BACK TO SCHOOL

F ie ld ing Na ir Internat iona l

Hillel updates middle-school floor to accommodate 21st-century learning.

A depiction of how traditional classrooms give way to studios, caves and group spaces that promote problem-solving with peers.

is just another learning tool. Challenging
his teaching staff to teach across the entire
curriculum, it is possible to have a math or
hen seventh- and eighth-
science teacher pair up with a Judaic stud-
graders at Hillel Day School
ies or English teacher to apply lessons to
climb the stairs to the second
real-world situations, he said.
floor in September, they will step into a
The new middle school digs are a natu-
21st-century space that has left the cin-
ral progression of the school's open space
derblock classroom behind by way of the
Mercaz Center and Innovation Hub, which
chalkboard.
opened last year.
Thanks to an additional $1.3
"The traditional cinderblock
million of top of the $5.3 million
classroom is a confining and
Audrey and William Farber Family
uncomfortable space for learn-
IDEA Collaborative Grant, Hillel
ing:' Freedman said earlier this
Day School this summer finished
month as construction workers
i
Phase IV of a six-phase renovation
climbed scaffolding and dropped
plan.
large pieces of concrete right
The school replaced static class-
outside his window.
Steve
rooms with learning caves, studios, Freed man
"The new education model
and small and large seminar spaces
breaks out of the classroom
that expand and contract, all depending
where teachers have the choice — with
proper advance planning and coordination
on the day's lesson plans for its 100 or so
middle school-aged students.
— to change the settings of where they
The new physical model is having fami-
teach depending on the lesson or the type
lies of new and potential students take
of things kids are working on.
notice. According to Steve Freedman, head
"There is more collaboration and
of school, Hillel experienced an "unusual"
project-based learning across a variety of
number of families looking at and apply-
subjects. It is more reflective of how the
ing to Hillel this summer — 14. Last year
real working world works:'
over the same time, the school had six new
Upstairs construction was still in full
swing as workers were finishing drywall,
applicants.
paint and wiring. Though a month away
Families are also taking advantage of
the school's loyalty incentive grant tuition
from completion, it was easy to see how
program, now at $8.5 million of a $15 mil-
different areas could accommodate differ-
ent sizes of learning groups.
lion allocation provided by the Southfield-
based William Davidson Foundation. Of
Although they will still have a perma-
those Hillel families eligible for the tuition
nent desk as a home roosting spot, for the
grant in 2014-15, 66 percent participated
first time, Hillel middle school teachers
in the program.
will not have their own classroom. Instead,
Placing an emphasis on breaking
they will plan what space they will need
out of "the silo mentality of education:'
to teach with fellow teachers across the
Freedman said that like technology, space
subjects.

Contributing Writer

W

22

August 20 • 2015

JN

Teacher Buy-In
For this new model to succeed, Freedman
said it was essential to have teacher buy-
in. Last year, teachers, who at first were
concerned about distractions, saw that
children preferred and performed better
learning in "active" environments.
In June, Hillel sent a few teachers to visit
the Anne Frank Inspire Academy, a public
K-8 charter school in San Antonio, Texas,
designed by the same architectural firm,
Fielding Nair International (FNI), which is
also renovating the new Bloomfield Hills
High School set to open this fall.
There, Hillel math teacher Pam King
and Judaic studies teacher Seth Korelitz
observed the students in action and
received insights from the educators teach-
ing most effectively in this new setting.
"We have not completely abandoned the
classroom model:' said King, who saw her
students being accustomed to open space
learning least year as they worked on
projects and collaborated in study groups
in the completed Mercaz and Innovation
centers on the school's first floor. "This
open space plan, however, gives students
more of a sense of independence and self-
motivation in their learning. They also
tend to rely on each other and ask each
other how to work out problems through
trial and error before they come to a
teacher for help.
"Math education is changing in our
country:' King said. "No longer are teach-
ers standing in front of a class giving 45
minute lectures on math formulas and
problems. These kids are citizens of the
digital age and are flooded with informa-
tion all the time. They want to react and
use the information they receive in a con-
crete way. They also want to move around

and work with each other:'
King said last year she coordinated
her lessons with a fellow science teacher
covering a unit about biomes for different
animals. Using math formulas about area
and perimeters, students had to determine
the size habitat their animal needed to
survive, based on the information they
learned in both math and science. Some
enthused kids even took their math calcu-
lations to the school's Innovation Hub to
design a model of their animal habitat.
"We could just have kids sit there doing
a bunch of math problems, but when they
connect it to something they have a real
interest in — like the animals they learned
about in science — it makes more sense
and they become more engaged in the
learning:'

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Me lan ie We ber

Stacy Gittleman

Head of School Steve Freedman amid
the construction on Hillel's second floor.

