A Sense of Place and Personhood

MONTESSORI EDUCATION FOR THE YOUNG ADOLESCENT

Maria Montessori’s educational model, which she termed “Erdkinder” (“Earth Children”) was based upon the concept of identifying children’s developmental needs and then designing a curriculum to meet them. During young adolescence, these needs include:

• constructing a personal identity, a sense of self in relation to community and cosmos;
• developing the intellect, particularly an understanding of multiple perspectives;
• expressing the self, through public speaking opportunities and theater presentations;
• participating in communities, from classroom outward to local community and beyond;
• serving others both within and outside of such communities;
• learning the ways of society, including how economies and governments work; and
• discovering the ways of nature, including an awareness of how the local bioregion works.

PLACE-BASED EDUCATION

Place-based education is an educational model that includes both participation in the local community and direct contribution to it. A place-based school curriculum involves partnerships with local environmental, social, cultural and governmental organizations, in which students become involved in service efforts and research projects that aid in the process of building and maintaining a vibrant community, a home place.

ODYSSEY TRIP

Students will begin the year with an outing that will involve outdoor experiences such as backpacking or canoeing. The purpose of the trip is to enable students and middle school teachers to share adventures exploring an unfamiliar place, remote from the comforts and technologies of home, while building community. This trip will typically last from three days to a week.

LANGUAGE ARTS

Readings include poetry, short stories, novels, histories, biographies, plays and essays, drawn from both world literature and writings from Georgia and the South. Students participate in seminars (class discussions using a guided inquiry model) on what they have read. Individual writings include essays in response to readings, correspondence and reports related to ongoing local projects, science project reports, creative writing and entries in a personal journal.

MATHEMATICS

Students need regular and frequent opportunities to develop and strengthen math skills. Students move at their own pace, guided by a teacher, through the University of Chicago School Mathematics Project texts Transitions and Algebra. Students also have opportunities to hone their math problem-solving skills through place-based educational projects such as calculating crop yields at an organic farm, graphing plant frequency percentages at a natural area or calculating average life expectancy using data collected in a local cemetery.

THE SCIENCES

The science curriculum is primarily place-based, emphasizing the local bioregion. Students study earth, environmental and life sciences over the course of a variety of projects, which include: 1) mapping the geology and ecology of the Chattahoochee Hills; 2) conducting water quality investigations; 3) learning biological taxonomy through inventorying plants and animals; 4) studying ecological relationships; and 5) learning the fundamentals of botany as applied to agriculture. In the classroom, students also conduct physics and chemistry experiments, addressing topics such as the laws of motion and the conservation of matter and energy.

SOCIAL STUDIES

The social studies curriculum includes place-based and field-oriented projects and more structured classroom-based research projects. Place-based projects emphasize history and culture of the local area. Possible examples, depending on student interest, include gathering local history materials, assisting with a local farmers’ market, visiting Atlanta historical societies and libraries, participating in local cultural events, and conducting oral histories. Classroom-based research projects include a survey of the history, geography, politics, and economies of world nations. Students also participate in regular discussions of regional, national and international current events.