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Priority: Literacy
The Ideal Learning Environment
as published in Preview
Here is a scenario of an effective classroom.
 When
you walk into the sophomore team cluster, you are transported to
the ancient city of Athens. Parents, students, teachers, and dorm
staff have transformed the classroom throughout the quarter-long
unit of study. The various classrooms in the sophomore cluster have
been decorated like the Acropolis; one resembles the Parthenon,
and others are designed like other buildings of ancient Greece.
At the center of the cluster is a well-stocked class library,
with more than 1,000 fiction and nonfiction books at a wide range
of levels. Soft chairs, a reading lamp, plants, and a braided rug
make this area an inviting place to be. A large section of the class
library currently features books on ancient Greece. More books are
found in each individual classroom.
The classrooms are "littered in literacy." The teachers have posted
charts with directions on borrowing books, guidelines for writing
in math learning logs, stages of the scientific method to be incorporated
in the science class observation log, and advice for classroom visitors.
Other charts display information the class has discovered as they
learn about the various aspects of ancient Greece. Lists of common
words are on display, and near the class library are several recipe
boxes for students' individual "word banks," where they record new
vocabulary.
 Each
student's academic level is evaluated informally at the beginning
and end of each school year. Routine checks are made throughout
the year, and standardized testing and evaluation are done on a
regular basis. Documentation of student growth is recorded and routinely
shared with parents.
Students and teachers engage in several types of reading each
day: read alouds, where proficient readers read to others; guided
reading, in which a teacher guides a group of students through a
book, and independent reading, when students select books that they
can fully understand on their own.
Multicultural studies are infused into each unit. Students have
learned about the lives of deaf people in ancient Greece. They have
learned about famous Greek and Greek-American deaf people. Several
of the students have been learning Greek Sign Language.
The students, teachers, and staff on this team allow for flexible
groupings throughout the morning. At times, the entire group gathers
for events such as reading to the students. More often, the students
gather in groups of five, 10, or 20, depending on their work. Across
all content areas, the new curriculum calls for much less teacher
presentation and control, far more active and experiential student
learning, and constantly shifting groupings.
The lines between subject content areas are blurred. At times
the humanities teachers group together to teach something, perhaps
through reading and writing strategies. At the same time, math and
science teachers team up for a meeting where students discuss the
topic, share their knowledge about it, generate hypotheses, pose
questions, set goals, and make a study plan. Students might, for
example, discover for themselves the reasoning of the ancient Greek
scientists whose work provides the foundation for the principles
of modern mathematics. Roles and tasks are parceled out to the students,
based on their curiosities and skills. Then the inquiry proceeds
in the small groups, with the team members serving as facilitator
and resources along the way. When the investigations are done, the
teams reconvene to share and discuss their findings.
Writing happens across all curricular areas throughout the day.
Classroom workshops also form an important part of the morning activities,
with teacher instruction followed by a work period and individual
instruction, and ending with group sharing. Reading and writing
workshops have become a mainstay in many classrooms. In this classroom,
the workshop model has extended outward to other parts of the curriculum--math,
science, and history, for example. Whatever the content, deep immersion
is the key to mastery.
During the afternoon, students go to one of five elective classes
for the quarter. Drama students study Greek tragedies and comedies,
or create a dramatization of Homer's Iliad. Students in home
economic class sew chitons and peplos, traditional Greek costumes.
Later in the quarter, they will learn to make Greek sweetmeats and
other foods for a program-wide feast. Another group of students
is taking art, where they are studying the "lost wax" method of
creating bronze statues. Other students in physical education are
preparing for an Olympic competition. Each of these elective courses
meets for 100 minutes daily for the quarter.
While the students are in their elective classes, teaching team
members are meeting for an hour, reflecting on what happened that
day and discussing a couple of students who do not seem to be keeping
up. They share observations about individual students' writing strategies
in various contexts—the research topic that this team has established
for this year. The research coordinator comments on the observations
and points out patterns that all team members may wish to watch
for in the coming weeks. The lead teacher collects notes form the
meeting, which are passed along to the elective teachers for comment.
After the meeting, team members use their time for planning, responding
to journals, and writing in their own teacher logs. Instead of spending
time assigning and grading lots of busywork such as workbook pages,
study questions, and fill-in-the-blank worksheets, teachers use
their precious time responding to each student's original reports
or stories, perhaps writing a personal note of response that both
gives guidance and provides a model of solid adult writing.
On evenings and weekends, residence staff plan activities for
students that connect with the theme being studied. On a typical
week during the study of ancient Greece, Monday night is movie night
and the students watch a film on Greek mythology, followed by small
group discussions. On Wednesday afternoon, the residence staff take
students—both residential and commuter--to a special Smithsonian
exhibit with ancient Green artifacts. They take notes in observation
logs, which they will incorporate into their school research projects.
On Sunday evening, the residence education staff help students
complete their homework assignments, a process that is made easier
because they have previously helped plan the assignment together
with the teaching team. Every evening, students gather in the lounge
for a half hour while a proficient reader reads another chapter
from a novel set in ancient Greece.
Families are regularly kept updated on their children's progress.
At the beginning of the year, the teaching team members become mentors
for a few students. The team meets daily to discuss all students'
progress, and the family educator calls parents regularly to provide
updates. The family educator also prepares a weekly newsletter from
the team.
At the end of the unit, students will incorporate what they have
learned into an ancient Greek feast, complete with dancing, art,
readings, drama, religion, math, science, and various aspects of
their studies. They will wear Greek clothing that they have made,
will serve their fellow students, parents, and other invited guests
the food they have cooked following ancient traditions.
Before moving on the next unit of study, the student and teachers
will gather to reflect on what they have learned, what has worked,
and what needs to be adjusted to make their learning more successful.
—Jane Fernandes
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