On November 27, Fossil Ridge High School hosted their first ever Exhibition Night from 5 p.m.-7 p.m. The purpose of this event was for nearly three hundred students to share work and discuss their process and growth in order to demonstrate ownership of their learning. The classes that were presenting was Timothy Hanauer’s Pre-AP English 9 and Pre-AP English 10 classes, Hanauer and Benjamin DeGear’s US Literature class, the Journalism class, all three of Brendan Gallagher’s TV classes, and also Gallagher’s Creative Writing class.

What all three teachers wanted to achieve with this event was teaching students that the final product isn’t everything -the process of what the students are making is more important for their learning. The sheet that was handed to all parents said, “This is not a performance of their most polished work, but instead a reflection on their learning and design process.” All kinds of people showed up for the event, including parents of the students, other teachers, administration, and other students. One of the requirements for the students was to go around to their fellow classmates and watch a couple of their presentations. Also on the information sheet, parents  were asked to ask five questions of every student’s presentation they went to. The questions were, “What skills did you practice, develop or master through the work?”, “When did you make a mistake that made your learning stronger?”, “What did you learn about yourself as a learner?”, “ What did you learn about yourself as a collaborator?”, and “If you could go through this process again, what would you do differently? Why?”.

Students were placed all around the Performing Arts Center wing. Some of Hanauer’s US Lit class was in the Black Box doing a puppet show, and some of the Pre-AP English 10 class did a performance in the PAC. The feedback from the adults was all positive, but from the students it was more split, because of how long the event was.

The English classes are going to continue doing this event, and are making changes from the feedback they got. This next Exhibition Night is expected to be in the first week or two of May, so keep your eye out.