Curriculum
Curriculum for this center will recognize the importance of investigation and reflection, exploration and leadership. It will be based on frequent, on-going pre-assessments that are aligned with Colorado standards and benchmarks for each grade level and content area. Students will be individually pre-assessed and provided with personal learning plans—developed in student-staff-family conferences—that also address any additional Individual Education Plan or 504 goals from special educational needs and/or any formally identified Advanced Learning Plan goals. Based on those pre-assessments, students’ needs will be met by opportunities to compact the curriculum already mastered and work on new individual projects, to join other classrooms during block scheduling, to work with small groups of students, and to participate in whole class mini-lessons. The entire school will work as a team to connect individual projects and classrooms to the school’s universal theme for the month or quarter, such as ‘systems’ for the months of August and September when students relate systems of safety, of math calculations, of art appreciation, and of homework completion to the broader world of knowledge.
Integrated Curriculum Model (ICM)
AACL will use the three-fold Integrated Curriculum Model (ICM) of advanced academic content guided by Colorado standards-based pre-assessments, differentiated process and product with authentic student research, and universal themes such as systems, patterns, and change to connect ideas throughout the core and encore (‘specials’) disciplines school-wide.
TheICM was developed by Joyce VanTassal-Baska in 1986 as a way to combine the best of several elements from various curriculum models in gifted education. As a former president for the National Association for Gifted Children, nationally-known author and researcher in gifted education, and recently retired chair of the Center for Gifted Education at the College of William and Mary (W&M), VanTassal-Baska is highly respected among gifted educational specialists. This model has been used throughout the also highly respected W&M curriculum. W&M curriculum has been designed, through the use of the ICM, to be used with a wide variety of high ability students, mainly as supplementary materials to use with a comprehensive core curriculum. A commonly used graphic for the ICM includes three overlapping circles that illustrate the integration of accelerated content, differentiated process/product, and universal themes.
VanTassel-Baska, J. and Stambaugh, T. (2006). Comprehensive Curriculum for Gifted Students, 3rd ed. Allyn and Bacon.
AACL will use W&M curriculum in addition to other exemplary units to provide an advanced, challenging, and supportive program for each of its students.
All Curriculum
All curriculum will utilize critical thinking skills based on Bloom’s Revised Taxonomy, creative thinking skills based on William’s Taxonomy of Creative/Divergent Thinking and logical thinking skills organized around the Habits of Mind (D. Meier) and encourage students to recognize logical fallacies. Teachers will develop lessons and units that utilize the Understanding by Design philosophy with essential questions, enduring understandings, and backwards planning (using the end result to set a plan for how to achieve that result) with current Colorado standards and working towards the revised Colorado standards that take effect in 2012.
Bloom's Revised Taxonomy, organized from easiest to most difficult: remembering, understanding, applying, analyzing, evaluating, creating.
Best Practices in Gifted Education indicate that with most gifted students, teachers should start at the top level of difficulty and move down to fill in the pieces rather than beginning slowly from the bottom up.
William's Taxonomy of Creative/Divergent Thinking:
cognitive: fluency, flexibility, originality, elaboration
affective: risk-taking, complexity, curiosity, and imagination
Habits of Mind, D. Meiers:
questions of evidence, viewpoint, connections, supposition, and relevance
Identifying Logical Fallacies:
utilizing a collection of thinking skills that enable students to recognize faulty logic, particularly from media and commercial sources, and consequences of their actions
Bloom's Revised Taxonomy, organized from easiest to most difficult: remembering, understanding, applying, analyzing, evaluating, creating.
Best Practices in Gifted Education indicate that with most gifted students, teachers should start at the top level of difficulty and move down to fill in the pieces rather than beginning slowly from the bottom up.
