Curriculum

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0 height="100%"><tr> <td valign="top" width=241 BGCOLOR="#A6CAF0" TEXT="#080000" background="09ae4603.jpg"> <div> <IMG SRC="101e4610.png" border=0 width="228" height="97" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Meridian Academy"><U>Home</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id17.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Mission"><U>Mission</U></A></div> <div> <B><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Curriculum</B></div> <div> <A HREF="id19.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Admissions"><U>Admissions</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id24.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="FAQs"><U>FAQs</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="student.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Student Information"><U>Student Information</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id26.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="News and Information"><U>News and Information</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id23.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="About Us"><U>About Us</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id21.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Contact Us"><U>Contact Us</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id20.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="How to Help"><U>How to Help</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id28.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Directions"><U>Directions</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id25.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Employment"><U>Employment</U></A></div> <bR> </td> <td valign="top" BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000"> <div> Curriculum</div> <bR> <div> <B>Start With A Question</B></div> <div> Elementary students are cheered for their endless questions. Because learning follows from curiosity, middle and high school students, too, must continue to have ways of expressing and pursuing their own questions. Meridian students learn how to do original projects that address their questions, that solve the problems that they discover, and that express their ideas in novel ways. This work builds upon, and provides practice in, the many skills that support academic growth. When students finish high school, they need to be able to look back upon a body of work that reflects their understanding of concepts and their analysis of the information that they have studied. As you visit schools, please inquire about both the process by which students learn as well as the products that emerge from their work in each discipline.</div> <div> Our curriculum, designed to meet the goals of our <A HREF="id17.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Mission"><U>mission statement</U></A>, has been developed by our curriculum committee. The committee is comprised of teachers, practicing professionals in the different disciplines, and parents. Meridian students will participate in the work of this committee as well.  </div> <div> <A HREF="#courses" TITLE="Curriculum"><U>Courses</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="#themes" TITLE="Curriculum"><U>Themes</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="#newsletters" TITLE="Curriculum"><U>Notes From Our Newsletter</U></A></div> <div> <B>Courses</B><B> <A NAME="courses"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A></B></div> <div> The Meridian Academy curriculum is built around two main interdisciplinary courses:  <I>Humanities</I>, including English, literature, art and drama, history, and the social sciences, and <I>Mathematics, Science, and Technology</I>.  Within the classroom, hands-on learning occurs through the purposeful blending of theory and practice. Students engage in activities such as explaining local history, building inventions, debating public policies, repairing bicycles, making maps, carrying out United Nations simulations, and metalsmithing. The third core course is Spanish, in which students work to develop competence speaking a second language. Studio and performing arts, health, community service, and physical education are integrated within and across these three core courses.</div> <div> <B>Humanities - Year 1 - </B><B>Heroes and Villains</B></div> <div> Students study Ancient Greek mythology, drama, geography, and the modern superhero.  Students explore who we heroicize, and vilify, and why people from all cultures tend to dichotomize the world into these good and evil characters.  Students will question the relationship between heroes and villains and justice, ethics and responsibility.</div> <div> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="142" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" ALIGN="LEFT" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=CENTER HEIGHT= 233 ><NOBR><div> <IMG SRC="0db96dc0.jpg" border=0 width="150" height="220" ALIGN="LEFT" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <div> As a class, students examine the conditions from which hero myths emerge including the geographic influences of Ancient Greek society and the emergence of the American superhero in the post WWII era.  Students will analyze the influence factors such as religion, literature, economics, art, and political and social structure have on the types of heroes and villains a society has.  </div> <div> Students read Greek mythology, dramas, and tragedies and analyze Greek art and architecture (including an all day trip to the Museum of Fine arts and an architecture tour of downtown Boston) in order to draw inferences about the principles that guided ancient Greeks and caused the development of their specific heroes.  Students then look at the WWII era and read classic American superhero comics to determine the factors that led to the inception of the American superhero.  Students watch contemporary superhero movies and look at newspapers and magazines for stories of heroics in order to reach conclusions about the principles that guide the creation of our current superheroes. </div> <div> Students carry out an individual research project on another culture's heroes and villains, exploring how and why various heroes and villains emerged from other societies.</div> <div> The course incorporates Socratic (question-based) discussions, oral presentations, acting out dramas, studying primary and secondary sources from a variety of media, writing research papers, studio art, and many other formats and activities.  The course will culminate with the students writing their own heroic tale based on the principles that they have studied.</div> <div> <B>Mathematics, Science, and Technology - Year 1 - Engineering</B></div> <div> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="3" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="238" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#FFFFFF" FRAME="BOX" RULES="NONE" ALIGN="RIGHT" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 223 ><NOBR><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="223" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="-4" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP><NOBR><div> <IMG SRC="0c0c8cc0.jpg" border=0 width="200" height="204" ALIGN="LEFT" HSPACE="3" VSPACE="3"></div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 33 ><NOBR><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="33" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="-4" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP WIDTH="227"><div> Students work on their design for a snail-paced vehicle in Engineering.</div> </tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <div> Mathematics is a central tool in developing scientific ideas, in testing scientific claims, and in communicating scientific results. Science, in turn, is a major source of inspiration for the development of new mathematics. Technology is the application of these two realms of learning to the solution of real-world problems. The interplay between all three disciplines and historical and social issues is extensive. The MST curriculum interweaves all three with the goal that students be able to apply their learning to new situations, be able to identify new problems and pose original questions, and have the understandings necessary to carry out investigations in pure and applied mathematics and science to answer those questions.</div> <div> The engineering course introduces students to engineering problem-solving methods. Students use Lego and Robolab software to design and build first machines and then robots to solve a range of problems. These problems require students to learn and apply ideas from physics (simple machines and mechanical advantage, force, energy, motion), geometry (measurement, similarity), and algebra (proportion and linear behavior) to succeed in their challenges. As they learn about robotics, students learn fundamental programming concepts and ideas from computer science. </div> <div> Students will explore connections between engineering and art including the work of Alexander Calder, Arthur Ganson at MIT, and the Busycle. The class studies Computer-Aided Design (CAD) which teaches a range of core geometric concepts and then visits a Computer-Aided Manufacturing (CAM) facility to see how robots can carve out real versions of their virtual illustrations.</div> <div> The course will culminate with comparisons of societies with different levels of technology and how engineering to solve third world problems requires creativity and the ability to use different materials and energy sources. Students will design an original invention carried out for a client in their family, the school, or the broader community.</div> <div> <B>A Schedule That Serves the Learning Needs of the Students</B></div> <div> The school's small size and common curriculum for students in a given grade makes it possible for the schedule to accommodate curricular needs and activities beyond the school building. A simple structure and schedule supports team-teaching and interdisciplinary planning. It also results in fewer, more focused homework assignments. Below is a sample week's schedule, but day-long field trips to libraries, to visit a museum, to host a visiting art teacher or to do research off-site also appear regularly in the schedule. The last hour from 3:15 - 4:15 PM is optional and offered most days.