Acer project

Acer Project

Independence, Mastery, Belonging, Generosity

“There is more to us than we know. If we can be made to see it, perhaps for the rest of our lives we will be unwilling to settle for less.�

-Kurt Hahn Founder of Outward Bound

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TABLE OF CONTENTS About the Program

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Mission and Description

Educational Philosophy and Foundation 5Ps

Experiential Education

Service Learning

Place-Based Learning

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Values

12

Goals and Outcomes

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Academic Offerings

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Program Structure

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Implementation Plan

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Circle of Courage

English

Social Studies Science

Service Learning

Individual Project/Study/Internship

Works Cited & Additional Resources

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About the Program

“The Acer Project uses identity and place as a framework for students who are seeking an alternative route in their education; it empowers students to practice skills and develop content knowledge in the areas of english, social studies, and science through a place-based service learning, experiential education, and student-focused alternative education program.”

A program designed for students who are seeking an alternate path for their education, the Acer Project provides pathways for those seeking an integrated and interdisciplinary approach to their junior and senior year experience. Created as a way for students to become more involved in their education, more accountable, and more creative and passionate about learning, this program bases its educational philosophy on the 5Ps of a holistic education model.

Through studying three essential high school subjects--english/language arts, social science, and science--students will learn through their Personal framework, through their Peers, by engaging with the People around them, by deliberately learning about the Place in which they reside, and understanding more about the Planet they inhabit. Through studying traditional subjects in the contexts of identity and place, students are empowered to be accountable in their education by participating in school curriculum that is designed to be highly relevant to their lives.

The Acer Project follows closely the four core values of the Circle of Courage: Independence, Belonging, Generosity, and Mastery. Many traditional educational classrooms focus too closely on the mastery of concepts and content only, while the Acer Project will incorporate all four.

This program model focuses on integrating content knowledge across disciplines by enhancing independence, belonging, and generosity, which foster a sense of accountability, commitment, and community. The program does this by engaging students directly with experiences, through service projects, experiences directly related to content, engaging deeply with a place, and--most importantly--fostering a small, inclusive learning community that is student-centered and student-driven. The instructor in the program serves as a facilitator, mediating and guiding. In an Outward Bound Expeditionary Learning School, the students are “crew, not passengers” of their own learning, which will be reflected in this program. Teachers structure the program to provide opportunity, motivation, guidance, and mentorship throughout the process to empower students. Ultimately, students gain independence to pursue their own learning, which makes the educational experience more meaningful and more relevant to their lives.

About the Program

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Educational Philosophy

The educational philosophy of the Acer Project stems from a range of educational philosophies, from John Dewey and Kurt Hahns’ philosophies of experiential education to foundations of service learning. The program is designed to incorporate many of these theories into the curriculum to diversify student learning.

The 5Ps seek to educate a whole person, including each person about the place they reside and systems in which they are present. They include educating the person as a single entity, along with their peers, their people, their place, and the planet. By following this microto-macro model, the program emphasizes all aspects of a person and their interaction in place and the world. It stems from various views on holistic education, including Rudolf Steiner’s philosophy of anthroposophy. The program’s educational philosophy developed from the belief that all parts of an ecological system, from the smallest to the largest, make up the system and therefore should be understood and addressed. By starting from the individual and expanding to a greater understanding of the world, the Acer Project seeks to incorporate all of these aspects.

As a model that combines both alternative practices with that of a traditional approach, the Acer Project excels by incorporating principles from both. Below are the guiding principles of each of the 5Ps as they relate to this program.

Person: As both the foundation and the most important part of the 5Ps, the person serves as the centerpoint of the program. Through the Acer experience, students will discover aspects of identity, place, and the planet, all of which reveal facets of their own selves, including personal growth in social and emotional intelligence and academic content knowledge. Acer’s belief of engaging each person with their peers, place, and planet grow each individual completely, in addition to the value from the Circle of Courage of independence, which allows each student to take accountability and responsibility of their own learning and to pursue passions of their own.

Peers: Through intentional work in not only small groups and pairs, but also in the small class size of this program, students will learn about and from their peers. Through socratic dialogue, small discussions, and directly engaging with others in projects and studies, students will learn 21st century people skills of a true democratic style. By engaging directly with their peers on a daily basis, students will learn skills that a traditional didactic style of learning dismisses. Following closely the philosophies of group dynamics in adventure education, students will learn to apply connected knowing--knowledge gained from exposure to other ideas and contrasting those with your own--in the situations around them, a very important skill.

People: Just as in working with their peers, students will take the next step and begin working with others outside the classroom. Not only learning to work with their peers, students may engage with other members of the community outside of the classroom, such as business leaders. By engaging with others outside of the classroom, students will not only learn from various sources,

Educational Philosophy and Foundation

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but they will also gain a broader understanding of the people who influence the place they live.

Place: Place becomes a core element in both the design of the teaching spaces and the design of the curriculum in the Acer Project. Through engaging with a place, students will gain more knowledge of this place, discover their niche in that physical and social place, and they will relate this place to other places. Some educational philosophies regard place as a bioregion, as is the current trend in localism. The Acer Project will consider bioregionalism as a core component of how place is defined; however, one of the goals behind studying place for the students is to determine how they will define place. For the purpose of the program, the Acer Project will define place simply as the region--from watersheds to forests to mountains--that play some effect on the locality with which the classes take place. Similar to other alternative projects, the place will be a human defined landscape initially, but it will become a broken barrier with each new lesson that will extend beyond those boundaries. The main areas of study will include the Champlain Valley and the (mostly western) spine of the Green Mountains.