William's Taxonomy of Creative/Divergent Thinking:
cognitive: fluency, flexibility, originality, elaboration
affective: risk-taking, complexity, curiosity, and imagination
Habits of Mind, D. Meiers:
questions of evidence, viewpoint, connections, supposition, and relevance
Identifying Logical Fallacies:
utilizing a collection of thinking skills that enable students to recognize faulty logic, particularly from media and commercial sources, and consequences of their actions
Is it "rigorous?"
At the Academy for Advanced and Creative Learning, we believe that the term "rigor" has been used with a variety of interpretations and in some cases, has been used to mean creating a great deal of work production rather than high-level critical, creative, and logical thinking joined with the cultivation of students' hunger for more information and inspiration to pursue new ideas. Colorado's Charter School Support Initiative (CSSI) has defined ‘rigor’ in the following manner:
A rigorous curriculum is one that has high expectations for student achievement at each grade level. All students are expected to attain proficiency regardless of their background. Students learn content that prepares them for postsecondary education even if they choose not to pursue this option. Teachers instruct for understanding and not just memorization.By this definition the AcademyACL program is indeed rigorous. We expect every student to go to college, and in many instances, graduate school for advanced degrees, while acknowledging that each needs to find his or her passion to pursue. We hold every student to high expectations, knowing that all students respond to adults who affirm their ability and their interests and develop their commitment to perform at high and very high levels of instruction.
We expect students to develop good work habits that include nightly homework Monday through Thursday, designed for their individual learning goals and developmental readiness, with the LifeSkills of organization, time management, self-discipline, and long-term planning explicitly taught and developed. The unique aspect to "rigor" at AcademyACL is that students will have the opportunity to infuse their own interests and areas of strength into their work. Teachers will actively encourage students to identify areas of interest to them and enable them to exceed Colorado standards as they pursue those areas of interest. We encourage you to read the article "Rigor Redefined" to further consider the ways that the term "rigor" is used.
A rigorous curriculum is one that has high expectations for student achievement at each grade level. All students are expected to attain proficiency regardless of their background. Students learn content that prepares them for postsecondary education even if they choose not to pursue this option. Teachers instruct for understanding and not just memorization.By this definition the AcademyACL program is indeed rigorous. We expect every student to go to college, and in many instances, graduate school for advanced degrees, while acknowledging that each needs to find his or her passion to pursue. We hold every student to high expectations, knowing that all students respond to adults who affirm their ability and their interests and develop their commitment to perform at high and very high levels of instruction.
We expect students to develop good work habits that include nightly homework Monday through Thursday, designed for their individual learning goals and developmental readiness, with the LifeSkills of organization, time management, self-discipline, and long-term planning explicitly taught and developed. The unique aspect to "rigor" at AcademyACL is that students will have the opportunity to infuse their own interests and areas of strength into their work. Teachers will actively encourage students to identify areas of interest to them and enable them to exceed Colorado standards as they pursue those areas of interest. We encourage you to read the article "Rigor Redefined" to further consider the ways that the term "rigor" is used.
Mathematics
AcademyACL is firmly committed to the idea that all students can learn to use the language of math fluently and find enjoyment and satisfaction in it as well. Teachers will use hands-on connections, models, and visual representations and naturally integrate advanced vocabulary at early ages so that all students can appreciate the importance of math without fearing it, and many students can utilize their strengths in it from their very first year of school. For example, kindergarteners will explore the properties of a square through the use of protractors and other tools and recognize that it is in the rectangle, rhombus, quadrilateral, parallelogram and polygon families. Division II, first and second grade students, will explore various algorithms for extended addition and subtraction first with place value blocks and the use of abacuses to strengthen their understanding of place value and number sense, and also consider the various algorithms that countries around the world use as they transition to more standard and ‘mathematically elegant’ method. Division IV students, traditionally in fifth and sixth grades, will be explore extended algebraic concepts much sooner and be able to begin formal algebra as soon as they demonstrate readiness, rather than waiting until eighth grade. All students will be encouraged to discover and be surprised by the fact that math can be beautiful and provide an outlet for creativity as they consider symmetrical patterns, the Fibonacci sequences in nature, and amazing trends in fractal art (which is described in Wikipedia and roughly translated as the calculations of geometric objects broken into parts and represented as images).
