'LIFE IN AN OPEN PRISON' HUMANITIES FILM

Article appeared in The Gazette September 22, 2009

Student-led learning, the notion that students should play an active role in directing their education, is an ideal to which many schools pay lip service. But at St. George’s School of Montreal, student-led learning is a reality, and the results are academically impressive.

A case in point: Last year, Megan Webster’s Grade 11 Humanities class was charged with studying the Cambodian Genocide. With Webster’s guidance and supervision, the students worked together to produce a video documentary of the tragedy entitled Life in an Open Prison.

The class worked all aspects of the production: research, shooting, interviewing and editing, and made it happen, Webster said. They began by going to Concordia University to learn interviewing skills from oral historians, listening skills from psychologists, and coping strategies to deal with the horrors of learning about genocide first-hand.

Next, the St. George’s students interviewed and videotaped survivors of the Cambodian Genocide who now live in Montreal. The students then reviewed their footage, and edited it into a narrative that expressed not just what the survivors said, but what the students had learned about the tragedy.

Life in an Open Prison was screened before a packed house in the Bhadur Bhatla Studio. The video moved the audience, and the members of the American Oral History Association to which it was subsequently submitted. The OHA described Life in an Open Prison as being exemplary in integrating life stories in a Secondary classroom setting, and recognized the excellence of Megan Webster’s work by presenting her with the 2009 Martha Ross Teaching Award.

“The students took full responsibility for producing Life in an Open Prison as their major class project,” Webster said. “In doing so, they demonstrated teamwork, cooperation and great intellectual curiosity. But what they really got out of the experience was a deeply personal understanding of the Cambodian Genocide, in ways that no lectures or textbooks could ever match.”

Her students agree. Kayla Breaker ‘09, Sarah Esterson ‘09 and Enbal Singer ‘09 attest that we were taught not only how to create a documentary from a raw interview but have, throughout the processes, gained a variety of skills we will use for the rest of our lives.

Life in an Open Prison is just one example of the student-led learning approach, as applied by the school. "Our goal is to take the educational experience to the next level," said James Officer, Head of School. "To achieve this, we allow children to explore their own interests, and to use those interests to drive their passion for learning and comprehension. Our committed teachers provide the necessary support to ensure that this passion produces a rich, academically-sound education. But our students take responsibility for learning, which is why they do so well when they enter CEGEP.”

Founded in 1930, St. George¹s School of Montreal offers both elementary and high school education, in separate facilities. Its students are encouraged to develop their abilities to study, to identify and solve problems, and to make decisions in a reasoned and independent manner.

“While competition is acknowledged as a natural aspect of personal growth, we promote cooperative attitudes and behaviour, integrated with the pursuit of individual excellence,” Officer said. “The power of combining cooperation with each student¹s passion for personal achievement cannot be overstated. Our graduates are people who can direct their own careers, yet know how to work with others for the greater good.”

Life in an Open Prison was a featured piece in the Holocauste Education Series 2009 at Cinémathèque québécoise.