NewGate Upper School Overviw

The NewGate-Field SchoolSecondary Program Overview Introduction: The Middle School Years 1Instructional Approaches 3Program Secondary Cycle 1: Grades 7-9 7Program Secondary Cycle 2: Grades 10-12 10

Introduction

Educating today’s middle school students involves knowing how they learn as individuals and as adolescents. We must also understand the kind of world they will inherit. We live now in an ever-changing future. Given the scope of global-wide, technological, and institutional change, we cannot know with certainty the kinds of challenges today’s students will meet during their adult years. We do know the middle schools we attended will not sufficiently ready today’s students for their future.

A Montessori middle school prepares students for life, and this includes high school, college, work, and citizenship. Programs combine Montessori philosophy, current child and adolescent developmental research, projected 21st century workplace skills, and national standards to provide the learning activities and skills students need during their middle school years and for success after their graduation.

The requirements for successful living in the emerging 21st century necessitate adopting new approaches to learning. We should not be satisfied with learning defined narrowly as a test score given for memorizing forgettable information. Instead, we must understand how

individuals learn. We must understand and help adolescent students satisfy their developmental needs. These should inform our decisions about the academic rigor and the opportunities for student creativity and responsibility we will offer. Students in a Montessori middle school must engage in real and pressing global challenges. They must think creatively, design and implement workable solutions, participate in democracy, and act as entrepreneurs.

Through rigorous study and experiential learning, middle

school students will develop a comprehensive knowledge of the world, grapple with complex issues and problems, embrace civic responsibilities, and engage with people who are different from themselves.

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RigorousCourses ofAcademic

Study

The Mission of the NGFS Montessori Secondary Program is to prepare our students for both university, and life, their chosen careers, and their roles as citizens in an ever-changing global community.

Photos - Some of the photos used to illustrate this prospectus were drawn from the archives of the Montessori Foundation. Unless so identified, photos were taken of the NGFS secondary program.

A school like NewGate-Field represents an important alternative for a wide range of gifted learners. For many of us, this is the sort of school we wish we could have attended when we were young.

Montessori schools are based on the premise that schools for adolescents should no longer be organized on the traditional model; but instead high schools should be based on a deep understanding of how adolescents think, learn, and act. We need to understand what inspires teenagers and how to give them a sense of their emerging place in the community of adults.

The real tasks of adolescence are as much social and emotional as they are academic, and large, impersonal, hyper-competitive high schools do little, or nothing, to support the development of young people who are calm, confident, and mature.

In thinking about curriculum, we should give careful thought to the demands of increasingly rapid technological and institution-al change. None of us can know with any certainty what kinds of challenges today’s students will meet during the years ahead.

One important direction for NGFS is our plan, over the next few years, to incorporate the International Baccalaureate Programs into our school. For our middle school, the IB Middle Years Program will reinforce, enhance, and expand our educational goals by adding an international focus and global framework to the schooľs rigorous academic curriculum. Established in 1994, the IB Middle Years Program is both a stand-alone program and a preparation for our eventual IB Diploma Program. The IB Middle Years Program supports Montessori’s interdisciplinary approach to curriculum and provides professional development opportunities and

access to a global community of teachers and learners dedicated to engaging, challenging, and proving meaningful international education. The MYP’s three fundamental concepts (holistic learning, intercultural awareness and communication) resonate well with the practices and pedagogies of a Montessori education. Although we are still in the planning stage of this endeavor, every year NGFS students can expect to receive more and more benefits of the IB Program. Many of our courses will be integrated around topics or themes. For example, the topic of designing more environmentally sustainable communities might be explored through literature, economics, science, and art. Much of our students’ learning will occur through connections with other organizations and in a variety of settings, such as university campuses, museums, industries, government centers, art studios, and nonprofit organizations. NGFS students will participate in learning activities designed to help them achieve deep understanding and a high level of mastery.

A Sense of Community

NewGate-Fielďs Secondary First Cycle Program is designed to meet specific academic and developmental needs of students during their adolescent years.

If there is one compelling need found among adolescents worldwide, it is to belong to a

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community. The middle school community consists of several levels. Most immediately, the middle school is an academic community of classmates engaged in both individual and collaborative learning.

When fully engaged in this type of community, middle school students:

• Become vibrant, self sufficient, active learners.

• Develop strong academic habits and expand their knowledge base.

• Articulate their growing personal and global awareness through varying modes of self-expression.

• Engage in hands-on learning experiences including land-based study and service to others.

A Reflective, Less-Stressful Preparation for College and Life

Montessori secondary programs do not attempt to offer a cafeteria-style menu of elective course options in the core academic subjects. Our goal is to help our students learn what we cover in-depth, rather than skip through material so quickly that it is soon forgotten. We follow a carefully considered core curriculum in the humanities and sciences, designed to both prepare students for college and to help them form a sense of the big picture of our world and culture, how

knowledge was discovered, how it is used in everyday life, and how apparently separate “subjects” fit together.

