February 25, 2025 Submitted by The Hingham Education Foundation
Each year, the Hingham Education Foundation consults HPS teachers and administrators to determine which needs and opportunities HEF can support through its outreach, fundraising, and advocacy. Its newest initiative is funding state of the art Thinking Classrooms at Hingham High School. This campaign supports the district’s efforts to engage and support the success of all learners, and the results in the pilot classrooms have been extraordinary.
Thinking Classrooms allow educators to teach in a more inclusive, collaborative space that encourages active participation. Classrooms are transformed into modern learning environments with flexible seating and glassboard surfaces on the surrounding walls. This concept is being rolled out in benchmark towns and in the new Foster School building, and HEF is thrilled to be able to provide the opportunity and funding to build these innovative classrooms in our schools to make a compelling learning experience for students with all learning styles in our community.
Mallory Lynn, a math teacher at HHS, helped implement the Thinking Classroom in her former district in Chatham, NJ to great success, and has had an integral role in piloting the program in Hingham, as well as leading teacher trainings on the curriculum. Her passion is infectious and you can see it in the classrooms and amongst the students.
“HEF’s grant to support the Thinking Classrooms has transformed my math instruction,” said Lynn. “Students come to class eager to participate and excited to engage with the content. Whiteboard desks, vertically mounted glass surfaces, and erasable standing tables introduce choice. It is powerful for students to see all of their peers working at the boards in unison, comparing different methods of solving in real-time. Students receive instant feedback, navigating the curriculum on a deeper level than before.”
HEF was fortunate to have their January Board meeting in one of the Thinking Classrooms at HHS. Walking into the space, there were lots of comments about how it differed from traditional high school classrooms. The gleaming whiteboard desks with erasable markers made fingers itch to start writing on them, and sitting at grouped desks gave a more relaxed vibe to the space than the traditional row seating all were accustomed to.
Erica Pollard, Interim Executive Director of Curriculum and Instruction for HPS, gave a brief overview on the classrooms and how they work, then broke the meeting into random groupings of 4 – grouping kids randomly is one of the TC guidelines. Standing in teams at the wall glassboards with one marker – each group receives only one to promote working together, they were challenged to figure out how many two scoop ice cream pairings could be made with ten flavors. Many laughed nervously that math wasn’t a strong suit, but the brainstorming began and everyone soon settled into a group work rhythm of figuring out how to solve the problem.
“Bringing the Building Thinking Classroom research into practice, I’ve seen a remarkable shift in classroom engagement, as students work together, communicate, and tackle problems more collaboratively,” said Mrs. Sarah Jacobson. “The addition of whiteboard desks and vertical whiteboards has transformed our physical space, making it easier for students to share ideas visibly and confidently. This shift is fostering a culture of curiosity and shared problem-solving, and I am excited to see its continued impact on teaching and learning mathematics at HHS.”
Hearing from students and teachers in the classrooms, the enthusiasm is palpable. Many students allude to feeling less stress, enjoying the open space to work in, the ability to collaborate, and the ease of restarting or fixing an equation using the dry erase markers. As one student said, “The new classroom setup allows me to express my work more clearly and has significantly improved not only my assessment scores, but my understanding of math.” Another added, “I love the new furniture. It makes the space feel less intense and brings an air of warmth and excitement into the classroom.”
The Hingham Education Foundation will continue funding math thinking classrooms in the High School and Middle School in hopes that all HPS students can experience this innovative teaching style. The ability to do so comes from the support of our community and their generous donations. If you would like to help support HEF’s efforts to bring these enriching programs to Hingham Public Schools, please visit HEF’s website: https://hinghameducation.org/donate/.
The Hingham community is invited in for a look at the Thinking Classrooms at HHS for the Program of Studies Night on February 26 th at 6:30pm.