| Jigsaw in 3D - Self, School, and Society |
Physical
Positioning - SELF
Physical
environment and social networks are crucial components of learning and can be altered to help student growth. Repositioning individuals allows for a chance to
rediscover “self” and reconstruct position in society. It is important for
underachieving student populations who have historically been marginalized and
thus frequently made invisible, to find a voice and equal access to information
through a change in environment and stimuli. College Partnership provides a
dual learning environment, high school and college, for students.
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Curriculum Structure - SCHOOL
The guiding
principle of the curriculum framework is based on flexibility with an overall
structured core. There is space in the curriculum for students to cooperatively
formulate learning activities whereby their interests and needs are addressed
on a consistent basis. Student opportunities for choice, self-motivation, and
academic excellence are key factors and considerations in the program.
Listed below
are the four primary curriculum components that contribute to the uniqueness of
the College Partnership program.
- Literacy Instruction: Literacy through the
Aesthetics
- Students experience works of art, architecture,
music, and drama, and invite imagination and prior knowledge into the
mix. They will lift print from images and read the message then move from
that entry point to reading text.
- Ultimately, through these nontraditional avenues of
learning, aesthetics will become a vehicle to enhance literacy skills.
- History: Backtracking through History
- Students approach history from a present perspective
seeking correlations from the past. The focus in this program is to start
from where the students are in the present and backtracking through
history in order to demonstrate how they came to be in the place they are
today.
- Latin/Etymology
- Students prepare for state standardized tests
as well as meet their high school language requirement. This course is an
introduction to Latin, Etymology, and a reinforcement of English grammar.
The mix of Latin and Etymology addresses basic grammar and writing
skills.
- Technology
- Technology is an underlying component in all aspects
of this curriculum. It is the link to the working world in the
twenty-first century. Expertise in technology helps to break down
societal barriers for basic skills students. The variety in technological
experiences in the College Partnership program includes digital
cameras/computer cameras, VCR’s, computers (word processing, power point,
and Internet), communicating with schools in foreign countries on the
Internet, laptops, and recording equipment (television/tape recorders)
just to name a few. Students use the above mentioned low to high
performance technology and passive to engaging technology throughout the
three-year program in the Literacy, History, and Language courses.
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Student
Leadership/Parent and Community Involvement - Society
The leadership
component assists in building student self-esteem. Students are responsible to
issue a quarterly upcoming events newsletter
to parents. Acting as high school Ambassadors, they organize parent advisory
forums on topics such as How to Navigate the System. Parent forums inform parents about the bureaucratic
workings of the school system and keep them abreast of current issues that
concern the students. They also participate in curriculum planning, planning
for and recruiting community and outside guest speakers, creating grading rubrics,
career planning, and choosing course topics in an attempt to nurture leadership
qualities within a classroom-learning environment.
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