GoodWork Paper 17: From a Community of People to a Community of Disciplines: The Art of Integrative Humanities at St. Paul‘s School

Author(s): Svetlana Nikitina

Editor(s): Jeff Solomon, Series Editor

Media: Paper

Description: This paper considers the crucial elements of a successful interdisciplinary classroom in the humanities at St. Paul‘s School in Concord, New Hampshire, and explores the conditions that allow for its existence. Two factors converge to create and sustain an interdisciplinary program: teacher commitment and the administrative support of the school. The core characteristics of St. Paul‘s integrative classroom are examined: 1) the curriculum‘s focus on a few essential topics (e.g., selfhood, social responsibility) which are approached from the perspectives of art, philosophy, literature, and history; 2) a single (rather than team) teaching model; 3) extensive use of dialogue and discussion; and 4) teacher facilitation of connection-making. The St. Paul‘s humanities program could serve as a model of an interdisciplinary curriculum in the humanities, and its institutional framework could be instructive for other school contexts.