</div> <div> <B><IMG SRC="0ba80360.png" border=0 width="640" height="566" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Themes</B><B> <A NAME="themes"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A></B></div> <div> <B>Work within the Disciplines: Kids can do original research</B></div> <div> Each discipline (e.g., art, history, mathematics) encourages us to examine and pose questions about our world and provides us with tools for answering those questions. Meridian students learn how to combine the complementary perspectives offered by different disciplines to better understand an idea or issue. </div> <div> When we work within a discipline, we join a community of fellow explorers. Meridian students are junior researchers within the subjects they study. To do research well, students need to first learn about what is already known and to master technical skills that support their inquiries. For example, they learn how to collect and analyze evidence from a laboratory experiment, from primary source documents, or from interviews. But, research also takes students beyond basic skills as they become excited creators of new knowledge. </div> <div> <B>Problem-posing and Life-long Learning: Kids who keep asking questions keep learning</B><B> <A NAME="problemposing"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A></B></div> <div> Learning is most memorable and successful when we are passionate about what we are doing. Enthusiasm and motivation are often greatest when students themselves pose the questions that are the focus of their work. Because student-generated questions are often quite challenging, students recognize that both persistence and creativity will be necessary for success. As students gain confidence in their abilities and discover how each solution leads to new questions, they come to appreciate the endless potential and process of learning. </div> <div> <B><IMG SRC="0e3a39f0.jpg" border=0 width="163" height="159" ALIGN="LEFT" HSPACE="5" VSPACE="0">The Arts are Essential: Kids can be creative</B><B> <A NAME="interdisciplinary"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A></B></div> <div> The performing and visual arts are integrated throughout the curriculum giving prominence to the aesthetic and imaginative facets of all learning. Through both hands-on and theoretical study, students experience the arts as a means of expressing ideas and emotions; as a personal, cultural, and historical record; and as a celebration of human creativity and spirit. </div> <div> <B>The World Today and Interdisciplinary Learning: Kids want and need to know about their world</B></div> <div> Adolescents are in the process of becoming young adults. They need a safe and encouraging environment in which to develop the skills and habits of adulthood. One aspect of that growth is an increased interest in, and questions about, the world around them and their roles as citizens within it. Students study current trends and events; how individuals and groups affect their world; and how they can contribute to the well-being of the larger community. </div> <div> The questions that students ask about the world are inherently interdisciplinary. They are another opportunity to help students learn how disciplinary understandings can be merged into a more complete interdisciplinary view of a situation. </div> <div> <B>Hands-on Learning</B><B> <A NAME="handson_1"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A></B></div> <div> Students have regular opportunities for learning that involves both mind and body. When they work to create an invention, a theatre set, or a sculpture, learn how to fix a bicycle, engage in a political debate, or write a letter to an editor, they are blending both theoretical and practical thinking that is both exciting and memorable. These activities are good preparation for the complex tasks of college and adult life.</div> <div> <B>Citizenship and Democracy: Kids can, and need to, help care for and guide their school</B><B> <A NAME="citizenship_1"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A></B></div> <div> Citizenship within a democracy is characterized by both rights and responsibilities. Within the school, students help to establish, and come to embrace, those rights and responsibilities that will contribute to the intellectual and emotional growth of each member of the community. When students are involved in establishing the goals and rules of the school and in solving problems faced by the community, they are more likely to support, and help others to respect, these decisions. As students develop a sense of their own abilities to shape the school community, they begin to look outward to their local community for ways to address broader goals that their studies have helped them to define.</div> <div> <B><IMG SRC="0daf4d40.jpg" border=0 width="244" height="212" ALIGN="LEFT" HSPACE="6" VSPACE="3">Diversity and Democracy: Kids grow when they work with people with different ideas</B><I><B>    </B></I></div> <div> The school community embraces members with diverse backgrounds, interests, and ideas. Different dimensions of diversity help us to better understand our world and its richness, to see issues from other people's viewpoints, and to celebrate the creativity in all of us that makes it possible for groups to solve problems that individuals cannot.</div> <div> Diversity also forces us to grapple with moral questions and the challenges of compromise. When diversity is present, when the traditional school control of movement and speech is loosened, when students' questions become central to the class, when contemporary issues are explored, and when students have the power to influence their world (both within and outside of the school), controversy is certain to arise. Controversy provides the opportunity for all members of the school community to consider how to live peacefully and productively with disagreement and how to embrace free speech when the content of that speech may not be appreciated. </div> <div> So that the students, in their diversity, can live and learn in a safe, open, and nurturing environment, the community is one that values non-violent, non-consumerist, and non-competitive activities. </div> <div> <B>The Benefits of a Small Community: Kids need to be known well and to have leadership opportunities</B><B> <A NAME="leadership"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A></B></div> <div> The small size of Meridian Academy makes it possible for all members of the community to know each other, to look after one another, to contribute to the creation of school traditions, and to cultivate a feeling of belonging.