We brought Parker Thomas back on site for two days in early December. The purpose of his time on our two campuses was two-fold. One, for him to have the opportunity to review some of the early efforts of our faculty to implement design thinking and provide some feedback. Two, and more important, he was to meet up with teaching teams to talk about potential lessons or ideas on how to integrate design thinking into their classes.
At the Lower School, the faculty eagerly signed up for sessions with Parker - in fact, we had to add time to ensure that everyone had an opportunity to meet with him. Feedback following the visit demonstrated that he was extremely helpful to all of the teams. Teams brought in lesson ideas and collaboratively worked through the process of how design thinking might be applied in the lesson. Following each session, teaching teams walked away with concrete possibilities and a pathway by which to implement the lessons. Given that this year is a "learning together" year for faculty, it was commendable that the Lower School faculty so eagerly pushed to move forward with implementation. In talking with teams after Parker's visit, they are eager to have him back and talk about other lessons that might involve design thinking.
A few Middle and Upper School faculty also met with Parker during his visit. The individuals with whom he consulted reported back that their time with him was immensely helpful and also opened their ideas to potential with design thinking in their area, while teaching teams felt the time was a bit difficult as they did not focus on a particular unit or lesson in the conversation. We will be bringing Parker back to meet with our Lower School teams again as we got a universal request from that division for more consultative time. We will open up time with Parker for those who wish to "opt in" from the other divisions if they wish to do so. Feedback from all divisions will be solicited during an upcoming steering committee session so that we are sure to meet the learning needs of all divisions as we move into the spring months.
