University School of Nashville: A Legacy of Academic Excellence and Student-Centered Education
University School of Nashville (USN) stands as a beacon of academic excellence and a testament to the power of community-driven education. From its origins as a model school for teacher training to its current status as a leading K-12 independent school, USN has consistently prioritized students' needs and fostered a dynamic learning environment. This article explores the rich history, academic philosophy, and commitment to inclusivity that define University School of Nashville.
A Storied Past: From Winthrop to USN
USN's story began in 1888 with the founding of the Winthrop Model School by the Peabody Board of Trustees on the University of Nashville campus. Named in honor of Robert Winthrop, president of the Peabody Fund, the school initially focused on observation rather than practice teaching. However, by 1913, Winthrop Model School's support waned as Peabody College for Teachers shifted its focus.
In 1915, Dr. Thomas Alexander spearheaded the establishment of Peabody Demonstration School (PDS) on Peabody College's new campus. PDS combined traditional observational methods with innovative, experimental approaches to teacher training. The school quickly gained a reputation for its outstanding curriculum and dedicated faculty. Initially located in the basement of the Jesup Psychological Building, PDS moved to its current location on Edgehill Avenue in 1925. The new building was designed in the classical style by the renowned architectural firm of McKim, Mead & White.
Facing financial difficulties, Peabody College made the decision to close the Demonstration School in 1974. However, a determined group of parents, alumni, students, and teachers rallied to preserve the school's legacy. In 1975, they founded University School of Nashville, dedicated to upholding the original PDS principles of academic excellence, best educational practices, and inclusion.
A Commitment to Academic Excellence
USN is known for its academic excellence and its commitment to putting students first. USN models the best educational practices. The school's mission reflects this dedication, emphasizing student-centered learning and the development of critical thinking skills. USN's legacy of excellence continues in its faculty, which is consistently listed by students, parents, and alumni as University School’s greatest strength.
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The curriculum at USN is designed to challenge and inspire students across all grade levels. In Lower School, the learning community emphasizes mutual respect and individual responsibility, with an emphasis on inquiry and exploration as students learn and grow. In Middle School, content in subject areas helps students develop their capacities to think, read, write, listen, and speak, as well as their abilities to manage their time, materials, and ideas. High school students have a wide range of course options, including advanced placement (AP) courses and electives in various disciplines.
English Department: Cultivating Critical Thinking and Creative Expression
The English Department at USN offers a diverse array of courses designed to cultivate critical thinking, analytical writing, and creative expression. Students engage with a wide range of literature, from classic works to contemporary pieces, exploring themes of identity, social justice, and the human experience.
Here's a glimpse into some of the courses offered:
- American Literature (Grade 11): Explores the American experience through the poetry, drama, fiction, and non-fiction of a variety of American writers. Assignments typically involve close analysis of literature, with emphasis on constructing a text-based analytical argument and presenting that argument in mature, precise prose.
- AP English: Writers from different places and historical periods come into conversation with each other about some of the big, basic questions of human existence. Characters such as Shakespeare’s Hamlet and Tolstoy’s Ivan Ilych, Virginia Woolf’s Clarissa Dalloway and James Baldwin’s John Grimes, Voltaire’s Candide and Zora Neale Hurston’s Janie help us explore questions like this: How do we live a meaningful life in the face of inevitable death? How do we face suffering and embrace moments of joy? Connected more by an approach than by a common theme, this course also provides room for students to formulate their own questions inspired by the texts we read.
- Intro Creative Writing (Grades 9-12): This course operates in two parts: as an introductory creative writing course and as an opportunity to create and produce the school literary magazine. It allows students to explore various topics - from the secret life of inanimate objects to untapped childhood memories - through a variety of genres, including poetry, short stories, screenplays, and flash fiction. Discussing works by accomplished writers and by classmates, students will practice techniques used to evaluate a text and express views about writing in constructive ways, skills that students will then apply in revising their own work. Those same skills will apply with the production of the literary magazine, whose chief purpose is to provide opportunities for staff members to learn and practice techniques of literary evaluation, editing, magazine design, and production. The magazine also strives to motivate student experimentation of different forms of writing. Collection of student artwork and photography is also a task of the magazine’s staff.
