Bridging Divisions by Sharing the Well

Miss Erin Wright’s AP Spanish class took a trip across Mount Vernon Highway to collaborate with Mrs. King’s third graders. The five girls in Wright’s class, Anjana Anandkumar, Kathryn Danner, Melanie Lane, Lily Mecke and Savannah Rettig bridged divisions by sharing the well.
Miss Wright thought of the possible collaboration over Christmas break. She then reached out to Elizabeth Berkman, the Lower School Spanish teacher, and together, they starting planning. Miss Wright’s hope was to share the well by providing her AP Spanish students with a learning opportunity outside of the classroom. Wright says, “I wanted to create empathy for fellow language learners while practicing a key grammar concept, the numbers. Selfishly, I was also interested in the lesson plan that my AP students would create as a way to improve upon my own teaching methods by focusing on their interests. The students seemed to really love the experience and had fun working with the kids. They commented on how hard it is to command a room full of students and keep their attention.”
Commenting on her experience, student Kathryn Danner says, “I really enjoyed the opportunity to use what I’ve learned in an environment different from our usual classroom. It was a lot of fun!”