</div> <div> Meridian facilitates student-centered learning and provides opportunity for each student to be actively involved in the life of the school. Students progress toward responsible young adulthood by taking a leadership role in projects that benefit the community.</div> <div> <B>Natural and Made Environments: Kids need stimulation from the world outside the classroom walls</B><B> <A NAME="environment"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A></B></div> <div> <IMG SRC="0dd86b30.jpg" border=0 width="134" height="179" ALIGN="RIGHT" HSPACE="6" VSPACE="3">Boston is ideally situated for students to explore both the made and natural worlds. Recognizing that people only seek to preserve what they understand and value, students spend time exploring the woods and coastal areas of their region as well as the architectural and cultural resources of the metropolitan area. These explorations are integrated into all disciplines. For example, natural environments can be central in ecology, poetry, and photography studies and the physical education program includes lifelong outdoor activities such as hiking, biking, running, and swimming. See our <A HREF="id26.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="News and Information"><U>News and Information</U></A> page for a sample of trips and activities.</div> <div> <B>Assessment: Progress requires reflection</B><B> <A NAME="assessment"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A></B></div> <div> When students play an active role in choosing what they will study and in establishing standards for successful completion of work, they are more successful at meeting those standards. They are also developing the skills of self-assessment that are crucial to achieving quality efforts throughout their lives.</div> <div> Meridian Academy students receive regular, narrative feedback on their work that provides evidence of the progress each has made in areas such as problem-solving, effective writing, and mastery of technical skills. In addition, students present work to the school community and, in turn, learn to peer review their classmates' work.  </div> <div> <B>Family Involvement: Even as they seek independence, teenagers need their family's support</B><B> <A NAME="families"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A></B></div> <div> Parents continue to play important roles in their children's education during the high school years. Though students at this age strive for more independence, they respond to family involvement in their school with improved motivation and learning. Meridian will be organized to provide a variety of opportunities for families to be involved in the life of the school. </div> <bR> <div> <B>Notes From Our Newsletters</B><B> <A NAME="newsletters"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A></B></div> <div> <B>Meridian Musings </B><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" ><B> –  </B></FONT><B> Excerpt 1</B><B> </B></div> <div> There have been recent articles in the Boston Globe and elsewhere about efforts to increase young people's participation in elections. One proposal has been to give teenagers the vote in political elections and to count their votes as a fraction of an adult vote. These proposals, though well meaning, seem to me to miss the point. Participation in a democracy does not begin or end with voting. Voting arises from the feeling that one has an informed opinion worth expressing and, even more importantly, from the belief that individuals can make a difference in the life of our communities and nation. What can a school do to help nurture this belief? Here are ways that Meridian plans to address this aspect of its mission:</div> <div> <B>Curricularly</B> - Meridian's curriculum begins with a recognition that current political and social events are not only of interest and relevance to teenagers, they are central to complicating students' thinking about decision-making in a pluralistic society. Most high schools avoid discussing current events because they are considered too controversial. However, if teens are going to vote, then they need to be able to ask questions about, read about, and reflect on the most important political decisions. Uninformed voting is no path to a more engaged electorate. For example, high school students should be grappling with the implications of their beliefs concerning the war in Iraq. Is the war just? What criteria affect such a determination? Does eliminating a repressive regime balance the costs of the war? Do any differences between actual and stated motives matter if the result is desirable? Without such discussions, we miss the opportunity to build a commitment to thoughtful, knowledgeable voting.</div> <div> A focus on current issues has the additional benefit of strengthening students' interest in studying history. How can we weigh resolutions to a problem without an understanding of the decisions that brought us to this juncture? Are there policies that have served people well in the past? How can we use past experiences to help us evaluate the likely success of a politician's proposal? Rather than start an historical survey at the beginning of some era, students with a goal of understanding their own time can work backwards to uncover the origins of a current social or political trend.