- Advanced Creative Writing (Grades 10-12): How do we tell stories of our lives, imagined lives, versions of the self? How do we describe and make meaning of the world? In Advanced Creative Writing, we’ll explore a variety of modes and genres- poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction, hybrid texts- to see how we can best express and tell the stories of our world, and the worlds we have yet to imagine. With readings from contemporary writers as mentors and guides, we’ll use technique and questions of voice to shape our exploration.
- English 10 (Grade 10): Develops skills in analytic writing and discussion through the critical reading of various literature and other media. Course texts are chosen to promote historical literacy while also preparing students to navigate a rapidly changing media landscape.
- Comics and Graphic Novels (Grades 11-12): This course explores the history of comics, with a special emphasis on the graphic novel. Students will learn to analyze graphic narrative in relation to other narrative forms, and will create a short visual narrative of their own. We will read foundational as well as experimental examples, comparing Western conventions to those established in the rich tradition of Japanese manga. Readings might include Alan Moore's Watchmen, Art Spiegelman's Maus, Alison Bechdel's Fun Home, Gabrielle Ba's Daytripper, Riad Sattouf's The Arab of the Future, and Osamu Tezuka's Astroboy.
- Du Bois and the Black Arts Movement (Grades 11-12): Following the lead of such contemporary intellectuals as Ibram X. Kendi and Ta-Nehisi Coates, this course grapples with present-day racial justice through the lens of W. E. B. Du Bois. Born in the early days of Reconstruction in Massachusetts, Du Bois died on the eve of the 1963 March on Washington. The contrast between life in the North and in the Jim Crow south--he spent college on scholarship at Nashville’s Fisk University--gave Du Bois a unique view of “the color-line” he predicted would be the twentieth century’s great “problem.” His writings, especially the groundbreaking The Souls of Black Folk (1903) and Black Reconstruction in America (1935), sought to give voice to Black Americans who lived, as he put it, inside a “veil” shaped by white American eyes and ideals. These writings shaped generations of Black thinkers, from Ida B. Wells and Ralph Ellison to James Baldwin, Malcom X, Martin Luther King, Jr, and Angela Davis. How can an examination of contemporary Black literature enhance and reshape our understanding of national and global struggles for social justice ? In what ways have the needs and desires to liberate, reform, translate, and “keep it real” influenced Black writers and creatives? We will consider these questions--along with intersections of class, gender, sexuality-- as we analyze an array of literature, art, and media produced during and after the Black Arts/Aesthetic Movement (1960-present). We will cover multiple literary genres (poetry, drama, realistic fiction, speculative/Afrofuturism), music, and performance as we consider this canon’s distinctiveness and enduring power. Potential authors/artists include Malcom X, Toni Morrison, Amiri Baraka, Audre Lorde, Kiese Laymon, N.K.
- City as Character (Grades 11-12): Don't we always wish we could be somewhere we aren't? To explore places we've never been? Literature can take us on these voyages to cities and lands far from home. In many works, the city takes on a character of its own, and if we look closely, we can feel as if we are there. But, are we really traveling, and how do we know these cities when we see them? Beginning with Italo Calvino's Invisible Cities, this class will take us on aworld tour of cities, real and imagined. We'll travel to Venice with Calvino, to Dublin with Joyce & poets, perhaps to Tokyo, Jerusalem, Prague, Calcutta, Paris, and New York. Possible texts include Hemingway's A Moveable Feast, James Joyce's Dubliners, as well as poems by authors such as W. B. Yeats, Eavan Boland, Baudelaire and Elizabeth Bishop.
- Fantastic Literature (Grades 11-12): Although in America today we tend to see only realistic literature as "serious," at other times and in other cultures, many writers have used elements of the fantastic in their writing to do much more than tell adventure stories. Tales of monsters, angels and ghosts may help us explore psychological and spiritual journeys beyond our daily trips to school and work; struggles with demons may stand in for struggles against repressive governments in countries where writers cannot safely protest openly. This course will explore such works.
