Components of the MPCS Educational Program
This arts-based approach brings together many components in order to be effective in the public school setting and to meet state and federal standards along with the needs of our community. These 10 components define the most significant areas of the Mountain Phoenix educational program.
1. Multiage Classroom Structure. Nongraded education is the practice of teaching children of different ages and abilities together in the same classroom without dividing them or the curriculum into discrete grade levels. This type of classroom structure is particularly well suited for the delivery of a developmentally oriented curriculum. It creates an environment where different levels of ability, development, and learning styles are embraced as each child continually works to acquire competence in all areas. In a nongraded classroom, students stay with the same teacher for a period of several years, which not only provides all the benefits of continuity for both teacher and student, but also contributes to the secure and nurturing learning environment because it promotes the development of community building skills and attitudes. Compared to single-grade classroom structures, multiage groupings have been found to increase harmony and nurturance, decrease aggression and competition, and accommodate more easily the increasing diversity of contemporary society.
2. Developmentally Appropriate Practices. Developmentally appropriate educational practices are based on child development principles and scientific evidence regarding brain development and the growth of neural and cognitive structures. Its primary goals include: (1) develop skills and competence in all areas (intellectual, social / emotional, and physical); (2) develop self-esteem and positive feelings about learning; and (3) be responsive to individual differences in developmental stage, ability, and interests. A developmentally appropriate curriculum simultaneously attends to children's intellectual, physical, social, and ethical development because it recognizes that a child’s thoughts, emotions, imagination, and predisposition are interrelated and operate concurrently. MPCS’s curricular content is chosen to mirror the child’s developmental stage, which engages the “whole child” and creates a learning environment where knowledge, skills, disposition and feelings are integrated within each child in a holistic and balanced way.
3. Integrated/Interdisciplinary Curriculum. An integrated curriculum gives students the opportunity to experience the interrelated nature of all subjects, and makes learning relevant in their own lives. Revealing the connections that exist across disciplines allows students to experience the world around them as an integrated whole. It facilitates active, engaged learning, and encourages children to bring all of their intelligences and experiences to the learning activity. Research findings show students learn better, retain more knowledge, and enjoy school more. Likewise, teachers find greater success covering required subject material through integrated curriculum.
4. Arts-Based Academics. The arts play an important role, and provide highly effective tools for learning, exploring and mastering material. This approach recognizes the direct link between art, music and movement and high academic achievement. Woven throughout a rigorous curriculum, the arts support children’s deep understanding and academic success in unique and developmentally appropriate ways. This multifaceted approach allows information to be presented in a variety of ways, including: verbal/linguistic, mathematical/logical, visual/spatial, bodily/kinesthetic, as well as musical/rhythmic. Through the stimulation of all systems, MPCS’s curriculum embraces a myriad of learning styles and ensures that each student has the opportunity to succeed. Children, despite their differences, have an opportunity to completely participate in their own education and discover unsuspected talents.
5. Experiential Learning - Immersion and Mastery. The Immersion – Mastery approach to academics is the experiential learning component of our education model. It is readily employed with the arts based and integrated curricula. Immersion is an experiential process that gives each child the time to discover, integrate and experiment with new information and ideas before the teacher expects any indication of mastery. This approach ensures that every student has a clear, correct, and complete understanding of the material and its context before they are asked to recast it in the form of lesson books, portfolios, projects, artwork, formal assessment and other demonstrations of mastery.
6. Multicultural Education/Foreign Language Program. This method allows students to experience the value and beauty of different cultures in ways that expand their academic capacity and deepen their appreciation for diversity. In this way, the school community will guide students towards a sense of equality between all human beings and foster acceptance, respect, understanding and social tolerance. Some of these cultures will be experienced through an immersion language program starting in kindergarten and continuing all the way through 8th grade. Non-violent Communication techniques will be modeled by all school staff and integrated into the curriculum.
7. Cooperative Learning and Thematic Study. Cooperative learning helps facilitate community building. Thematic learning provides students the opportunity to explore a concept or content-related subject in depth. Once given the learning objectives or benchmarks they are to attain, students are able to decide how they will attain them and self assess when they have done so. Individual and cooperative project work builds on academic and social skills and often requires students to employ creativity and ingenuity as they discover the problem solving process. This approach gives teachers the flexibility to individualize the curriculum to meet each student’s needs while at the same time offering a lasting sense of educational ownership.
8.
Community-Building and Community Involvement.
MPCS believes a strong school community must also establish itself as an
integral part of the larger community. Our curricular model
will reach the greater community through partnerships and community
based learning activities. MPCS will bring highly qualified
community members into the classroom as paraprofessionals to share
their expertise and enhance learning opportunities and
instruction. Benefits of these community-building initiatives
include: increased parent-community-school partnerships,
decreased student- teacher ratios, and greater flexibility to respond
to individual student needs. These opportunities will
encourage community-wide learning and information sharing in ways that
keep MPCS’s community healthy, vibrant, and strong.
Connecting learning to a sense of place is an integral part of building
community. An outdoor learning program will be developed to fit our
curriculum and educational design. This aspect of the curriculum is
intended to foster an awareness and exploration of the relationship of
self to community and the natural world.
9. Lesson Blocks. Subjects are studied in blocks of days or weeks, rather than separated into discrete class periods each day. In the course of each lesson block all academic disciplines are addressed through a common theme. Further, state standards are aligned with each study before the study begins. Each teacher creates a block schedule with each academic area and standard to be covered. Thus, MPCS is in compliance with NCLB and state standards.
10. Learning Environment. Highly effective learning environments allow students to actively create their own knowledge and understanding by connecting new learning to prior knowledge and experience. Effective multi-age classrooms are organized for active, hands-on learning and flexible grouping with such materials as learning centers, tables of manipulatives, library corner, sand table, etc. The environment in which the students study is critical in the Waldorf pedagogy. The early childhood educational program provides a rich, experiential learning environment that is largely an extension of the richness of the home-life. A deep connection to nature will be supported through use of high quality, natural materials as well as seasonal studies and outdoor educational activities. Harmonious daily rhythms, seasonal stories, fairy tales from around the world and homelike activities provide opportunities to strengthen body and imagination. Finger knitting, sewing, play, stories and kitchen cooking and baking lay a solid groundwork for number concepts. Songs and circle games encourage cooperation and joyful friendships. A nature table and weekly walks heighten the child's sense of awe and wonder in the natural world. Life-long habits of washing hands, table manners, social interaction and caring for the environment are established. This environment establishes the rhythmic foundation to support all future learning.