</div> <div> <B>The life of the school </B>- Of course, it is possible that a young student is more concerned with personal rather than global matters. As we strive to develop a global perspective, we can provide more concrete experiences that will help them when they are older teens and more interested in looking outward. Meridian students will have important roles caring for the school and setting the standards of behavior that they will strive to meet. The students will not be presented with a student handbook, they will create it themselves, weighing the sometimes conflicting goals of personal rights and responsibility to a community. These discussions will be explored in parallel with studies of the U.S. constitution and the ways that different cultures think about freedoms and the common good. When students are responsible for creating the rules, they are much more likely to follow and support them and to feel such a commitment as adults.  </div> <div> <B>Participation in the community</B> - Meridian students will engage in internships and community projects that further their appreciation of their own abilities to work with and serve others. These projects will be integrated into the daily curriculum through teachers' plans and in response to student initiatives. For example, as part of their Mathematics, Science, and Technology course, middle school students will be combining topics from geometry, physics, and art to the design of an original invention. Their invention will be created to meet the need of an actual client (a family member, neighbor, or other local person or group) whom the students will interview. Each inventing group will have a real audience that will care about their work and provide feedback on the effectiveness of their solution. </div> <div> Meridian will be a member of the Coalition of Essential Schools (<FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#0000FF" FACE="Arial" ><A HREF="http://www.essentialschools.org" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.essentialschools.org"><U><U>www.essentialschools.org</U></U></A></FONT>) that has as a core principle the belief that students learn by doing. Our children will become involved citizens as adults if we start them on that road now by practicing citizenship in meaningful ways.</div> <div> <B>Meridian Musings </B><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" ><B> –  </B></FONT><B> Excerpt 2 </B></div> <div> Just the other evening, Public Television's <B>Frontline</B> aired a program on <I>The Teenage Brain.</I> It should be a promotional video for our school. The program demonstrated research showing how the typical early morning high school schedule hinders the learning of teenagers. It then discussed one reason why many school systems ignore this research despite the dramatic improvement that an 8:30 AM start time has on class interactions and student recall of ideas: a later day would interfere with after-school activities. Administrators explained that after-school activities were important because they were the part of school that many students enjoyed and benefited from the most. Meridian's mission addresses these conflicts perfectly. Why are after-school activities so powerful? Because through plays, newspapers, sports teams, and other clubs, students get to develop leadership skills, to work on projects that have meaningful outcomes and genuine audiences, to apply their academic skills in novel ways, to identify and solve problems that interest them, and to fail and try again without risk. Meridian's regular classes incorporate all of these features precisely because they lead to memorable investigations that support and stimulate life-long learning.</div> <bR> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="483" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="VOID" RULES="NONE" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=CENTER HEIGHT= 67 WIDTH="236"><div> <I>School/Classroom Address</I></div> <div> <I>Meridian Academy </I></div> <div> <I>50 Morton Street</I></div> <div> <I>Jamaica Plain, MA 02130</I></div> </tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP WIDTH="236"><div> <I>Business/Mailing Address</I></div> <div> <I>Meridian Academy </I></div> <div> <I>182 Durnell Avenue</I></div> <div> <I>Roslindale, MA 02131</I></div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP COLSPAN=2 HEIGHT= 39 WIDTH="473"><div> <I>617-522-1118</I></div> <div> <I><IMG SRC="105dc140.png" border=0 width="220" height="20" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></I></div> </tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <div> <TABLE BORDER="2" CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="503" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 115 WIDTH="491"><div> <I>Meridian Academy admits students of any race, creed, color, national or ethnic origin, gender, sexual orientation, or handicap to all the rights, privileges, programs, and activities generally accorded or made available to students at the school. It does not discriminate on the basis of race, creed, color, national or ethnic origin, gender, sexual orientation, or handicap in administration of its educational policies, admissions policies, scholarship and loan programs, and athletic and other school-administered programs.</I></div> </tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>