To provide a comprehensive core curriculum from which teachers can build and expand based on the needs of their students and the ICM model, AcademyACL will use Everyday Mathematics. This program is one of only a few recommended for this purpose with gifted students as well as typical and struggling learners, and its extensive provision of skill checklists and pacing guides in combination with Colorado standards will enable teachers to pinpoint exactly where students can be accelerated and where they should increase the complexity in a particular unit of study. The use of games to provide practice and deepen understanding of mathematical concepts is another aspect of Everyday Math that is particularly appropriate for the hands-on learners of AcademyACL, and many of the games are easily differentiated for ability.
Additionally, teachers will use supplemental units from William and Mary’s Project M3 to create mathematical investigations, such as the award-winning Unraveling the Mysteries of the Moli Stone that uses base ten and base three numeration systems to uncover clues. Furthermore, AcademyACL will develop a video resource library from The Futures Channel that includes micro-documentaries of real world applications in math and science integrated with technology and art for teachers. Block scheduling for the entire building from 8:30 to 10:00 for the World of Mathematics provides the opportunity for students who need to move up a division in math to do so easily. This also provides the opportunity for the Academy Director to view and provide feedback to teachers on the vertical and horizontal alignment of the program as he or she visits classrooms during that time.
To provide a comprehensive core curriculum from which teachers can build and expand based on the needs of their students and the ICM model, AcademyACL will use Everyday Mathematics. This program is one of only a few recommended for this purpose with gifted students as well as typical and struggling learners, and its extensive provision of skill checklists and pacing guides in combination with Colorado standards will enable teachers to pinpoint exactly where students can be accelerated and where they should increase the complexity in a particular unit of study. The use of games to provide practice and deepen understanding of mathematical concepts is another aspect of Everyday Math that is particularly appropriate for the hands-on learners of AcademyACL, and many of the games are easily differentiated for ability.
Additionally, teachers will use supplemental units from William and Mary’s Project M3 to create mathematical investigations, such as the award-winning Unraveling the Mysteries of the Moli Stone that uses base ten and base three numeration systems to uncover clues. Furthermore, AcademyACL will develop a video resource library from The Futures Channel that includes micro-documentaries of real world applications in math and science integrated with technology and art for teachers. Block scheduling for the entire building from 8:30 to 10:00 for the World of Mathematics provides the opportunity for students who need to move up a division in math to do so easily. This also provides the opportunity for the Academy Director to view and provide feedback to teachers on the vertical and horizontal alignment of the program as he or she visits classrooms during that time.
Language Arts
In the rapidly changing Information Age, the importance of developing reading, writing, listening and speaking skills while also developing critical, logical and creative thinking skills cannot be underestimated. With new technology and fewer families meeting around a dinner table each night, students need more opportunities in school to learn to analyze the information around them and communicate those thoughts effectively with others. AcademyACL curriculum will provide students with the opportunity to build a considerably advanced vocabulary, to comprehend a variety of genres that include a great deal of non-fiction as they research topics of study, to listen carefully to texts above their own reading level and during group discussions, and to develop personal and public speaking skills.
In contrast to mathematics curriculum, there is no published, comprehensive language arts curriculum generally recommended by gifted education specialists as a core curriculum for advanced and creative learners. However, there are several exemplary supplemental units from which AcademyACL will build a comprehensive framework.
In contrast to mathematics curriculum, there is no published, comprehensive language arts curriculum generally recommended by gifted education specialists as a core curriculum for advanced and creative learners. However, there are several exemplary supplemental units from which AcademyACL will build a comprehensive framework.
