Are we preparing students to learn without us? How can we shift curriculum and pedagogy to more effectively help students form and answer their own questions, develop patience with uncertainty and ambiguity, appreciate and learn from failure, and develop the ability to go deeply into the subjects about which they have a passion to learn?
                                                                                                – Will Richardson

In many ways, these questions are at the heart of the Hall of Guilds project. The Hall of Guilds is an integrated project that provides opportunities for students to identify a topic of personal interest and to explore this topic deeply. The project also brings students together in the spirit of shared inquiry and collaboration. The idea of Medieval guilds serves as the main framing device for this work. We established a number guilds around a range of topics connected to the curriculum. Students identify three guilds that connect to personal interests and are accepted into one of them. The specifics of what work each guild accomplishes are determined by the members of the guild and their guild master (one of their teachers).  In addition to their regular classes, students meet in their guilds once a week and work independently and collaboratively with their guild members outside of class. Between guild meetings, they complete individual research assignments, which are used to inform the work of the guild as a whole. In their guilds, some students focus their research on topics related to their study of Medieval Europe while others explore topics connected to our their study of Islam and the Middle East.

Students’ ongoing work in humanities supports these efforts. In addition, work in their art, drama, science and math classes will also provide additional context. This is an ambitious project; one where teachers learn alongside their students and we have high expectations for both. All of this work and learning is then shared at the culminating Hall of Guilds event, which this year takes the form of the guild “halls” featured below.