- Secrets and Lies (Grades 11-12): Why keep a secret? When we lie, what’s at stake? In this course, we will explore the social and psychological forces that cause people to keep secrets, tell lies, and to confess.
- Harry Potter (Grades 11-12): Who is Harry Potter? Why do we care so much about him and his story? What questions and ideas of justice and identity, voice and power, does his story raise? What are some of the reasons for its popularity? In this course, students will examine British Literature related to J.K. Rowling’s novels, working to understand the questions of social justice that are raised. We’ll look, too, at past and current novels in conversation with Rowling’s work.
- Ghost Stories (Grades 11-12): Don’t be afraid. Whether images of fear or images of wonder, whether friendly or menacing, whether representing mistakes in life or mysteries in death, ghosts have been making frequent appearances in our stories since the time of the earliest Greek dramas. Whether in a fixed external form or contained within a haunted mind, those ghosts, and the authors that create them, often have important lessons to teach about identity and imagination. This course will go ghost hunting through novels such as Toni Morrison’s Beloved, Shirley Jackson’s Haunting of Hill House, Eka Kurniawan’s Man Tiger, Jez Butterworth’s The Ferryman, and Jesmyn Ward’s Sing, Unburied, Sing; as well as stories by H.P.
- The Hero's Journey (Grades 11-12): Among the enduring narratives fundamental to virtually every culture and civilization known to history is the hero’s journey: a quest in pursuit of a goal for personal reasons, communal reasons, or both. This course will explore a range of individuals and groups on such journeys-whether by choice or by happenstance-with varying degrees of heroism, love, bloodshed, assistance, and transformation along the way.
- Bearing Witness (Grades 11-12): As James Baldwin writes in “Sonny’s Blues”, “For, while the tale of how we suffer, and how we are delighted, and how we may triumph is never new, it must always be heard.
- Jewish Literature (Grades 11-12): Sometimes called “The People of the Book,” Jews-- and Jewish writers-- have a long tradition of asking questions, making meaning, and wrestling with what it means to be Jewish-- and human. The Jewish literary tradition is rich and multi-faceted, but some universal questions and tensions commonly arise: What does it mean to be Jewish? To wrestle with hyphenated identities? To create new homes in the diaspora? To be simultaneously insiders and outsiders? To wrestle with the history of anti-semitism? To be seen as both oppressor and oppressed? Thinking about questions of immigration, identity, gender, race, sexuality, trauma, and memory, the course will consider a range of identities and intersections of Jewish experience.
- World Literature (Grade 9): Through work with primary sources and major works of literature, students will work to see and understand patterns that impact the human experience and shape our world. Close reading, research, critical and historical thinking, oral presentation, and analytical and creative writing skills will be emphasized, with a focus on process and reflection.
- Data Storytelling (Grades 11-12): Understanding and making meaning of data is essential to making sense of the world. Figuring out, then, how to interpret and communicate that data in ways that are effective and intentional, in ways that make an argument and can affect change, is the next step. Does not count towards English graduation requirement.
- Narrative Video Games (Grades 11-12): Narrative video games fall in a long line of interactive literature, from ancient oral epics to contemporary "choose your own adventure"-style novels. This course examines games chosen for aesthetic and narrative richness, facilitating critical engagement through play as well as written analysis. Much of our time will be spent in design teams that will collaborate to build new games. As such, we will draw on skills not only of gamers and programmers but also of visual artists, creative writers, musicians, and students interested in animation and digital editing.
- A-P-L Lab (Grades 9-12): A-P-L Lab (Academics, Planning/Prioritizing, Learning) is an individually tailored, Pass/Fail elective that provides students with learning and work support. Students identify aspects of their learning, coursework and/or work habits that they would like to improve. A math teacher and learning specialist facilitate A-P-L Lab, conferring with students individually each week to help them progress towards their academic and learning goals. The math teacher is available to clarify math concepts, answer students’ questions while working on homework and help students prepare for math assessments. The Learning Specialist assists students with planning and revising written work, practicing brain-based learning strategies and time-management. Students use class-time to review course material and make progress on homework. As needed, they may also use class-time to consult with their teachers about course content and assignments. Enrollment is open to all students; those new to the class must submit an expository writing sample (an English class essay from the preceding school year or semester, for example) to the advisor during course requests.
