Curriculum Overview
Interdisciplinary Curriculum with a Focus on Environmental Studies
Aldo Leopold, author of A Sand County Almanac and renowned environmentalist in the early years of the conservation movement, developed the concept of a Land Ethic: "All ethics so far evolved rest upon a single premise: that the individual is a member of a community of interdependent parts," he wrote. "That land is a community is the basic concept of ecology, but that land is to be loved and respected is an extension of ethics…. The land ethic enlarges the boundaries of the community to include soils, waters, plants, and animals, or collectively: the land."
At The Hawbridge School, located in a restored mill beside the Haw River in the historic village of Saxapahaw, students and faculty consider environmental stewardship as a problem of ethics. Ph.D. candidates from the UNC-Chapel Hill Philosophy Department come to the school several times during the year to conduct the ethics discussions. This partnership is one of many the school has initiated with the goal of being as interactive with its surrounding community as possible. Others include the Institute for the Environment at UNC-Chapel Hill, Central Carolina Community College in Pittsboro for the Sustainable Agriculture program, the Curriculum Department at UNC-Greensboro for professional development of the teachers, and the Haw River Assembly.
This interaction takes many forms, primarily as enrichment activities within the five month-long interdisciplinary units that are the core curriculum at the school each year. Utilizing commonalities among the goals and objectives prescribed by the North Carolina Standard Course of Study as the foundation of these units, Hawbridge faculty members have woven in wonderful speakers, field trips, and visiting artists and other practitioners who increase the variety of ways concepts are introduced to the students. The five units for the 2008-2009 academic year are: Democracy, Community, Education, Health, and Creativity. Those for 2007-2008 were: Pottery, Textiles, the River, Power and Energy, and Sustainable Environment.
During the 2008 summer professional development days, the Hawbridge faculty traveled to Washington, DC, for meetings with the staff of the Smithsonian’s Air and Space and American Indian Museums and the National Archives. The purpose of the trip was to learn from Smithsonian experts, and to plan and write the interdisciplinary unit on democracy. As a result, Monique de LaTour’s art students designed Native American “talking sticks”; US History teacher Matt Steible downloaded photos of the Rosenberg’s sons as children and other primary sources available through the National Archives for a class discussion the day the sons revealed knowledge of their parents’ guilt; the viewing of an interactive live videoconference from the National Archives during the study of the United States Constitution; and a review in English classes of letters written by Boston residents in the months leading up to the Boston Tea Party and how those letters impacted the American movement toward democracy. The Hawbridge faculty furthered its reputation as creative innovators in curriculum and the teachers won accolades from the Smithsonian staff for their abilities as educators.
As part of each unit, teachers of each discipline use the language and concepts of that discipline to teach the theme, thereby also teaching the connections between and among disciplines that often are missed in traditional high school classes. During the Pottery Unit, for example, teachers focused specifically on cross-disciplinary applications and connections as every teacher of every subject made curricular connections to the pottery theme. "We investigated pottery from many different perspectives:" said history teacher Susan Hedges, "historic, economic, chemical, geological, mathematical, geometric, symbolic. The students discovered concepts and thinking beyond the textbook basics."
"We were not creating potters," remarked Mrs. Susan Meyers, "we were and are creating a culture in which students become thinkers and learners." Thus, science teacher Dr. Norma Johnson discussed the science of pottery: chemistry of glazes, chemistry and geology of soil, and soil science with a focus on clay. Her classes grew plants used for natural dyes in the school's garden, with the help of local organic farmer Kevin Meehan, so those could be used in the glazes. Mathematics and physics teacher Richard Harris introduced the physics of the wheel, the physics of the kiln, the properties of translucence, heating and melting points, and the stresses on the pots as they are being thrown and baked. Rinnel Atherton's geometry students examined the mathematical concepts related to pottery pieces, including size and proportion, ratios and symmetry.
Susan Hedges' US History students looked at the development of pottery as an industry, and the development of a variety of ideas that connect communities, including the "Ugly Jug." Rather than just memorizing dates and places, students studied the history of art. Under the direction of Monique de LaTour, art students learned color theory, design, and production. Spanish teacher Jeanne Gilbert focused on vocabulary related to pottery and also introduced students to comparative cultures by analyzing the differences between clay works from the United States and clay works in Spanish speaking countries.
As a culminating activity, each Hawbridge student produced a relevant product designed to reveal his or her understanding of the connections across content areas, as well as what was learned about pottery.