Grammar
AcademyACL teachers will use materials from Michael Clay Thompson (M.C. Thompson)’s exemplary grammar program that includes a daily four-level analysis of sentences. Students will be introduced to the parts of a speech and the parts of a sentence for two-level analysis in Division I, and introduced to phrases and clauses in Division II, so that by Division III (typically third and fourth grade) students are working with complex sentence structures. A major premise of the M.C. Thompson model is that the introduction of grammar patterns should begin early in the year in an integrated, holistic manner so that students writing can continually improve throughout the year based on the strong foundation that a sentence is a complete entity rather than a series of parts introduced once a month.
Vocabulary
For a consistent framework of vocabulary, teachers will use materials from M.C. Thompson to develop fluency with the top one hundred classic words from children’s literature (such as prodigious, superfluous, and expostulate), the one hundred most common Greek and Latin stems (such as pre, sub, super, and poly) that lead to an understanding of 5,000 other words, and Spanish and English cognates with shared Latin roots. Students will use W&M’s vocabulary web to analyze individual words, including definitions, synonyms, antonyms, parts of speech, word families, stems and origins with the continual use of quality dictionaries. Additionally, teachers will identify high level vocabulary within each discipline and area of study, and as they build additional units will consult with other teachers for vertical and horizontal alignment.
Comprehension
AcademyACL teachers will use high quality children’s literature in a variety of genres to develop high level comprehension skills in students. Supplementary units include award-winning W&M units that utilize the Integrated Curriculum Model to analyze such elements as figurative language in Division II, dynamic characters and the theme of change throughout literature in Division III, and analyze the 1940’s through the use of literature from that decade in Division V. The Jacob’s Ladder series has also been designed to target the needs of students from low socio-economic backgrounds and struggling learners of high ability with a systematic approach to address any weaker skill areas, and teachers will use that as appropriate as well. AcademyACL will set strategic goals to build in the use of the Junior Great Books series as a set of excellent, high quality anthologies with high level thinking for Divisions I through V, as this series typically requires additional grant funding to pay for extensive teacher training and implementation with the materials.
Poetry
Teachers will use materials from M.C. Thompson to develop students’ abilities to read, understand, write their own poetry, and use poetic elements in other forms of writing. Thompson emphasizes the fact that many great writers throughout history began first with poetry, and addresses elements of poetry that include meter, stanza, rhyme and sound, and ideas in his curriculum.
Phonemic Awareness and Spelling
As awareness of sound/symbol relationships is critical for both reading and spelling new words, teachers will commit daily time to developing phonemic awareness, especially in Divisions I and II, and will use information from DIBELS assessments to track students’ progress. Upper division teachers will continually monitor for phonemic awareness and integrate strategies that develop ability at increasingly complex levels, including awareness of symbols from foreign language words that have crept into our vocabulary such as dénouement and Buena Vista. Teachers will also monitor students for signs of struggle that may include phonological difficulties that interfere with students hearing the difference between sounds such as lice or rice. All Divisions will commit daily time to developing spelling skills by integrating spelling rules with phonemic awareness and differentiating spelling lists according to student ability as appropriate.
Phonics
Teachers in Divisions I and II will commit time for daily phonics instruction that includes a solid foundation in phonetic rules and patterns. Teachers will maintain a balance of integrating these rules with the learning styles of visual-spatial learners who also need to see a word and use it in context rather quickly in order to assimilate it into their reading vocabulary. Teachers in upper divisions will use phonics rules when introducing new spelling words in order to increase the tools that students have for identifying, understanding, and spelling these words on their own. Recognizing that many precocious readers can develop an internal ‘comprehension vocabulary’ that is much larger than their pronunciation ability due to voracious silent reading, teachers will encourage students to create lists of new words as they are reading so that teachers can pronounce these new words for them and show them how to apply phonetic rules.
