insights and experiences with Harkness with students at other schools around the state. Stauss and her class have taken the opportunity to share their skills and insights with a broader audience.

This year’s tour is due in part to the years of work Harwood students and educators previously did under the guidance and direction of Cadwell that continues today. 

Educators at Harwood have an established Professional Learning Community cohort where teachers share methods, materials, and ideas for honing the Harkness practice in their classrooms. Stauss and social studies teacher Adam Sargeant are the leaders of the teachers’ group, planning after-school sessions and coordinating student-led discussions. The teachers involved in the group are from a variety of backgrounds, subject areas, and grade levels. This multi-year, school-wide investment to bring Harkness opportunities to every Harwood student has paid dividends.

The Harwood Union High School Harkness student leaders are: Mikey Casey, Arianna Clark, Rowan Clough, Ella Dice, Maisie Franke, Ellie Hammond, Maya Hynes, Carmen Lafayette, Ben Larson, Abigail Leighty, Hazel Lillis, Mae Murphy, Quinn Nelson, Anabelle Reisner and Lucy Sullivan. Several of these Harwood representatives have visited three other Vermont schools this year (and all traveled to at least one): Champlain Valley Union in March, Hazen Union in April, and Mount Abraham Union most recently, in May.  All of these opportunities came at the invitation of teachers who were interested in finding out more about student driven inquiry and the Harkness pedagogy.

At each of these exhibitions, Harwood student leaders took center stage, even moreso in the last two visits of the tour.  

At Hazen, Stauss and her students worked with middle and high school students, teaching the Power Skills that create civil dialogue. Harkness leaders then demonstrated an actual Harkness dialogue in front of the entire Hazen faculty.  Those teachers said they were inspired by the civility, deep insights, commitment to text, thoughtful questioning, and collaborative discussion of the Harkness leaders.  

How it works 

Harwood Union junior Ellie Hammond (left) and sophmore Lucy Sullivan (right) teach Harkness Power Skills to Hazen Union High School students. Photo by Kathy Cadwell

The Harkness Student Driven Approach  is not just another fancy education term for a class discussion.  Harkness goes beyond simply talking about a subject or topic. Harkness discussions are grounded in text analysis. The process ensures full participation and the academic discourse is led by the students themselves. 

With highly trained students, the instructor takes a back seat as an observer who watches, records interactions between students, and summarizes the content of student conversations. With less-experienced students, the teachers take more of a leadership role, with the aim of gradually turning the reins over to students.  

The structure of the Harkness method ensures that the conversations are not dominated by only a few talkative students, and that controversial discourse does not unravel into an argument. This method actually teaches students how to learn in a way in which they are not just simply sitting and taking in instruction, but rather, they are required to listen, observe, analyze, verbalize, question and provide visual descriptions that lead to further the understanding of everyone at the Harkness table.  

The Harwood administration expresses enthusiastic support for Harkness efforts.  “We have been so excited to have Harkness leadership in the building, and it is great that they are able to share their expertise with other schools in our state,” Co-Principal Laurie Greenberg commented. 

Greenberg went on to note that student voice is a priority at Harwood, and so Harkness is a natural fit for our broader school goals because “everyone’s voice is valued equally at the Harkness table.” 

Student observations 

In a recent interview, Harkness student leaders shared their reflections on the experience of touring the state and providing instruction to peers as well as professional educators. When asked what it was like to teach their peers (on the road and at home) there was mumbling about some student behaviors attributed to the COVID-19 disruptions to school activities. Students acknowledged that society is still recovering from quarantine.  

Junior Ellie Hammond explained that the experience teaching the Harkness method at other schools, “opened up my perspective about what it’s like to teach, and what it is like to learn.”

Overall the experience was overwhelmingly positive for students and teachers alike.  “Harkness has helped me develop a lot of skills that I can use in and outside of the classroom,” commented junior Ella Dice, “and it has also helped me navigate conversations about difficult topics like racism, or environmental racism.  Harkness has helped me develop the skills I need to have these conversations.  Harkness taught me how to ask questions.”    

Sophomore Hazel Lillis added, “Harkness discussions have taught me how to connect with people who have perspectives that are different from my own.”  

Jacqueline McCarty is a literacy interventionist at Harwood Union Middle/High School and a member of the school’s Harkness Professional Learning Community.