A Spirit of Innovation at Rivers

One of the defining values that has emerged in the last several years at Rivers is a spirit of innovation. Innovation at Rivers does not mean chasing the latest educational fad. Rather, it means teachers and administrators using their imaginations to find new and better ways to live our mission. Critical to living this value is the extensive professional development Rivers provides its faculty. New knowledge sparks the creative juices of our teachers as they look for ways to apply this knowledge – not to solve problems – but rather to build new programs.

The list of new programs started by teachers at Rivers is astonishing. The creation of summer science internships led to the establishment of summer business internships. The nationally recognized middle school leadership program, invented entirely by the middle school faculty, led to the establishment of the upper school leadership program. Even students get in on the act. Four years ago a senior approached a math teacher and asked if he could be her assistant in one of her classes. Four years later Rivers has a well developed teaching assistant program. Rising seniors have to apply for this program, attend every class, and can actually earn half of a credit.

Several years ago one of our physics teachers organized his classes in small groups or pods, in which students helped one another, debated, and learned from both the teacher and their pod-mates. Today, this method of organizing classes is used throughout our program. We consider it essential for preparing students for the new workplace where teamwork and communication skills are so vital. A few weeks ago I asked an upper school math teacher why she uses pods: "Because there is so much learning that takes place going down the wrong road and this forces students to articulate why they are doing what they are doing." I loved her response!