Fluency
Teachers will continually work with students to develop fluency in reading skills through the use of texts within an appropriate learning zone that is neither too easy nor too difficult in order to develop accurate and quick reading of a text. Students will daily opportunities to read silently, to read together with partners, to read passages together as a class, and to develop a large sight vocabulary of increasingly difficult words. Each classroom will have a word wall of words that students are expected to be able to read by sight and understand in context, and these words will include vocabulary from specific language arts instruction as well as words from all of the other curricular areas (math, science, history, art, music, et cetera) of the current thematic unit. Additionally, students will continually conduct research as part of their historic and scientific inquiry which will provide constant exposure and reading practice with non-fiction texts in a manner that requires them to continually assess their comprehension of the text and in turn present their findings in a clear and concise manner. Incidentally, Polaris at Ebert, in its first year of operation, led the Denver Public School District in non-fiction reading comprehension because of this method of continual research and exploration of ideas with non-fiction texts.
Research
Teachers will use elements from both W&M and M.C. Thompson that develop the ability of students to write excellent research papers, beginning with five paragraph essays and the idea of organizing content into workable formats. Students beginning in Division I will conduct ‘research’ at home and in class to discover answers to questions that teachers will use to create a research paper for the entire class. Beginning in Division II, a five paragraph essay will be included as a yearly entry into each student’s portfolio.
Writing
Students will work in a writer’s workshop format that allows them to continually process pieces of writing through the steps of the writing process for pre-writing, drafting, revision, editing, and publication opportunities that include submitting work to children’s publishers and sharing work during weekly school assemblies. In addition to using language arts materials from W&M and M.C. Thompson units, teachers will use a color-coding system similar to the Step Up to Writing model to establish solid sentence and paragraph structure in a visual and kinesthetic manner as students manipulate colored strips of paper to organize their sentences in the earlier Divisions, and use colored highlighters in the older divisions.
Listening
Each day of the Art of Language block will begin with teachers reading high quality children’s literature aloud to students while they listen for a particular reading goal, such as the use of metaphors, contextual clues for a new vocabulary word, or foreshadowing of plot development.
Speaking
Students in AcademyACL classrooms will be expected to continually use good speaking techniques as they communicate with other students, with a focus on explaining one’s ideas clearly through the use of supporting evidence. They will have daily opportunities to discuss ideas from a variety of viewpoints, and this is one element of the Junior Great Books program that AcademyACL anticipates being very beneficial with guided discussions of complex issues addressed in the provided texts. Students will also have time to share their written work out loud with the rest of the class and with the rest of the school during weekly school culture-building assemblies.
Scientific Inquiry
Students will work in scientific units of study that expand from Colorado model content standards and integrate national standards as well. These units will be developed using exemplary materials from W&M and materials from the former Renaissance Academy and organized based on the Understanding by Design philosophy. The AcademyACL scope and sequence, as provided in the appendix, outlines the course of study for each division. This scope and sequence for science, with deference to the current Colorado standards and D11 benchmarks, will be aligned to the latest draft of the new Colorado content standards, while accommodating current standards, and will be updated if/when that draft changes. Science units will alternate on a Year A~Year B cycle to accommodate a multi-age, two year divisional model. Standards expectations will be set at the highest level of the division with individual student goals for continuous progress accordingly. The general course of study for each division is outlined in the appendix, and each division will organize content with an inquiry-based focus for each unit. Students will have approximately forty-five minutes of science instruction each day. AcademyACL also believes that by its nature, scientific inquiry respects and cultivates natural curiosity, and celebrates the way that curiosity leads to solving problems that face the world today, and the problem-solving approach to scientific inquiry using the ICM model may be illustrated in the following way:
(VanTassal-Baska, J. and Stambaugh, T. ed., 2008, p. 12)
Historic Inquiry
Building a Historical Foundation with Geography, Economics and Civics, from a Colorado Perspective
AcademyACL is firmly committed to the idea that the study of persons throughout history who have met, struggled, failed, and conquered various challenges meets a unique need for gifted, advanced and creative learners who often face challenges themselves as they attempt to develop and use their skills in successful ways. Additionally, the Steering Committee and the expert reviewers who have contributed feedback to the social studies curriculum have emphasized the importance of a solid foundation in the chronology of history. Therefore, the units of study have been organized with each division as a 'specialist' for a particular time period, and the biographies of important people during that time will be highlighted as well.
