Tuttle, Dan
Last Monday (3/8), Carolynn and I had the pleasure of visiting a very delightful school in Brooklynville (a suburb of Baltimore) called The Park School. This 100-acre school is a progressive, project-oriented K – 12 school of 875 students with 200 of them in the 6 – 8 gr. middle school. A central theme defines each grade level in which the teachers work hard to create integrated curriculum that relates to the respective grade level themes. For example, in the 6th grade their core subjects include Geography, Literature, and Ecology that all relate to the theme of 'Community.' In the 7th grade, the central theme to their curriculum is 'Identity' and in the 8th grade the theme is 'Advocacy.' These three themes seem to make perfect sense for youngsters ages 11 -14 years to latch on.
The Park School's advisory program is centered on team building and developing relationships between students and between students and teachers. The advisory groups are a mixture of 6th, 7th, and 8th graders, a mix that seems to be popular with several other schools that we've visited on this trip. The advisory meets four times per week: twice for 15-minutes, once for 20-minutes, and once for 30-minutes. The faculty advisor for each group stays with the same group of students throughout the entire middle school experience. The advisors keep tabs on each of their advisee's academics and are the primary communicators with parents (included with that are two parent conferences per year). The advisors use Google docs to keep a constant line of communication open with each student's teachers on their progress.
Each year students at The Park School takes a 'Life Skills' class. In the 6th grade, this class centers on transitioning into middle school life, values education (Who are you?), healthy lifestyles, and alcohol education. The 7th grade focuses on inviting a variety of speakers with topics related to developing the idea of identity, whereas the 8th graders focus on making choices, human relationships, and community service. In addition, sex education is part of both the 7th and 8th grade 'Life Skills' class. The idea of offering a 'Life Skills' class outside the advisory arena seems to be a trend in many of the schools that we've visited.
The Park School has both computers on carts and dedicated computer labs with a mixture of both PCs and Apples. In addition, each classroom is equipped with an LED projector for class presentations. All students take a technology class that includes keyboarding skills (word processing, spreadsheets, databases), movie making, and programming.
Here are a few other interesting aspects to The Park School:
1. They do not issue grades on their report cards until the 9th grade.
2. They have a learning resource teacher that writes learning plans for students who need the support.
3. They have a high ropes challenge course on campus.
4. They offer summer grants to teachers who would like to develop campus programs or curriculum within the school.
5. They offer a 'new faculty' forum to transition new teachers into their school.
The Park School does a wide range of terrific things for a school of its size. I wouldn't hesitate to send my child to this wonderful school. At the end of our visit, we had a very insightful discussion over lunch that certainly demonstrated the dedication of their teachers and administrators, the love that they have for their students, and the mutual appreciation that they have for each others work. This is certainly a school that I could feel at home with!
This past week, Carolynn and I took the time to drive to Gettysburg, Pennsylvania to see the National Military Park. We did the smart thing by hiring a guide that drove with us on a two-hour drive through the battlefields and monuments. Our guide certainly brought the three-day battle to life for us! I must sadly admit that I didn't know much about the Battle of Gettysburg before the tour, but came away with a much greater understanding and felt the gravity of the events that took place at Gettysburg in July 1863. As we drove and listened to our guide describe all the major events of three bloodiest days on American soil, I tried to imagine what it must have been like to be there during that time, both from the North and South perspectives. I followed up on our visit by watching the movie "Gettysburg" over the last two days. I thought the film did a great job of matching up with what our guide explained to us and in offering both perspectives very well. I certainly have a greater appreciation for that battle. After the visit, we wandered around the town of Gettysburg for a while and had lunch in a wonderful old tavern that occupied a building that survived the battle in 1863. The tavern is run by descendants of the original landowner of the property whose last name was Dobbin. It was interesting for me to find out that Dobbin and his wife had 10 children (lots of kids to help with the daily chores). Soon after, his wife died leaving him with all those children. Astonishing enough, a few year later he married a women with nine children…. imagine 19 children in one family!! I feel for his second wife, as he then died a few years later and left her with a sizable family. I told many of my colleagues at Punahou that I would not do a "Norm Cox" and explain to you all the great eateries that we are discovering on this trip. However, the food was very good at the 'Dobbin Tavern.'
