Ethel Walker School
Capabilities Approach Seminar
Challenging assumptions about gendered mindsets
The Capabilities Approach Seminar augments Walker’s rigorous academic program by allowing students to transcend boundaries and horizons.
The learning that takes place in Seminars challenges their assumptions about gendered mindsets about what girls can do and be, and reminds them that their potentialities are not fixed but always a moving horizon as they learn. The skills learned and the process of acquiring those skills help students take responsibility for their own learning, develop a growth mindset, and increase their confidence, self-esteem, and ability to collaborate.
Over the course of their Walker’s experience, students will engage in four areas of capabilities that influence their learning, growth, and transformation:
- Their physical relationship to the world (Agencies);
- Their engagement and negotiation with the world (Fluencies);
- Their experiential relationship to the world (Discoveries); and
- A self-selected capability in their senior year.
Seminar courses are required for graduation and complement Walker’s rigorous academic program without impinging on other study time. They are held to the same standards as all course work, done with respect, love of learning, confidence, courage, conviction, and integrity. Seminar courses appear on student transcripts with grades of Meets Expectations/Does Not Meet Expectations.
Grade 6
Walker’s History
Study Skills
Grade 7
Social Justice
Wellness
Grade 8
Finance
Speak OUT!
Grade 9
The 9th Grade Seminar provides students with an academic, social, and emotional grounding to thrive at Walker’s. In this coursework, they will examine and shape their online communication skills, develop relationships in a diverse and multicultural context, and acquire tools to understand and monitor their social-emotional responses within a variety of settings. In each class, students are taught how to develop constructive feedback and deliver it to their peers, strengthening their empathic skills by recognizing and learning about the needs of others.
Academic Foundations and Public Speaking
Social Justice
Coding
Digital Ethics
Grade 10
The 10th Grade Seminar introduces students to skills necessary for their own well-being and the well-being of the world around them.
Personal Finance and Investment
Sustainability and Climate Change
Women’s Health: Our Bodies and Beyond
Women’s Health: Wellness
Grade 11
The 11th Grade Seminar introduces topics that have students looking toward the future, both short term and long term, as their skills and agency evolve.
Tax Law: VITA Certification
College Counseling
Grade 12
The 12th Grade Seminar brings a Walker’s student’s learning to its apex. Each of the seminars builds upon the learning acquired during the previous years, deliberately utilizing that learning in new contexts.