- Medical Terminology (Grades 11-12): The purpose of the course is, to quote the textbook, "By teaching … the root elements of medical terminology - the prefixes, suffixes, and combining forms of Greek and Latin … not only to teach students modern medical terminology, but to give them the ability to decipher the evolving language of medicine throughout their careers." This is in many ways a language course and deals with elements that are used to create terms to meet the specific needs of medical scientists. As material is introduced, students will complete practice exercises during each class meeting, as well as complete approximately one quiz per week. Outside of class, students are expected to analyze and define fifty terms each week.
- Misinformation (Grades 11-12): “Falsehood will fly from Maine to Georgia, while truth is pulling her boots on.” As this line from an 1820 newspaper testifies, there is a long history of truth-stretching, rumormongering, and misinformation in American (and global) politics. In this course, we will examine the historical roots of misinformation, disinformation, and conspiracy theories, as well as the psychological factors that make it easier for people to fall prey to ‘facts’ that don’t deserve the label.
- Horror Stories (Grades 11-12): In 1982, Stephen King wrote that “the horror movie is innately conservative, even reactionary.” In 2022, this statement seems less dated than nonsensical. Contemporary filmmakers and horror writers like Jordan Peele, Stephen Graham Jones, and Carmen Maria Machado have turned horror stories into a go-to genre for progressive cultural criticism. So which is it? Yard signs may urge us to vote our hopes, not our fears, but anyone who’s lived through campaign season knows that politics and fear are as well-matched as the Frankenstein monster and his bride.
- Queer Literature (Grades 10-12): What does it mean to be queer? This course offers a few answers to that question in an introduction to literature that expands our thinking about intersecting identities shaping difference and power, historically and in contemporary culture. Core texts may include John Lyly's GALATEA, Virginia Woolf's ORLANDO, Audre Lorde's ZAMI, Tony Kushner's ANGELS IN AMERICA, and Maia Kobabe's GENDER QUEER: A MEMOIR.
- Water Justice (Grades 10-12): Water justice. Gentrification. Housing. Education. Race Relations. Public Saf…
An Inclusive and Diverse Community
University School of Nashville prides itself on being an inclusive community where students and families from diverse cultures and backgrounds come together to learn and grow. The school values the unique experiences that each student brings to campus. USN's student body includes 1,081 students from 55 zip codes in Middle Tennessee as well as 36% students of color with 52 countries of origin represented among our families.
In 1964, PDS was one of the first schools in Nashville to integrate fully. While Nashville public schools planned to slow-walk through desegregation-a grade at a time beginning with kindergarten, which would take 13 years-PDS desegregated top to bottom in one year.
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Meeting the needs of the individual student is an integral part of a USN education. Recognizing that each student holds different experiences and learns uniquely, we offer a team of counseling, math, literacy, and learning specialists across all three divisions to ensure all students are supported, challenged and encouraged to grow and learn with trusted adults as guides. In collaboration with classroom teachers, our team of counselors provides individual, small/advisory group programming, and year-long initiatives.
Campuses and Facilities
USN has two campuses: the Edgehill Campus and the River Campus.
- Edgehill Campus: Located in Midtown Nashville, the Edgehill Campus is on 7 acres bordered by Vanderbilt University. It comprises six buildings, several acres of outdoor field space, some 1,081 students, and more than 200 faculty and staff. Two wings of the Edgehill Campus are powered by a large geothermal energy system beneath the Back Lawn.
- River Campus: The 81-acre River Campus in North Nashville is on the banks of the Cumberland River. It is home to a dozen athletic playing fields, an eight-lane track & field complex, eight tennis courts, dedicated baseball and softball facilities, and a solar power generation array. In addition, this site originally had a 15-acre (61,000 m2) sum of wetland, situated on the Cumberland River and Whites Creek. In 2003, USN opened the Christine Slayden Tibbott Center for the Visual Arts. The next year, the school opened the Hassenfeld Library.
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