At our teacher days before school started we read two articles: How a Bigger Purpose Can Motivate Students to Learn and The Challenges and Realities of Inquiry-Based Learning. The first reminded us that students who want to make a difference in the world are highly motivated learners. The second reinforced that students gain social maturity when they learn in a project-based setting.
As the teachers talked to me about their goals for the year, both of the themes emerged. Here are a few examples:
- 7th graders will have a weekly STEM workshop for robotics and coding, animation with Google Sketch Up, and game design with Scratch and GameMaker.
- In middle school health class, students will organize a Health Fair to educate the broader community about making healthy decisions and living healthy lifestyles.
- Students in all grades will practice mindfulness habits. Linda Lantieri, author of Building Emotional Intelligence will help build teachers' skills at a workshop in December.
- In science classes students will practice specific habits of mind such as persisting, listening with empathy, and questioning.
- 4-5's will work on designing an improved, discovery-centered play space for the North Playground by generating ideas, conducting an interest and feasibility survey, and researching costs and funding.
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