One of the advantages of HGSE which I wasn’t aware of before I came is the option of taking a J-term class. What on earth is that, I hear you ask? Well, the winter holiday break is so long (about six weeks) that HGSE offer the option of doing an intensive extra class during January prior to the second semester starting in full at the end of the month. There aren’t as many options as during a full semester but there are a range of 2 credit modules and 4 credit classes on offer, as well as some really interesting workshops. This opportunity won’t be appealing to everyone and it’s definitely not compulsory. For me, however it felt like a way to make the most out of my year (and my tuition fees!) and I ended up taking a class and two workshops.
First, let me tell you briefly about the workshops. The careers service, recognising that Spring Semester is a time that we all tend to be starting the job search in a panic, ran a range of sessions designed to help with this. I went to one called Making the Most out of LinkedIn. I had never had a profile before and this was really helpful in familiarising myself with the site and how it could be beneficial. I also went to a brilliant workshop on Using Improv in Education with Mona Thompson, an amazing Improv educator. This was so much fun and I came away with lots of great ideas to use both with adults and children.
For my J-term class, I selected Informal Learning with Professor Joe Blatt. The purpose of this course was to introduce us to the benefits of informal learning, in conjunction with Sesame Street Workshop, and to work in groups to develop a proposal for an informal learning project. At the end of the course, we pitched our idea to a panel of experts for feedback. For two weeks, we met every day from 10am to….whenever we were finished! A typical day consisted of lectures on an aspect of drawing up a proposal, talks from a member of Sesame Street workshop (such as the CEO, VP of curriculum content, and VP U.S Social Impact) or from an expert in informal learning (we met library and museum educators and summer camp owners, as an example), followed by time to get together in our groups to continue to work on our proposal. One day we even took a trip out to the Institute of Contemporary Art in Boston to learn about the informal learning initiatives they have in place there. It was an exhausting and intense fortnight, yet I came away with a new set of skills in proposal writing, a wealth of information about organisations that work to make informal learning purposeful and effective and a new group of friends that I had had the pleasure to work with on our collaborative project. In the photo you can see us smiling and relieved after a successful pitch at the end of the class! We were really proud of all we had achieved over the course of the unit and I look forward to applying this knowledge in the future.
J-term may not be for you; you may wish to continue enjoying your vacation before the second busy, yet exhilarating semester begins. And that’s fine! Yet, if you are interested in some bonus learning, then there is something for everyone in the range of classes available.
Blog written by Sarah Winser. Photo provided by Sarah Winser.
Hi, I’m Sarah Winser and I’m on the Arts in Education program this year. I am from London, England and have spent most of my career teaching in primary schools in Hackney, a borough of London. For three years before coming to HGSE, I taught in an international school in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
HGSE Admissions Blog 