Introducing the 12-Acre Classroom

Last Friday, two days after Earth Day, Gordon’s faculty and staff convened for a morning dedicated to the idea of Gordon’s campus as a 12-Acre Classroom.
 

The vision, as explained by Head of School Meredith deChabert, was of the 12-Acre Classroom as a radical act:

Reclaiming land as a site of learning and belonging

Expanding what counts as “academic excellence”

Cultivating agency, not just awareness

Centering relationships with the land and each other

Modeling the future we want to see
 

She offered: 

Our 12-Acre Classroom initiative is more than using our beautiful campus; it is a commitment. It ensures that every child at Gordon develops a meaningful relationship with the natural world, understands their responsibility within it, and sees themselves as capable of caring for and shaping a more just and sustainable future. 

In that sense, it is not just a program. It is a quiet but powerful act of environmental justice.
 

Green Dean Cush Gillen explained that the work of getting to Dr. deChabert’s mission was just beginning, and he began with some guiding questions:

How do we find equity in nature-based teaching?

How can I center outdoor education when teaching traditional content?

How can using nature extend what happens in the classroom?

What does being outside give you that being inside doesn't?
 

He encouraged two shifts in mindset:

Outdoor learning is different from simply learning outside.

Gordon’s outdoor spaces belong to everyone. They are not just for play. They are not just for science. They are not just for the young students, or the old ones, or the garden club, or the botany students. They belong to the whole community.
 

Then, everyone – teachers and staff – went outside and explored together.
 

 

When everyone returned inside, they had this prompt:

1. What is one outdoor space on this campus I could use or connect to my work?
2. What would I need to make that happen?
3. What is my first small step in that direction?
 

And with that, the work on the 12-Acre Classroom moved out of small meetings and planning committees, and out into every corner of the school.
 

As Mr. Gillen promised: We are just getting started.

This workshop was the conclusion of a busy Earth Day week that included the kickoff of the stream restoration project, with students in all grades creating love letters to the stream.

Landscape architect (and Gordon parent) Emily Vogler spoke on Friday morning about the stream project, which she is helping lead, talking about what "design" means in a wild space and gathering faculty ideas and questions.