Preview: Dr. Bynum's 2017-2018 Plans
Helena Lyng-Olsen '18, Editor-In-Chief and Lilly Tipton '18, Managing Editor
Helena Lyng-Olsen ‘18 and Lilly Tipton ‘18 recently interviewed Dr. Bynum on his plans for the upcoming year and future years. The full interview will be published in the October issue of The Razor, but excerpts from the conversation can be read below.
Bynum on change at Hopkins:
“We can’t rest on our laurels as a school. If we stay in place, we’re going to go backwards, so we want to be mindful of the hallmarks of what we do and still be willing to grow.”
Technology in the Classroom:
“If we’re looking at ways we can evolve and get better as a school in the next 5-10 years, technology is in the middle of it. We’re asking ourselves: how can technology, writ large, help us advance how we teach, what we teach, and how we connect it, with online grades, online editing, or blog posts...while giving teachers the space to enter [technology] at the pace and space that works for them.”
On the new homework policy:
“There was 88% of our faculty ready to go and behind it [the change in alloted homework per night] so we felt that it was a good move for us to take. Anything that creates space for kids to either focus on a particular area or just do something else for an hour a night that’s not homework related is a good thing, and we didn’t feel like we were compromising the integrity of our academic program by doing so.
What Bynum has learned in his frst year:
“Before I came here I knew about the academic profle and the kindness of the community, people think and love ideas, what I learned was how engaged people are across the board in a range of activities, and the level of excellence in all those activities. I think about all the plays I went to and all the sporting events I went to.”
Hopkins’ relationship with New Haven and community service:
“We want to think of how we can create more experiences like [senior service week] throughout our Hopkins lifetime and not just save it until the end, but I don’t want to narrow our commitment to the New Haven area to purely community service and service learning. I think it’s much deeper and broader and more authentic than that, and that’s just one way as a school that we know we can continue to be connected to the city.”
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