In order to provide a consistent frame of reference for historic inquiry, every history unit will identify its connection to the following general historical time frames:
Across these general timelines and within various units of historic inquiry, the following themes from history will be used to generate thoughtful analysis of events: globalization; exploration; transportation and technology; culture and conflict; and democracy and citizenship. Students will have approximately forty-five minutes of historic inquiry each day and will integrate thematic units with all other areas of coursework so that the music, art, sport, inventions, et cetera of an age will be considered during the same unit, and homeroom teachers will coordinate these units and team-teach with encore teachers as appropriate. Teachers will use materials from W&M, materials from the former Renaissance Academy, and a scope and sequence that has been reviewed by local social studies experts that include an instructor from the history department of the University of Colorado, Colorado Springs. Teachers will organize units based on the Understanding by Design model of curriculum mapping for vertical and horizontal alignment.
AcademyACL is firmly committed to the idea that the study of persons throughout history who have met, struggled, failed, and conquered various challenges meets a unique need for gifted, advanced and creative learners who often face challenges themselves as they attempt to develop and use their skills in successful ways. Additionally, the Steering Committee and the expert reviewers who have contributed feedback to the social studies curriculum have emphasized the importance of a solid foundation in the chronology of history. Therefore, the units of study have been organized with each division as a 'specialist' for a particular time period, and the biographies of important people during that time will be highlighted as well.
In order to provide a consistent frame of reference for historic inquiry, every history unit will identify its connection to the following general historical time frames:
Division I: Ancient People~Communities Then and Now(Nelson, R. ed., 1999)
Division II: The Classical Age, 2000 B.C.-A.D. 400 (Egyptian, Chinese, Greek and Roman Culture)
Division III: The Middle Ages, with Native Americans in Colorado, A.D. 400s-1200s, and Colors of the Centennial State
Division IV: Renaissance, Reformation, and Expansion in Europe and the Americas, A.D. 1300s-1765
Division V: The Modern World, A.D. 1765 to Reconstruction and Beyond
Across these general timelines and within various units of historic inquiry, the following themes from history will be used to generate thoughtful analysis of events: globalization; exploration; transportation and technology; culture and conflict; and democracy and citizenship. Students will have approximately forty-five minutes of historic inquiry each day and will integrate thematic units with all other areas of coursework so that the music, art, sport, inventions, et cetera of an age will be considered during the same unit, and homeroom teachers will coordinate these units and team-teach with encore teachers as appropriate. Teachers will use materials from W&M, materials from the former Renaissance Academy, and a scope and sequence that has been reviewed by local social studies experts that include an instructor from the history department of the University of Colorado, Colorado Springs. Teachers will organize units based on the Understanding by Design model of curriculum mapping for vertical and horizontal alignment.
Geography
Teachers will commit daily time to developing geography skills that include fluent use of maps and globes as well as discussion of the ways that the geography of a region has an impact on its people, historic events, and use of resources.
Economics
The latest Colorado draft standards have expanded the role of economics in the content standards, which seems particularly important for students in the global economy of the 21st century. AcademyACL teachers will integrate economic principles into thematic units of study and provide opportunities for discussion and activities in LifeSkills™ curriculum that increase students’ understanding of economic principles and include the implementation of the latest Colorado financial literacy standards.
Civics
AcademyACL teachers will connect the history of Colorado and the United States to the role of citizens today, integrate civics standards into historic inquiry units, and will establish daily classroom meeting routines that develop students’ understanding of basic democratic principles in action.