Each of the interdisciplinary units include visits by at least two guest speakers who address the entire student body, and two field trips away from Hawbridge. One of the field trips for the Pottery Unit was to the Ackland Art Museum at UNC-Chapel Hill, where students participated in a gallery activity entitled "Close Clay Vessel Viewing" in which they practiced attending to a work of art in different ways (verbal description, written description, drawing). The content for this activity was the museum's Asian, North Carolina and ancient Greek ceramics collection. While at the museum students noticed an ancient Asian pot much like the one in the novel A Single Shard by Linda Sue Park, which freshman English students read. The beautifully illustrated prose-poem, When Clay Sings by Byrd Baylor, also was included in the English curriculum about pottery. Thus, students not only critically read a story, they learned the story of pottery and art. They also began developing research skills, and learning the power of symbols.
Other highlights of the UNC visit were a painting of the dye house in which the school is located but prior to its restoration, entitled Saxapahaw, by UNC faculty member Kimowan McLain; tours of the campus; and lunch in the Ackland courtyard.
The second field trip of the 2007-2008 school year was to Seagrove. There, students were involved in hands-on learning experiences at the various potters' studios, and they visited the North Carolina Pottery Center.
Also included in each interdisciplinary unit are visits by community members who are expert practitioners knowledgeable in the particular content or craft that is the current theme. These guest instructors work directly with students, thus making practical connections in appropriate classes. Several potters from the Saxapahaw area, including one who uses a traditional wood-burning kiln, were on the Hawbridge campus to share their knowledge with students and assist in art teacher Monique de LaTour's classes during the Pottery Unit.
Two outside experts also will address the student body during each unit. Pottery expert Dr. Terry Zug, former chair of Southern Folklore at UNC-Chapel Hill and author of Turners and Burners: The Folk Potters of North Carolina, and Dr. Steve Davis, UNC-Chapel Hill Research Archaeologist and author of Excavating Occaneechi Town: Archaeology of an Eighteenth Century Indian Village in North Carolina spoke at the school during the pottery unit. Dr. Davis' talk prepared students to participate in an on-site archaeological investigation of the remains of an early 19th century house near the Hawbridge campus. Dr. Zug displayed and discussed pots from his private collection and prepared students for the visit to Seagrove.
The Textiles Unit included a Mill Heritage Week reception at the school, where former employees of the Saxapahaw mills were honored and interviewed for the cultural heritage center being planned in Saxapahaw. The center will collect and preserve the community's history and be an outlet for school program involvement. The past gave way to the future, however, when the students visited NC State University Colleges of Textiles and of Engineering and learned how textiles are used in the aerospace and medical industries and for NASCAR.
Hawbridge students also hosted Dr. Mansour Mohamed, internationally renowned NCSU professor emeritus who invented a 3-dimensional weaving machine that creates materials strong enough to be used as airplane wings and boat hulls. Scott Morison, designer of software that streamlines retail clothing purchasing, spoke to the students about advertising and selling textiles from cottonseed to jeans. The students also toured Glen Raven Mills in Burlington where they learned about textile design and production.
The River Unit featured a week-long celebration of the music developed along the Mississippi River from New Orleans to St. Louis, including Cajun, jazz, blues, rock and roll, and bluegrass. Blues musician Lightnin' Wells performed at the festival's conclusion.
For over a year, Dr. Marcia Huth, Hawbridge principal, members of the Board of Directors of the Association for the Advancement of Education, members of the faculty, and various scientists, artists, and community members, discussed and planned this innovative, enriched curriculum in environmental studies and the arts with a focus on environmental stewardship as a problem of ethics. Dr. Huth praised and thanked everyone concerned for a great deal of hard work. She concluded, "Hawbridge is quickly becoming the school of my dreams. We are interactive with the community in so many ways, and I am able to spend a good deal of time on my passion, enrichment. Most rewarding of all, I daily witness the Hawbridge effect -- that is, the students and faculty are respectful of one another, cooperative, and forming a community."
The theoretical underpinnings of interdisciplinary units lie in the writings of John Dewey, and, more recently, Heidi Jacobs. Linking the commonalities among disciplines creates a more meaningful teaching and learning experience, according to Jacobs. Learning in "discrete packets" such as Algebra 1, English 1, Spanish 1 does not enable the student to make the connections necessary to problem solve and answer the proverbial question, "Why do I have to learn this?" The interdisciplinary units are problem-based in nature and constructivist in design; they guide students into innovative thought and creative insight. They also incorporate the National Science Education Standard: "Inquiry into authentic questions generated from student experience is the central strategy for teaching science." Remarked history teacher Susan Hedges, "Students respond and retain information much better when they are actively engaged in the process."
The Hawbridge School has an excellent faculty. 
Download the Hawbridge School Faculty list here. (Microsoft Word document)