The Park School's advisory program is centered on team building and developing relationships between students and between students and teachers. The advisory groups are a mixture of 6th, 7th, and 8th graders, a mix that seems to be popular with several other schools that we've visited on this trip. The advisory meets four times per week: twice for 15-minutes, once for 20-minutes, and once for 30-minutes. The faculty advisor for each group stays with the same group of students throughout the entire middle school experience. The advisors keep tabs on each of their advisee's academics and are the primary communicators with parents (included with that are two parent conferences per year). The advisors use Google docs to keep a constant line of communication open with each student's teachers on their progress.
Each year students at The Park School takes a 'Life Skills' class. In the 6th grade, this class centers on transitioning into middle school life, values education (Who are you?), healthy lifestyles, and alcohol education. The 7th grade focuses on inviting a variety of speakers with topics related to developing the idea of identity, whereas the 8th graders focus on making choices, human relationships, and community service. In addition, sex education is part of both the 7th and 8th grade 'Life Skills' class. The idea of offering a 'Life Skills' class outside the advisory arena seems to be a trend in many of the schools that we've visited.
The Park School has both computers on carts and dedicated computer labs with a mixture of both PCs and Apples. In addition, each classroom is equipped with an LED projector for class presentations. All students take a technology class that includes keyboarding skills (word processing, spreadsheets, databases), movie making, and programming.
Here are a few other interesting aspects to The Park School:
1. They do not issue grades on their report cards until the 9th grade.
2. They have a learning resource teacher that writes learning plans for students who need the support.
3. They have a high ropes challenge course on campus.
4. They offer summer grants to teachers who would like to develop campus programs or curriculum within the school.
5. They offer a 'new faculty' forum to transition new teachers into their school.
The Park School does a wide range of terrific things for a school of its size. I wouldn't hesitate to send my child to this wonderful school. At the end of our visit, we had a very insightful discussion over lunch that certainly demonstrated the dedication of their teachers and administrators, the love that they have for their students, and the mutual appreciation that they have for each others work. This is certainly a school that I could feel at home with!
This past week, Carolynn and I took the time to drive to Gettysburg, Pennsylvania to see the National Military Park. We did the smart thing by hiring a guide that drove with us on a two-hour drive through the battlefields and monuments. Our guide certainly brought the three-day battle to life for us! I must sadly admit that I didn't know much about the Battle of Gettysburg before the tour, but came away with a much greater understanding and felt the gravity of the events that took place at Gettysburg in July 1863. As we drove and listened to our guide describe all the major events of three bloodiest days on American soil, I tried to imagine what it must have been like to be there during that time, both from the North and South perspectives. I followed up on our visit by watching the movie "Gettysburg" over the last two days. I thought the film did a great job of matching up with what our guide explained to us and in offering both perspectives very well. I certainly have a greater appreciation for that battle. After the visit, we wandered around the town of Gettysburg for a while and had lunch in a wonderful old tavern that occupied a building that survived the battle in 1863. The tavern is run by descendants of the original landowner of the property whose last name was Dobbin. It was interesting for me to find out that Dobbin and his wife had 10 children (lots of kids to help with the daily chores). Soon after, his wife died leaving him with all those children. Astonishing enough, a few year later he married a women with nine children…. imagine 19 children in one family!! I feel for his second wife, as he then died a few years later and left her with a sizable family. I told many of my colleagues at Punahou that I would not do a "Norm Cox" and explain to you all the great eateries that we are discovering on this trip. However, the food was very good at the 'Dobbin Tavern.'
Comments
Sarah Tyler (unauthenticated)
Mar 26, 2010
I think I would like that school with no report cards until high school and the ropes course.
I remember that brackets contest last year for March Madness, haha I really sucked at that. I hope you had Purdue beating Sienna in the first round, cause if you didn't, me and Ali are gonna be pretty upset. :) anyway, too bad they lost to Duke today.
Sounds like you're having fun still! I have a track meet tomorrow. I'm doing pretty good I think, even though I haven't managed to beat my fastest time from last year, but over all I'm 7th in the 300 hurdles and 10th in the 100 hurdles (combined jv/v scores)
Bye! oh yeah, I went to Mt. Vernon a few years ago. I wish my house was that nice!