Island School Teacher Conference

By Kevin Coll
English Department Chair

In late July, I attended the week-long Island School Teacher Conference, which "provides a unique opportunity for educators to challenge themselves to become students engaged in sustainable community living and open-learning." The conference, which took place on the school's Cape Eleuthera campus in the Bahamas and was led by Chris Maxey, the school's founder and director, was a head-first plunge into the school's experiential and expeditionary approach. 

During the week, there were many things that were new and exciting for me — scuba diving, free-diving for conch, living in a truly sustainable community — but the approach at Island School was familiar, reminding me of what I love most about GFA. Students and faculty there are partners, and kids engage in authentic, original research that matters. (Our research teams chose from ongoing projects on sharks, turtles, and conch.)

My time with Nehemiah Taylor, a Bahamian conch-fisherman who led an expedition and shared his amazing and wide-ranging local knowledge, reminded me of the many visiting writers, artists, and scientists at GFA. The emphasis on collaboration and team-building was on my mind last week during my intense and wonderful experience doing Outward Bound NYC with GFA tenth graders — the productive risk-taking that I was asked to do, the way I was encouraged to "step outside my comfort zone" so that I could grow and do new things. This all reminded me of our approach with all GFA students. 

For example, at one point, after being offered the chance to experience scuba through the Discover Scuba program, I said, "No, that seems too scary. I'm really happy just to continue snorkeling and free-diving." Chris Maxey, the brilliant and charismatic founder and director of the Island School and a former Navy Seal, looked me in the eye and said, "You can do it. I'll look out for you." I took a deep breath, said, "Okay," and went on to scuba-dive on a reef in forty feet of water, one of the greatest and most beautiful experiences of my life. It was exhilarating and transformative — I know plan to get scuba-certified this year. Chris Maxey, whose patient training made my fears disappear, did look out for me. Later, he described his approach as "getting students to the right and appropriate ledge and then waiting for them to jump off." As it turns out, that feels like a good description of what I'm trying to do in English class.

I returned from Island School with a lot of ideas and a to-do list. That is, my experience there made me think about the implications and possibilities here at GFA. How can we become an even more sustainable community? What might that look like here? How can we instill an even greater sense of ownership and responsibility in our students? Kids there are responsible for just about every aspect of the community. How can we come to use, understand, and love our place (the Long Island Sound watershed) the way the Island School uses, understands, and loves its place (Cape Eleuthera in the Bahamas)?

One final delight from the trip? I now understand, from firsthand experience, why our students who attend the Island School come back with their hair on fire, passionate about the environment and sustainability and the irreducible beauty of a place.
And I get to keep thinking about teaching in this place: how do we continue to light hair on fire around here?

Thanks to GFA for allowing me to attend the conference, which couldn't have been more professionally relevant or personally meaningful.