History
The Touchstones Discussion Project is the creation of three senior faculty members at St. John’s College in Annapolis, Maryland. They are Howard Zeiderman, Geoffrey Comber, and Nick Maistrellis. Through a twenty-year investigation of the discussion approach, they developed a systematic program, which harmoniously combines the classroom management skills of teachers with the intellectual freedom and creativity of students.
The Eighties
In 1985, Touchstones is introduced into an inner city magnet school in Hartford, Connecticut. This school is exceptional in that it has sent 90% of its alumni to four year colleges. The following year, Touchstones is introduced into schools in rural Alabama and Pittsburgh. Shortly thereafter, Touchstones Volume I is published.
The Nineties
Touchstones classes are introduced as part of the extensive Gifted and Talented Program of Bucks County, Pennsylvania. The following year, Rice High School in Harlem, New York introduces its entire freshman class to a humanities course using the Touchstones Discussion Project as a significant component. Visitors to the school are surprised as they observed ninth- and 10th-graders participating in and leading sustained discussion classes on complex texts and sensitive issues. Touchstones is introduced into the Frederick Douglas Academy. Annapolis Middle School implements Touchstones on a pilot basis. The goal is to create an occasion for students of diverse backgrounds and abilities to talk to one another. In the same year, Touchstones publishes Investigating Mathematics.
The Prison Program begins when nine lifers from the Maryland House of Correction in Jessup invited Howard Zeiderman into prison to help create a Touchstones Program so that the men can discuss serious issues and gain a type of self-respect.
The ninety-five year old mother of a colleague at St. John’s College enters a retirement home in Long Island and her son sends Touchstones materials. The activities coordinator tries the program, and the Senior’s Program begins. The next year a Senior’s Program begins at the Classic Residence by Hyatt. The program opens horizons and taps into the richness of the lives of seniors whose inner life is constantly threatened to be stifled. At the same time, the program is introduced into universities in China and to school age children living in the West Bank and Gaza.
The 21st Century
The Touchstones Project has become a force in education. More than 500,000 students have participated in a Touchstones program, from Durban, South Africa to Harlem, N.Y. In Anne Arundel County, seventy schools offer the Touchstones curriculum. In Baltimore Touchstones materials are used by the New Era Academies. They are also used in after-school programs such as Safe and Sound and Good Now. Further south, the Sullivan County School System is the first district in Tennessee to implement the Touchstones Discussion Project systemwide. Touchstones has begun to be used by teachers nationwide to implement the Socratic Seminar component of the AVID program, as well as the International Baccalaureate Program’s Theory of Knowledge.
The Touchstones Discussion Project is introduced into Haitian schools as the Reflection Circle Project. The texts used are drawn from a variety of cultures throughout history and are translated into Haitian Creole. The Project is introduced into schools in South Africa. Touchstones is used at the Burma Diplomatic School in English and translated into Burmese for use in private schools. Dr. Graham Leonard completes a week of workshops with 12 Jordanian high school teachers in Amman, Jordan. Beginning in September 2007, the Ministry of Education of Jordan has decided to involve all Jordanian 6th and 7th graders in Touchstones.
Two custom-tailored programs are developed – for the Directors of the Maryland Department of Motor Vehicles and for the National Security Agency. In Annapolis, the Mayor’s Book Club uses the Touchstones method to find ways to make cities more vibrant. Dr. Chris Howard, Associate Vice President for Strategic and Leadership Initiatives at the University of Oklahoma leads a course called Leader in You, Leader in Us.
Our work has been supported by both the generous assistance of individual donors and grants from various foundations. We have at times worked actively in collaboration with University of Maryland, Baltimore County, Shimer College, St. Mary's College in California, Sonoma State University, The Maryland Department of Corrections, The Boys and Girls Club of Annapolis, The Aspen Institute, St. John's College, Beyond Borders, the Jordanian Ministry of Education, The University of Oklahoma, The Maryland Department of Motor Vehicles, the National Security Agency, and Anne Arundel County Public Schools. We are grateful for their support.
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