Civil Discourse

One of the greatest frustrations of education today is that schools have become wary of allowing meaningful discussion and debate about topics that are considered politically controversial. From religion to politics (and the full gamut of moral and ethical issues of our day), teachers and schools increasingly feel pressured to stick to the state-mandated curriculum and to avoid anything that might stir up controversy. Americans historically debated important ideas with one another in a manner that was both thoughtful and civil. Today, people tend to avoid meaningful debate but rather echo the words and ideas of the pundits in whom they believe. From its origins in the age of classical Greece, exploration of important ideas and meaningful issues has been considered an essential aspect of a fine education. This is no less important to our best colleges today, but schools rarely teach students this essential habit of mind.

Instructional Approaches

In keeping with Montessori philosophy we integrate a variety of teaching approaches:

Guided Instruction: Students will further their academic skills: how to read and study a text; how to take notes; how to construct an argument; how to plan and organize a research paper; how to engage others through an oral presentation; how to demonstrate mastery; how to prepare for and take an exam.

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Seminar Inquiry and Debate: In ongoing seminars, classes will explore ideas through Socratic discussion in which students explicate a text through focused dialogue. As one finds in many schools in Europe, students will be encouraged to explore ideas in informal debate, examining issues from many points of view. Topics will cover a wide spectrum and will include great philosophical questions of life, novels the students have read as a class, current political issues, and life issues faced by adolescents. A student or teacher will act as a facilitator as students share ideas, develop open-ended questions, cite passages in the text to support their interpretations, and respond considerately to each other. The Socratic seminar will be a crucial part of the Secondary Program, because it develops critical thinking, thoughtful discussion and debate, and encourages students to formulate opinions and seek truth in others’ opinions and classic texts.

Scientific Experiences: Students must develop habits of observing and collecting data, and then analyzing it using scientific inductive and deductive reasoning. Students must also become proficient with the skills of designing and conducting experiments. These experiences can occur in both natural and laboratory settings.

Individual Lessons: This approach is used in every aspect of the program. One student, during an open period, may want an individual lesson on how the slope of a line predicts exponential population growth; another student may need help organizing a short story.

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Photo from the archives of the Montessori Foundation


Peer Coaching: The Secondary Program will encourage students to work in small groups to puzzle through different concepts, help each other with projects, edit each other’s work, share impressions, complete service-oriented tasks, and finalize presentations.


Field Experiences: During adolescence, a chilďs brain and body reorganize into those of an adult. Becoming newly aware of oneself as a member of a larger society is a central preoccupation of the young adolescent. The Secondary Program program will support this natural process and guide students with challenging field experiences. Dr. Maria Montessori wrote, “Success in life depends in every case on self-confidence and the knowledge of one’s own capacity.

The consciousness of knowing how to make oneself useful, how to help humanity in many ways, fills the soul with noble confidence, The feeling of interdependence must be bound to the power to be self-sufficient.” Experiential learning is fundamental to the Montessori Method. Young adolescents want their lives to make a difference. Through community service, business-building, internships, and land-based study, students observe the results of their direct, hands-on activity.

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Boat Building

Pathfinders

Service: Secondary Program students are often called upon to help with the schooľs events and care for its infrastructure. It is assumed that students will take advantage of opportunities to serve both the school and wider community with an open heart and generous spirit.

Land-Based Learning Experiences: Another component of the Montessori philosophy for the middle school is the concept of the Erdkinder: ‘Children of the Earth.’ Montessori envisioned secondary programs in which students develop a sense of place, learning about the community in which they live, participate in real-life problem-solving, and see their contributions improve the school grounds and the community itself.

With an on-site horticulturalist, our partnership with Gamble Creek Farm, and our access to other local resources, we will develop extensive garden plots, herb gardens, and science-based alternative horticultural projects. Students will learn from their gardening experiences and the study of the natural world, expanding their horizons into the greater community. Apprenticeships with real side-by-side work will take place in a variety of career-related settings.

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Art class at the Ringling Museum

Secondary Cycle 1: Grades 7-9

During early adolescence, between the ages of roughly 12-14, students are intensely aware of themselves. The world of an early adolescent revolves around identity, self-expression, and peer social relations. They are making the gradual move from a concrete to a more abstract understanding of the world and have an intense need to belong. Middle school students take integrated, multi-age classes each year in science, math, history, English, Spanish, art, physical education, and practical life that parallel current traditional standards for academic course work and set the foundation

for high school level work. Classes are small with a high level of student-teacher interaction, student choice, and cooperative peer learning.

While studies in mathematics and writer’s workshops can occur at an individual pace, the sciences and social sciences are integrated across a three-year course cycle.