Art
The role of the Art Teacher at AcademyACL is particularly important in providing for the needs of creative learners. The art curriculum will use Colorado and national art standards as a basis for integrating with the thematic units of each division so that students cover the artwork and techniques of each time period. The art teacher will continually monitor for creatively gifted students, and will integrate techniques particularly helpful for visual-spatial learners and share those techniques with the rest of the staff.
All Encore teachers will team-teach with classroom teachers on a rotating schedule in the mornings, to be determined among teachers on the basis of each unit of study, in order to integrate their disciplines with core content, such as the mathematics of sport, poetry of lyrics, visual imagery in writing, geometric patterns in artwork, Spanish and English cognates, word problems and the use of math to solve problems in Mexico, et cetera. They will have focused time with students in the afternoon, and may choose to team-teach with two classes and two teachers together when appropriate for a particular unit of study. Additionally, to encourage the provision of after-school enrichment classes Tuesday through Thursday, Encore teachers might be provided the opportunity by the Academy Director to arrive at school at 8:30 rather than 7:40 so that they can stay until 4:00 rather than 3:30 to provide such an enrichment class.
All Encore teachers will team-teach with classroom teachers on a rotating schedule in the mornings, to be determined among teachers on the basis of each unit of study, in order to integrate their disciplines with core content, such as the mathematics of sport, poetry of lyrics, visual imagery in writing, geometric patterns in artwork, Spanish and English cognates, word problems and the use of math to solve problems in Mexico, et cetera. They will have focused time with students in the afternoon, and may choose to team-teach with two classes and two teachers together when appropriate for a particular unit of study. Additionally, to encourage the provision of after-school enrichment classes Tuesday through Thursday, Encore teachers might be provided the opportunity by the Academy Director to arrive at school at 8:30 rather than 7:40 so that they can stay until 4:00 rather than 3:30 to provide such an enrichment class.
Spanish
The role of the Spanish teacher at AcademyACL is particularly important for providing a challenging curriculum for all students because, as Challenge School in Cherry Creek has noted, providing Spanish is another way to make sure that each student is constantly learning something new. Students will systematically work through Spanish vocabulary and sentences structures, and discuss the cultural variances among Spanish-speaking peoples and between English-speaking and Spanish-speaking cultures. In the upper divisions, students will explore the role of Spanish-speaking people in Colorado, the changing demographics of the United States, and the impact of legal and illegal immigration from to multiple perspectives.
All Encore teachers will team-teach with classroom teachers on a rotating schedule in the mornings, to be determined among teachers on the basis of each unit of study, in order to integrate their disciplines with core content, such as the mathematics of sport, poetry of lyrics, visual imagery in writing, geometric patterns in artwork, Spanish and English cognates, word problems and the use of math to solve problems in Mexico, et cetera. They will have focused time with students in the afternoon, and may choose to team-teach with two classes and two teachers together when appropriate for a particular unit of study. Additionally, to encourage the provision of after-school enrichment classes Tuesday through Thursday, Encore teachers might be provided the opportunity by the Academy Director to arrive at school at 8:30 rather than 7:40 so that they can stay until 4:00 rather than 3:30 to provide such an enrichment class.
All Encore teachers will team-teach with classroom teachers on a rotating schedule in the mornings, to be determined among teachers on the basis of each unit of study, in order to integrate their disciplines with core content, such as the mathematics of sport, poetry of lyrics, visual imagery in writing, geometric patterns in artwork, Spanish and English cognates, word problems and the use of math to solve problems in Mexico, et cetera. They will have focused time with students in the afternoon, and may choose to team-teach with two classes and two teachers together when appropriate for a particular unit of study. Additionally, to encourage the provision of after-school enrichment classes Tuesday through Thursday, Encore teachers might be provided the opportunity by the Academy Director to arrive at school at 8:30 rather than 7:40 so that they can stay until 4:00 rather than 3:30 to provide such an enrichment class.
