Mr. Denver’s advisory group is branching out to worldwide issues, so every girl feels free to express their opinion on the topic.When students arrive at Hewitt at 8:00 AM, the first thing they do is go to their advisory to start off the day. Mr. Denver’s advisory, however, is different than most at our school. Every Thursday morning, it is one girl’s responsibility to come in with a topic that she feels passionately about and lead a discussion. These topics are usually inspired by current events in the news, ranging from recent protests to government affairs.
The Hewitt Times sat down with Mr. Denver to talk about his initiative.
Hewitt Times: Where did you get the idea to talk about current events in a structured way?
Mr. Denver: Hewitt sometimes does that if we want to talk about certain big topics. We have done this before a number of times. It occurred to me and my advisory that those conversations always seem far too short and we always want to talk more. It is hard when we only have 30 minutes to chat about the subjects, because the groups are often mixed with students you don’t know so well, and they are too large; so you don’t feel as free to say everything you think. So we had the idea of having conversations just the ten of us, since we felt a lot more comfortable with each other, because of how much time we spend together as an advisory as a whole. That is how it turned out to be.
HT:What topics have your advisees covered so far?
DD: Well what we did was make a structure that was easy. Each time we have the conversations we ask one girl to lead the discussion. She has looked out into the world and decided what she wanted to discuss, usually it has been topics from the news. We started this when we had conversations about Eric Garner, which was our first conversation. Since then we talked about everything from Charlie Hebdo to a number of issues regarding diversity, the government, advocacy, riots, and a little on religion.
HT: Do you think that talking about current events is something that should be implemented in every advisory at Hewitt? Will students learn from it?
DD: I have done advisory for 22 years now, and students enjoy advisory more when we are more focused in the way we spend our time. Otherwise it feels just like a study hall and that can also feel like a big waste of time. I feel it has always been a better way to run advisory, and the conversations we have had in a small group of ten have been very strong. We get to hear from all students and they feel less pressure being in small group. So I can absolutely advocate for other groups to try it. Just because I felt that it has been very successful.
HT: What has worked and what hasn’t worked during these discussions?
DD: The trick is always to find a way to get students who don’t naturally share as easily to share, and so that has been the part that is both unsuccessful and successful, people who participate or not. Sometimes people don’t participate because other people take a lot of space, and sometimes they need more than an invitation to speak. Sometimes they need to actually be prompted to participate. It has been less successful when we didn’t hear from everyone, because some students are happy to get through the conversations which makes it feel a little flat, but overall these discussions are successful.
Chelsea Gardner ’16, one of Mr. Denver’s advisees told us what her favorite topic was to discuss, and how it felt to have a conversation about it. “The topic that I enjoyed talking about the most was on the death of Eric Garner and police brutality in general against black men. At Hewitt, it feels like the only time you get to discuss topics of this nature is in the club ACTION or only on Diversity Day, so if you are not a member of this club, then you won’t have many opportunities at school to dive into these sensitive issues. I enjoyed that I had a chance to talk about a topic that I care about with a group of people whom I haven’t discussed the issue of police brutality with before. I know that I had a lot to say on this topic, but I wish that some other people in my advisory would feel more comfortable to speak on an issue that has rocked the nation, even if they can’t relate.”
Usually advisory is used as a study hall or a place to hear announcements about Hewitt events.Not many other advisories talk about current events in a structured way like Mr. Denver’s, so he encourages more advisories to take on this challenge!