The classroom will continue to be the central location of study, but the campus and the local community governments, libraries, museums, and arts centers will be extensions of the learning environment.

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Mathematics: Montessori follows a unified approach to mathematics education in which arithmetic, geometry, algebra, logic, probability, and their historical development and applica-tion are woven together and studied over several years

The math course of study will include PreAlgebra, Algebra I, Geometry, and in some cases, Algebra II. Students will be placed in courses based on their knowledge and readiness. Each course involves investigations and discoveries, interesting and challenging problems, discovering patterns and making connections to science, history, and literature. Making connections builds mathematical thinking and new understanding based on previous knowledge. Without connections, students must learn and remember too many isolated concepts and skills.

During these years of early secondary studies, topics in maths will include methods of problem solving; number sense (integers, rational, and irrational numbers); patterns, relations, and functions; geometric representations of algebraic ideas and algebraic representations of geometry; statistics and probability. An additional course in consumer/business math will be intertwined throughout the three-year cycle, offering skill development in practical math, such as wages, checkbooks, loans, and measurement.

Science: For 7th and 8th grade students, science will be organized into courses taught in alternating years: for example, a year of life science followed by a year of physical science. Life science topics may include microbiology, plant processes (photosynthesis, transpiration, translocation), water chemistry, chemical reactions, and comparative anatomy and systems (respiratory, skeletal, circulatory). Physical science topics may include center of gravity, center of mass, physics of structures (forces, pressures), physics of machines (including laws of motion and forces),

machines, sustainable technologies, and renewable resources.

For our 9th grade students, we will offer biology. This course will build on the previous study of life sciences by offering rigorous class work and further opportunities for inquiry. This separate biology course will also provide the necessary conceptual and practical groundwork for the advanced level chemistry course offered in our high school program.

Montessori explores the history of scientific discoveries and emerging technologies, combined with considerable fieldwork, field trips, discussions with practicing scientists, and experimental lab work. Inquiry is central to this area of study. While conducting an inquiry, students describe objects and events, ask questions, construct explanations, test their explanations against current scientific knowledge, and communicate their ideas to others. A goal is to help students discover connections between mathematics and science, history, and literature. The ability to make these connections enriches a studenťs understanding of otherwise isolated concepts.

History/Humanities: This is a series of theme-based studies integrating history, geography, anthropology, cultural traditions, economics, government, literature, the biography of outstanding individuals, the lives of groups that have often been marginalized (women, children, the poor, ethnic or religious minorities), religious beliefs, and the social role of religious leaders, and the arts. History topics will also be organized into alternating years: Democratic Freedoms and Global Living. A robust study of the thematic topics under these headings may include readings from psychology, anthropology, and sociology; this gives students opportunities to apply the lessons of history to the challenges of today and tomorrow. Themes for studies of Democratic Freedoms may include pedagogical studies of place; the historical origins, practices, and institutions of democracy; nondemocratic ideologies; and

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economic requirements for freedom. Themes for Global Living may include energy trails and pipelines; climate change; key emerging economies such as China and India; and technological innovations. Geography is included in both courses.

Whenever possible, classes will consult primary documents, and we will challenge the students to relate what they understand to their own concept of society. Our goal is to help young adolescents explore their emerging membership in an interdependent world.

Language Arts: In our Writing Program, the goal will be to increase communicative skills through writing and to develop exceptional writing skills by encouraging students to build on their instincts for personal expression. As part of every academic project, students will use research skills including information gathering, note taking, summarizing, and reporting. In addition, students develop their own writing projects on topics of personal interest.

Each student will complete self-paced spelling and vocabulary development assignments based on an assessment of their individual preparation and ability. Individual and small-group lessons in grammar, punctuation, and sentence structure will be offered at the point of need, engaging students in the process of correcting and improving their own writing. Our writing curriculum will encompass presentations on writing and understanding poetry and fiction. Finally, the art of writing an essay will be introduced and practiced.

In the Literature Workshop, students read novels, poems, plays, and essays, some as a class, and some by individual choice. Selections are multicultural and run the gamut from classic adolescent literature to contemporary works that emphasize diversity and issues about

growing up. Through reading, students encounter a wider world and new ideas, and through Socratic discussion and online correspondence with their classmates and with the instructor, they communicate and explore these ideas.

Foreign Language: Students will begin a more serious study of a second language, with the goal of attaining a high level of command of reading, writing, and comprehending of at least a second modern language by high school graduation. Students will study Spanish daily through specific coursework, the utilization of the Rosetta Stone language program, and the integration of foreign language into the other curriculum areas.

The Arts: Students will explore the arts both as units of study in the history and appreciation of the visual and performing arts woven into the Humanities and through a series of Studio courses and workshops. These may include watercolor, drawing, graphic design, improvisational drama and drama production, dance, weaving, pottery, and woodworking. Music may include guitar, songwriting, performance, and music appreciation.

