On November 26 and 27, the boarding school’s educational staff had internal training days on their schedule. The two days were used to continue working on current initiatives. Currently, a media policy is being developed and a sex education program is being formulated.

The goal of the media policy is to formulate a wide range of rules, recommendations, and conditions for media use, drawing on the groundwork laid out previously. The policy is intended to highlight the limitations and opportunities of various media and integrate them into the daily life of the boarding school in order to teach students how to use each medium responsibly.

The group of educators used the first day to formulate guidelines and define their educational mission with regard to media literacy. They also identified potential risks associated with media and discussed ideas on how a media strategy could help protect against them.

On the second day, the team examined a wide variety of media, focusing on highlighting both the legal situation and the risks and limitations involved. The opportunities and possibilities offered by the media were also discussed.

In addition, the group discussed the practical implementation of these structures in the day-to-day life of the boarding school. For example, they also discussed a crisis plan for cyberbullying, including the corresponding responsibilities.

A sexuality policy was developed to address a very sensitive and personal aspect of personal development within the daily life of the boarding school. It addresses the opportunities, possibilities, risks, and boundaries of sexuality and its expression.

As part of the concept development process, the participants have made it their mission to provide clarification on a legally sound basis. The goal is to promote tolerance and sensitivity as well as holistic development, while at the same time protecting privacy and personal space. In order to incorporate the students’ concerns and needs as fully and accurately as possible, discussion sessions on this topic had already been held with the boarding school residents.

The goal of the sexuality education plan is to establish a foundation for sexuality education as part of the overall educational approach at Steinmühle Boarding School.

Many dedicated participants and a diverse array of performances made the traditional Cultural Evening a success.

The jazz ensemble kicked things off with “Work Song” and “Smoke Gets In Your Eyes,” featuring Talea Funk (10b, vocals), Tom Herfert (11a, tenor sax), Evelyn Damer (11b, alto sax), Samuel Ruff (11e, trombone), Marit Winterstein (9c, euphonium), and ensemble director Frank Wemme (bass and piano).

Fifth-graders Janne Elsaßer, Marie Grosse, Lina Hoyer, Lena Kissling, Antonia Kurlinsky, Carlotta Meyer, Felix Linne, Anneli Petri, Jona Schneider, and Emma Wagner recited autumn poems from the writing workshop with Kristina Sokoli.

Class 6c, led by Nicole Hohm, impressed the audience with their performance of “How Young Arthur Became King” as part of the “English On Stage” project-based learning program.

Under the title “The Empathetic School,” the Theater Club for Grades 5 & 6 (directed by Flûte Seifart) performed with Annica Bartsch, Zoë Closmann, Anna Feußner, Neyla Fritz, Celia Giebing, Marie Grosse, Rosalie Hainer, Antonia Kurlinsky, Carlotta Meyer, Stella Preiß, Sophia Rogosch, Livia Schulze, Ana Greta Törner, and Philipp Zielen.

Nela Haeberle, Emma Schnabel, and Lilian Seiler from class 7c presented some exciting highlights from the “Crime Novels” project-based learning course taught by Melisande Lauginiger.

“The Wolf and the Two Little Goats” was presented by Luisa Bamberger, Franka Preising, Anna Reinhardt, Zoe Reisch, and Lina Zippel (Writing Workshop, 6th grade, Lisa Braun).

This was followed by a poetry slam (Nela Haeberle, 7c, and Lilly Teetz, 10c), “Mariage d’amour” on the piano (Anna Steinfeldt, 8b), and a scene from *Dead Poets Society* (12th-grade DS class, Dagmar Müller) featuring Hannah Busch, Lars Dieling, Moritz Eichstädt, Frederic Feldmann, Raphael Hetche, Lena Joußen, Sam Kempkes, Lukas Kießling, Lars Lauer, Maximilian Lotz, Robert Mahl, Jaqueline Mopils, Dana Plamper, Niklas Pohl, Jacob Roth, Chiara Scheffczyk, Julian Seeger, Flûte Seifart, Janina Seip, Sophie Stöber, and Julian Zimmer.

