...where learning is rooted in relationships
Connection
Learning starts as a connection. A spark. A curiosity. A wonder. It starts with the realization that someting inside of us needs to know more. When we can see how gloriously things are intertwined with one another, we are ready for learning. At Bellwether, students, teachers and parents are invited to notice their connections, to discuss them, and to ask questions. We become a true community of learners seeking understanding.
Engagement
Once we have a connection with a person, place or a concept, we are intrinsically motivated to learn more. We engage with it. We take time to connect with it. We create and nurture our own unique relationship with it. It is through that deep and rich engagement that we start to form our understanding: we draw conclusions, we make hypotheses, we build on previous knowledge and develop new questions to encourage new opportunities for learning and connection.
Reflection
Educational reformer John Dewey said, "We do not learn from experience ...we learn from reflecting on the experience." At Bellwether, self and group reflection is an integral part of every day. It is through that reflection that we begin to examine our own relationship to what we have learned and experienced. We think about the impact of an event, the emotional connection we might have had as well as how we approached the encounter. We consider how the new understanding and the act of learning itself may change us in both learning and life.