Health & Fitness: Health & Fitness includes nutrition and exercise; classes to be developed may include organized sports and outdoor activities such as running, biking, and horseback riding.

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Secondary Cycle 2: Grades 10-12

During this coming year of transition, the Secondary Program will begin to implement a more dynamic and sustainable Montessori approach. We anticipate that enrollment at the Cycle 2 level will be small in 2011-2012, steadily beginning to grow both from rising 7th graders and as we begin to admit new students who are consciously seeking a Montessori Secondary education. Our plan is to design the NGFS Secondary Program to meet the standards of the International Baccalaureate Organization and to seek IB recognition.

Older students who continue with the Secondary Program in 2011-2012 will work within highly individualized courses of study to complete their high school education at NewGate-Field. This group will be given a great deal of extra attention to build on the foundation laid in their earlier years with challenging seminar and project-based courses taken either at NewGate-Field, at one of the local colleges, or through closely supervised individualized coursework.

Once enrollment begins to rebuild, our course of study will follow these guidelines:

During the transition years, we will implement curriculum changes gradually to ensure that students who are currently in grades 9 through 12 are able to complete their course of study with no major disruption.

During the second cycle of the Secondary Program, students ages 15-18 will continue to work in multi-age learning environments. Second Cycle students are more capable of abstract thought and more comfortable and

capable of exercising their independence. They are interested in a wider social context outside of their immediate peers, and they have a desire to more fully understand adult behavior.

The coursework in this cycle of the program spirals up and responds to the Second Cycle student, who is now ready to refine and apply his/her skills and knowledge with deeper understanding.

Students take challenging seminar and project-based courses each year in science, math, history, English, Spanish, art, physical education, and service learning that foster the academic and intellectual capacities of adolescents and set the foundation for college-level work. The courses will require in-depth participation, close attention to detail, independent work, writing, solid research, discussion, and analysis. At the end of the Second Cycle, students will have a depth of understanding about themselves and the world, sophisticated reasoning abilities, and experience with a wide range of tools, modes of expression, and courses that prepare them for college, life, and thoughtful citizenship.

The following list of courses will change somewhat as we work toward approval to offer the International Baccalaureate Organization Diploma Program (grades 11 and 12).

High school graduation requirements (grades 9-12) will continue to include four years each of math, science, English, history and humanities, foreign language, as well as courses in the arts and physical education. Students will engage in apprenticeships and internships as part of their core academic studies. Electives and 200 cumulative hours of community service are also required.

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Mathematics: Students will complete at least four courses in mathematics. The normal sequence of math courses will involve Algebra I, Geometry, Algebra II, Pre-Calculus, and Calculus. Students will be placed in courses based on their knowledge and readiness. Each course will involve investigations and discoveries, interesting and challenging problems, discovering patterns and making connections to science, history, and literature. Making connections builds mathematical thinking and new understanding based on previous knowledge. Without these connections, students must learn and remember too many isolated concepts and skills.

Science: Students will complete four courses in the sciences, including Biology, Physical Science, Chemistry and either Physics or Environmental Systems. Each course includes laboratory experiences.

History/Humanities: The equivalent of four courses will be required for high school graduation, including a year each of American and World History and semester-long courses in Economics and Government. All courses will examine the primary topic from multiple perspectives, including sociology, anthropology, industry, trade, technology, and psychology.

English/Language A: Students will complete four years of English, with coursework in literature, composition, creative writing, and SAT preparation in vocabulary and language usage. A two-year course within the International Baccalaureate Diploma Program will explore semester-long topics such as Cultural Identity, Gender Roles, Utopian Potentials, and Spiritual Realms.

Second Language/Language B: Students will complete four years of study of a written and spoken modern foreign language that is accepted by the International Baccalaureate Program. Currently, we offer Spanish, and we are exploring the possibility of introducing one or more additional languages.

The Arts: Students will explore the arts, both as units of study in the history and appreciation of the visual and performing arts woven into the Humanities and through a series of Studios that will be offered. Examples include watercolor, drawing, graphic design, improvisational drama and drama production, dance, weaving, pottery, and woodworking. Music may include guitar, songwriting, performance, and music appreciation.

Health & Fitness: Health & Fitness include nutrition and exercise; classes to be developed may include organized sports and outdoor activities such as running, biking, and horseback riding.

Senior Project: Seniors will complete a capstone project in which they identify a real community concern, organize resources to address that concern, and implement those resources. There are no limits to possible concerns or needs. A student may be concerned, for example, about the negative effects of water pollution. Another student may address the effects of hunger. Yet another student may undertake to organize and present an exhibition at a local museum or gallery.

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NewGate Upper School Overviw