Also presented was the music video created by the WU Film Class 8/9 during the 2017–18 school year, directed by Ines Vielhaben and featuring Finn and Sam Kempkes, Lilly Teetz, Amelie Schulze, Louisa Merle, Aaron Ruff, Lars Froemel, Robin Konnertz, and the WU Graffiti class. This was followed by the Hamilton Project (Talea Funk, 10b, director; Evelyn Damer, 11b; Lars Froemel, 10c; Svea Turba, 8a; Nela Haeberle, 7c), followed by the 11th-grade DS course led by Michael Schmidt, which presented the play “Schichtarbeit.” The cast included Veit Gemmer, Vivien Hallfeldt, Luca Ledro, Till Maier, Lasse Michel, Jonas Neirich, Malte Paulenz, Morten Röser, Nele Rupp, Amèlie Schreyer, Tim Schultheis, Hannes Schweitzer, Merle Schweitzer, Deciel Shongo, Finn Steinfeldt, Jonathan Tesseraux, Franca Törner, Simon Veyl, Walther Moses, and Calvin Weide.

The evening came to a close with the same performers who had opened it: The jazz ensemble sent the audience home with the songs “Dear Lord” and “The Night Has A Thousand Eyes.”

Steinmühle has cleared the first hurdle toward certification as a “Health-Promoting School.” The State Board of Education recently awarded the school a partial certificate in the area of “Nutrition and Consumption.”

The title “Health-Promoting School” is an award presented by the Hessian Ministry of Education and Cultural Affairs. Efforts to further develop a health-promoting school environment can initially be recognized through partial certifications for the individual areas of focus within “School & Health”—specifically in areas that are particularly relevant to health in helping a school fulfill its educational and instructional responsibilities:

• Movement & Perception
• Food & Consumption
• Addiction & Violence Prevention
• Transportation & Mobility
• Teacher Health

Based on at least four partial certificates earned (of which the “Nutrition & Consumption” and “Physical Activity & Perception” partial certificates are mandatory, along with two additional health-related profile elements from the areas of addiction and violence prevention, Traffic & Mobility, and Teacher Health), schools can then apply for overall certification as a “Health-Promoting School.”

The topic of “Health-Promoting Schools” was incorporated into the Steinmühle School’s current work program in 2015. The faculty conference approved the decision to undergo the certification process. Since then, individual teachers have been assigned to various areas. These are

• Manuela Schmidt (Steering Committee—Leadership/Teacher Health)
• Friedhelm Wagler (Partial Certificate/Field: Nutrition and Consumption)
• Nicole Hohm and Heike Rabben-Martin (Division: Addiction and Violence Prevention)
• Michael Neirich (Movement and Perception Division)

As the school’s Ecology Coordinator, Carmen Bastian represents the field of ecology. This topic was included to ensure a holistic approach to the subject, even though no official certification is required in this area.

Friedhelm Wagler fulfilled the requirements for the recently awarded “Nutrition and Consumption” certificate through a variety of projects. These included, among other things, the installation of water dispensers, the “Healthy Snack” campaign, and the elective course on catering services.

The topic was also integrated into the curriculum in an interdisciplinary manner. It was covered in classes such as English, politics and economics, Latin, chemistry, physical education, and biology.

“As early as 2006, there were discussions about offering more variety and choices for lunch,” reports Friedhelm Wagler. The school administration, parents, a small group of teachers and students, the boarding school, its managing family (the Buurmans), and the head chef at the time, Bernd Schumertl, held discussions on the topic. As the years went on, according to Friedhelm Wagler, individual projects on nutrition led to elective courses in the middle school/catering program, an extracurricular club for grades 5 and 6 with strong parental involvement, and mandatory project-based lessons on bread baking, healthy cooking, the dietary habits of different cultures, and more. Over time, the overall theme was expanded to include individual initiatives such as breakfast and fruit offerings during breaks.

Arno Bernhardt, Director of the Marburg State Education Office (2nd from left) and Carmen Martin, coordinator and head of the School and Health Division (center), presented the principal team—Björn Gemmer (left) and Bernd Holly (right), along with Manuela Schmidt (head of the steering committee, second from the right)— the first partial certificate toward the overall “Health-Promoting School” designation, which a total of 54 schools in Hesse held in 2015.

It is his “brainchild”: Over the course of two school years, Friedhelm Wagler has compiled all the materials on the subject into a comprehensive file containing teaching projects, explanations, photos, evaluations, and brief summaries.

