BRATTLEBORO — Hilltop Montessori School is used to doing things a little differently.
That's why it couldn't have been surprising to see Hilltop's middle schoolers learning to use a new fine arts printing press as a new form of self-expression.
Finn Campman, the middle school's fine arts and language arts educator, sees the arts program as integral to Montessori's mission.
“The development of student voice is very important to be responsibly independent,” Campman said.
“If you're going to be independent, and responsible, it often means you need to put your voice out in a world where people may not want to hear exactly what you say or may not be used to having you say it,” he added. “I think the arts are one of the essential ways to express themselves.”
The students learned how to do linocuts (a relief printing technique where the artist gouges the negative areas from linoleum) and intaglio (a non-relief printing technique where the artist etches a positive design on copper).
One student, with a mischievous smile and without hesitation, chose the newspaper as his forum to express himself: “Can you include in there, 'Eliot Barrengos: self-proclaimed Master of Awesomeness?'” he asked.
The middle schoolers are finding their voices through Hilltop's self-directed curriculum.
The not-for-profit, co-educational private school offers alternative learning methods for children, based on principles developed in Italy by Maria Montessori in the early 1900s.
Hilltop Montessori encourages students to assert what works best for their learning styles and interests.
“My job,” said Campman, “becomes to fine tune and correct the process, but I let the students teach each other.”
Using art to express 'truth'
Campman described the arts as “a good way for kids to learn how to tell the truth.”
The school's arts, humanities, and science programs are integrated; students' understanding of truths expressed through art are informed by several disciplines.
A group of six students - Tula Campman, Leila Young, Owen James, Leah Sutton-Smith, Lucy Flynn, and Julia Fedoruk - shared their experiences about the arts integration in a semi-circle in the back of the classroom.
They adjusted to their seats, exchanged nervous and amused glances, and took turns leading the conversation - careful not to talk over one another.
“We're starting research papers right now [in humanities], and once we're done writing the papers, we are going to draw a portrait of the person who we research ... who [was] part of the Civil Rights Movement,” Tula explained.
“I chose Ella Baker,” she added. “We just started, so I don't know much about her right now, but I'm excited.”
Program Director Paul Dedell discussed how art is enhancing these students' understanding: “There is something intimate in the rendering of someone's face in that you are getting to know them in an entirely different way that complements and strengthens what you are learning intellectually,” he said.
The students have been working within the theme of “The Evolution of the American Identity,” Lucy explained.
And, with a wry smile, she added, “and right now is kind of a perfect time to be studying this kind of stuff.”