10 Page Final

1) PROJECTS. Students sign up for one project chosen from among a group of possible ones that are decided on collaboratively by themselves and teachers. Both teachers and students present their ideas to the whole school at the beginning of the term. Sign-up sheets are then posted on a bulletin board, and students put their names on the one they are interested in. There might be a cap for the number of people who can sign up for one—maybe 10—but a project can also be carried out by one person, or a pair.

Then the teacher designs activities that are based in the different content areas and divides them among the students to perform. In other words, you want to teach the content areas (math, history, science, literature, anthropology, geography) in the context of the project under study. For example, if the project were “Music of the American Indians,” various groups or subgroups of the 15 students would listen to recordings, learn songs, (music), identify songs of different tribes and different styles (geography), learn about the PowWow (anthropology), study the history of one tribe and their music (history) study the rhythms and intervals of Indian music (math/music), make a drum and a rattle themselves (craft), read a book about Indian life (e.g. “I Buried My Heart at Wounded Knee) (literature), and so on. They would culminate the project with a musical performance, a poster display, or a display of the instruments they have made.

Other possible projects are: the world migration crisis; nuclear weapons; income inequality (lots of math here); climate change; racism in America; a popular or classic book (e.g. Harry Potter, Robinson Crusoe); the history of some old building in town (e.g. the post office or the library); wild animals in the city (coyotes, raccoons, ground hogs); migrating birds; the life of trees; the game of baseball; the Aztecs or Maya civilizations; famous explorers; a famous painter and his/her time, the history of baseball . . . Graded as pass/fail.

2) INDIVIDUALIZED UNITS IN MATH AND LANGUAGE. In addition, the curriculum should include individualized programmatic instruction in mathematics and a foreign language, done as a combination of self-paced lessons (like the School of One) that can be done on a computer or as work-sheets, combined with trouble-shooting and tutoring classes as needed. Students advance through unit mastery tests.

3) BASIC CONTENT COURSES. Include a required set of four “basic” content courses that meet once a week, and may coordinate with the projects that are going on. These are decided on each year by the teachers as a group, and could include: The Age of the Dinosaurs, World History, Ancient Egypt (or some other ancient civilization), American History, Philosophy (discussion-based), Language Arts (novel and poetry and song), Plants and Animals, Music Appreciation, Art Appreciation, Geography and Culture, one other language (Spanish, Latin, Italian, French, Chinese). Graded as pass/fail.

4) ELECTIVES. Students choose one from among a series of electives that includes, for example, Martial Arts, Tai Chi, Yoga, Choral Singing, Orchestra, Woodworking, Intramural Sports, Painting and/or Sculpture, Rock Band, Peer Tutoring, Ornithology (birding), and Poetry, Short Story or Novel Writing. These classes meet once or twice a week, and are offered according to teachers’, parents’ and community members’ available expertise. Graded as pass/fail.