How can students solve a word problem in math if they have difficulty understanding the language? How are they supposed to write text analyses if they are unfamiliar with sentence connections and the structure of arguments? These and other challenges were addressed in a workshop led by Prof. Dr. Una Dirks, who works in the field of German as a Foreign Language (DaF) and German as a Second Language (DaZ) at the Institute for German Linguistics at Philipps University of Marburg. It was part of the conference organized by the International Affairs Working Group of the association “Die Internate Vereinigung” (DIV), which took place this year at the Steinmühle Boarding School.

About a dozen representatives from German boarding schools exchanged ideas at the event, which was organized by Steinmühlen’s German as a Foreign Language (DaF) coordinator, Jan Müller. The discussion highlighted the multitude of challenges that teachers must overcome together with their international students. Learning the language and the subject matter simultaneously must be both facilitated and managed. Most international students are eager to succeed.

Learning German without supplanting one’s native language—introducing students to German culture while also honoring the cultures of international students: this is what everyday life looks like in the “DaF” (German as a Foreign Language) field. “We have to think cross-curricularly,” participants reported based on their experiences. That means, for example, having students write a dictation using scientific terms or compose essays on the topic of biology. These are all possibilities—to name a few.

From a scientific perspective, according to Una Dirks, one should not leave things to chance when it comes to teaching the German language. “Every school and every class needs experts who can assess students’ skill levels as accurately as possible. This is a very complex task that cannot be handled by teachers alone”. This step is so important, she explains, because only by accurately assessing skills such as listening, speaking, reading, and writing can tailored support measures be developed. Otherwise, she adds, it should come as no surprise if there’s a rude awakening—at the latest—when tests and class exams roll around.

That said, the foundational knowledge a foreign student brings with them is important. Teaching a Russian student presents different challenges than teaching a Chinese one: “The structure of the text is quite different there, as are the linguistic tools.” Creativity is fundamentally valuable, but too much of it when learning a language is not effective. The professor stated: “Language needs a foundation on which to build. First comes the basics, then the advanced skills!”

“Total freedom isn’t for everyone”

As a result, some of the reformed teaching models have been reevaluated somewhat: lecture-style teaching isn’t necessarily “bad.” When it comes to learning to write, too, new research findings clearly call into question long-held assumptions: “In contrast to structured approaches using a primer, freer methods have produced spelling errors much more frequently and significantly more dyslexic students.”

“Total freedom isn’t for everyone,” the speaker summarized, making it clear that everyone benefits from systematic guidance. Unfortunately, this is not the case with open educational opportunities: “These can usually only be put to good use by those who are already educationally advantaged.”

Encouraging Self-Reflection

Self-reflection is definitely an essential part of learning and steady progress. What can I do? What do I still need to learn? — The answers to these questions are helpful for expanding one’s own knowledge and skills, and nonverbal behavior plays an important role in this process.

Learning about the importance of punctuality in Germany, living by that principle, and reviewing one’s own language use in a learning video to see what works and what doesn’t in terms of social behavior—all of this facilitates progress.

The fact that there are things that simply require hard work and initiative hasn’t changed even today: sentence transitions and linguistic elements used in argumentation, for example. You have to memorize these and, above all, practice them repeatedly in the context of various topics. This is in stark contrast to how vocabulary was learned in the past: “If we don’t learn how to integrate vocabulary into the topic right away, we simply accumulate more and more passive knowledge that is then quickly forgotten.” Prof. Dirks refers here to an empirically proven finding, and the participants have already developed ideas for the next workshop to address this issue.

Some time ago, Class 7c took over fundraising for the St. Francis Rakai Initiative in Marburg. Previously, a 10th-grade class had been in charge of this project. The St. Francis Rakai Initiative supports the renovation of a school for AIDS orphans in Africa. The goal is to raise enough donations by 2020 so that the school in Uganda will no longer be dependent on this aid.
When Class 7c heard about the project, all the students voted to get involved in supporting the initiative. As a result, many donations have already been collected in various ways, reports Nela Haeberle on behalf of the class. At the fall festival, the class seized the opportunity to bake crêpes—not only to delight the visitors, of course, but also to raise as much money as possible for the initiative. In the end, they raised 555 euros.
A few weeks later, the donation was officially presented. The two leaders of the initiative, Armin Hedwig and Thomas Komm, came to the Steinmühle to accept the donation check. They explained that the money would be used to purchase new playground equipment for the African children. According to Nela Haeberle’s report, the class would like to continue helping the orphans in Uganda in the future.