Our Approach

A Classroom Experience Designed for Boys

Seven Hills is founded on the belief that the differences between girls and boys are significant enough to support a model school committed to instructional methods based on current research concerning the minds and hearts of boys in their middle years.

Research clearly points to benefits in critical thinking and collaborative learning for boys in schools where class size, classroom space and layout, schedule and structure, opportunity for movement, and full sensory instruction are reexamined and connected. Few traditional schools can implement such a sweeping reconfiguration, and rarely can public schools consider grouping students by gender. Seven Hills is on the leading edge of a national movement recognizing the unique connections between boys and learning.

 

How do Seven Hills teachers teach so boys will learn?

  • One-on-one and small-group instruction
  • Less lecturing from the front of the classroom
  • More working side-by-side with students during class
  • Variety in assessment methods to evaluate student progress
  • Encouragement to make mistakes
  • Relevant, engaging angles to classroom content
  • Frequent hands-on, experiential lessons
  • Fidget-friendly classroom furniture
  • Positive reinforcement of good behavior
  • Shorter afternoon classes and frequent outdoor breaks
  • Organized notebooks and classroom materials

Methods

Our approach is based on current, important, and accepted research, such as:

Boys and Girls Learn Differently by Michael Gurian

In the Middle: New Understandings About Writing, Reading, and Learning by Nancie Atwell

Middle Classroom Methods by Nancie Atwell

Multiple Intelligence Theory from Harvard University

Note-Taking System for the Middler from Cornell University 

Service Learning Model from National Society of Experiential Education

Sphere Learning in the Middle Years from University of Chicago