Music
The role of the Music teacher at AcademyACL is important for the integration of disciplines. The music teacher will continually monitor for musically gifted students, and will work with all students, using the Colorado model content and national standards as a framework, to enable all students to develop skill in reading music, recognizing various genres, identifying music throughout history, and making connections such as the poetry of song lyrics and the mathematics involved in composition.
All Encore teachers will team-teach with classroom teachers on a rotating schedule in the mornings, to be determined among teachers on the basis of each unit of study, in order to integrate their disciplines with core content, such as the mathematics of sport, poetry of lyrics, visual imagery in writing, geometric patterns in artwork, Spanish and English cognates, word problems and the use of math to solve problems in Mexico, et cetera. They will have focused time with students in the afternoon, and may choose to team-teach with two classes and two teachers together when appropriate for a particular unit of study. Additionally, to encourage the provision of after-school enrichment classes Tuesday through Thursday, Encore teachers might be provided the opportunity by the Academy Director to arrive at school at 8:30 rather than 7:40 so that they can stay until 4:00 rather than 3:30 to provide such an enrichment class.
All Encore teachers will team-teach with classroom teachers on a rotating schedule in the mornings, to be determined among teachers on the basis of each unit of study, in order to integrate their disciplines with core content, such as the mathematics of sport, poetry of lyrics, visual imagery in writing, geometric patterns in artwork, Spanish and English cognates, word problems and the use of math to solve problems in Mexico, et cetera. They will have focused time with students in the afternoon, and may choose to team-teach with two classes and two teachers together when appropriate for a particular unit of study. Additionally, to encourage the provision of after-school enrichment classes Tuesday through Thursday, Encore teachers might be provided the opportunity by the Academy Director to arrive at school at 8:30 rather than 7:40 so that they can stay until 4:00 rather than 3:30 to provide such an enrichment class.
Physical Education and Health
Students will have thirty minutes of daily physical activity in a free choice atmosphere with teachers guiding various activities. The physical education (P.E.) teacher will coordinate ideas for activities with teachers, use health education standards to promote good habits based on brain development studies, and will focus on the systems, rules and means of various athletic activities during specified P.E. times.
All Encore teachers will team-teach with classroom teachers on a rotating schedule in the mornings, to be determined among teachers on the basis of each unit of study, in order to integrate their disciplines with core content, such as the mathematics of sport, poetry of lyrics, visual imagery in writing, geometric patterns in artwork, Spanish and English cognates, word problems and the use of math to solve problems in Mexico, et cetera. They will have focused time with students in the afternoon, and may choose to team-teach with two classes and two teachers together when appropriate for a particular unit of study. Additionally, to encourage the provision of after-school enrichment classes Tuesday through Thursday, Encore teachers might be provided the opportunity by the Academy Director to arrive at school at 8:30 rather than 7:40 so that they can stay until 4:00 rather than 3:30 to provide such an enrichment class.
All Encore teachers will team-teach with classroom teachers on a rotating schedule in the mornings, to be determined among teachers on the basis of each unit of study, in order to integrate their disciplines with core content, such as the mathematics of sport, poetry of lyrics, visual imagery in writing, geometric patterns in artwork, Spanish and English cognates, word problems and the use of math to solve problems in Mexico, et cetera. They will have focused time with students in the afternoon, and may choose to team-teach with two classes and two teachers together when appropriate for a particular unit of study. Additionally, to encourage the provision of after-school enrichment classes Tuesday through Thursday, Encore teachers might be provided the opportunity by the Academy Director to arrive at school at 8:30 rather than 7:40 so that they can stay until 4:00 rather than 3:30 to provide such an enrichment class.
As the school develops over the course of its initial strategic plan, teachers will build a database of units and lessons over time that demonstrate subject integration, flexibility for student ability and learning styles, pre- and post-assessments aligned with Colorado and national standards, and thematic study that capitalizes on student interest.
