Jane Cadwell
Phillips Exeter Academy
Jane joined the Phillips Exeter Academy faculty in 1993, having taught previously at Georgetown Day School in Washington, DC. Over the course of her PEA career, in addition to teaching a variety of English levels and electives, Jane has been the Dean of Academic Affairs, boys squash and tennis coach, dorm head of Bancroft Hall, and is currently the coordinator of the faculty continuing professional development. She established Study Paws, a joyful gathering of Academy dogs in the Library, for students to hug and pet during exam weeks and other stressful times. Jane has a B.A. from Williams College, a master's from Smith College and a master's from Middlebury College.
"In my experience around the table, the best Harkness classes are those in which my students see the text under discussion as a very small package, a present of sorts, which holds within it a gift that when opened will become much much too large for the original box. I suggest to my students that every poem or essay or novel or play should always be “bigger” when they leave the Harkness table than it was when they arrived. In order to make the literature as big as possible, everyone is required to add something to the discussion; they must be willing to give up their urge to whittle the work down to a manageable size that is neat and tidy and finite and ready to fit back into that original box. By the end of their discussion, the literature should be more complex, perhaps more confusing; students should have more questions, more interpretations and a much wider perspective."