Darlington School: Private Boarding School in Georgia Professional Development Spotlight: Hip Hop, Harper Lee and a Geodesic Dome
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Professional Development Spotlight: Hip Hop, Harper Lee and a Geodesic Dome

Karen Bennett | September 27, 2017 | 220 views

Black Mountain College's Lake Eden campus is now part of Camp Rockmount, a summer camp for boys.

What do hip hop, Harper Lee and a geodesic dome have in common? They all involve some type of intellectual risk-taking when it isn’t popular, doesn’t fit the mold, or precedes social change.

The Thatcher Professional Development Fund grant that I received this year focuses on taking intellectual risks. The first installment of the three part series of my grant, the film “Fully Awake,” is a documentary produced by the daughter of Darlington alum Steve Davis ('63), Cathryn Davis Zommer, and is about Black Mountain College and the professors and students who chose this rather unorthodox educational setting to further their intellectual pursuits. The film highlighted the desire of the institution to break from the norm of the day, and to require more of students and faculty than rote memorization. Students were required to work, to learn, to practice, to rest, to risk, to build, to be involved. The amazing thing about Black Mountain College is that all of this happened in 1933!

The film was shown to the entire faculty and staff with the purpose of sparking internal questions regarding present classroom practices and our own abilities to be comfortable trying new ideas and even potentially failing. With the initiation of the Upper School’s iPeriod last year, we are attempting to focus attention on how to develop, how to learn, how to discover, or as articulated by former Black Mountain students, how to work, learn, practice, etc. At the end of the film, we were able to Skype with Cathryn (whose energy and purpose were palpable even with a less than perfect connection) with questions and from this came further questions and many follow up conversations. 

Many people commented on having spent time in and around Black Mountain, N.C. never knowing of the avant-garde institution that existed there from the 30s to the early 50s. Science teachers commented on the correlation between lab experiments and experiential learning practices. Supporting hypotheses enables students to investigate and solve problems through trial and error. In Math, discussion centered around relevance of material to the everyday, recalling favorite teachers who used their own enthusiasm as a training tool prompting better understanding and respect for knowledge. Across the board, we heard some “self-attaboys” for already having exploration as a part of the curriculum and laments that sometimes kids prefer the easy route, but the film served as a reminder what it means to educate. “Excitement leads to intrinsic motivation” and promotes more effort by students, and while sometimes painful, the riches far outweigh the struggles – for both student and teacher.

The next installments include meeting with a filmmaker who documented how hip hop artists changed an election in Senegal and spending time with Mary Badham, the actress who played Scout in the  classic “To Kill A Mockingbird.” Ms. Badham was nominated for an Oscar for her portrayal of the outspoken Scout.

Crafting this proposal (with the help of my co-worker Melinda Holmes) required risking dismissal of an idea that became personal to me. Even though I am not a classroom teacher, my interactions with our students brings a satisfaction that is hard to explain. To connect with a child while they are open to discovery is scary but unbelievably rewarding. 

For those interested in finding out more about Black Mountain College:

Documentary Educational Resources  
Wikipedia