Planet: One step farther from learning about a single place, the planet aspect of the 5Ps takes into consideration the question of “What does this mean in the bigger picture?” By discovering more about one’s self and one’s place, one can better find their niche in the world and understand the world that they inhabit. With a greater understanding of the planet comes increased cultural competence, expanded scientific knowledge in ecology and natural history, and a greater perspective of history, people, and philosophy.

The Acer Project educates students about the 5Ps through the philosophies and practices of educators such as Kurt Hahn and John Dewey. These philosophies include experiential education, service learning, and place-based learning.

Experiential Education As defined by the Association for Experiential Education, experiential education is “a philosophy that informs many methodologies in which educators purposefully engage with learners in direct experience and focused reflection in order to increase knowledge, develop skills, clarify values, and develop people’s capacity to contribute to their communities.” To this end, the Acer project will utilize direct experiences--including service learning, field trips, experiments, and internships-to enhance student learning, and these will include focused reflection.

Service Learning Service learning has no official definition, however, one possible definition that the Acer Project will use when defining it comes from the book Teaching For Experiential Learning in which they quote Learn and Serve America’s National Service-Learning Clearinghouse as “is a teaching and learning strategy that integrates meaningful community service with instruction and reflection to enrich the learning experience, teach civic responsibility, and strengthen communities.” The Acer Project uses service learning as a key class, one that integrates and applies much of the learning, 9

Educational Philosophy and Foundation

particularly from social studies and english-based classes, by engaging students directly with some of the topics that they are covering in classes, while simultaneously exposing them to members of the community, businesses, and current trends and issues of their surrounding place.

Place-Based Learning Teaching For Experiential Learning quotes the Promise of Place as defining place-based learning as “a holistic approach to education, conservation, and community development that uses the local community as an integrating context for learning at all ages.” The book also goes on to say that “A main tenet of placed based learning is that it is ‘rooted in what is local--the unique history, environment, culture, economy, literature, and art of a particular place’” The Acer Project seeks to do these very things, by engaging students with the community in service learning and through direct experiences related to their place and their own identity. By developing a sense of place and relating content knowledge to a particularly meaningful and concrete experience, students will enhance their learning.

Educational Philosophy and Foundation

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Values

In the Acer Project, a set of underlying values dictate both the teaching style of the instructor and the goals and flexibility of the program. By incorporating the principles from Reclaiming Youth At Risk International’s Circle of Courage, the Acer Project seeks to promote values that are lacking for many youth in a traditional academic setting. Because it values youth who are not traditionally “at-risk” but are simply discontent with their academic experience, whether through a decline in school performance or a lack of challenging obstacles, the circle of courage helps to facilitate learning by establishing a foundation by which the Acer experience will be based.

Below is a depiction of the 4 parts of the Circle of Courage, which include Belonging, Independence, Generosity, and Mastery.

CONNECTION

PERSONAL GROWTH

SMALL GROUPS

COMPETENCE

COOPERATION

DEMOCRATIC INCLUSIVITY

CONFIDENCE

PRIDE

UNDERSTANDING

DIVERSITY

PRACTICE

COMMUNICATION

AUTONOMY

PATIENCE

GIVING BACK SERVICE LEARNING

COMMITMENT

ACCOUNTABILITY LEADERSHIP

PERSONAL GROWTH OWNERSHIP

COMMUNITY RESPONSIBILITY

ALTRUISM AWARENESS

In the Acer Project, there will be focus on each of the 4 elements of the circle of courage in a variety of different ways. Here are some ways that the program will focus on each element.

Values

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Belonging:

Through small group work and working together in a small community fostering inclusiveness, the Acer Project seeks to incorporate a sense of belonging in the immediate learning group to all students. In addition, when studying place and people, students will engage with an area more fully and develop a better understanding of themselves in that place and how they belong.

Independence:

Recognized as one of the most important components to an authentic educational experience, independence is fostered in the program. Though not disconnected from belonging, independence will be seen as the ability to work well by one’s self, the ability to pursue one’s own interests passionately, and the ability for one to hold their self accountable and responsible.

Generosity:

Through service learning, students will engage with others and work with them to develop a sense of belonging and generosity by giving to others. The greatest component of a service learning experience is that both parties benefit. Through this mutual benefit and this growing connection with work done well for others, the Acer Project aims to develop a sense of generosity and foster it in the groups.

Mastery:

In the context of the Acer Project, mastery will be seen and fostered as the opportunity for students to pursue their own passions and to develop those skills and the skills set forth by the program to the best of their ability. Success and failure are also a key component of mastery.

When students are given the chance to take risks and to also succeed, they gain real-world exposure to mastery of skills and concepts.

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Values

Goal and Outcomes

As an educational project for youth seeking an alternative route, the Acer Project has a lengthy list of outcomes for its program. Along with many of the values in the 5Ps and through the Circle of Courage, the Acer Project has nine additional competencies that program participants will develop. Below are the main guiding outcomes of the program.

1. Students will develop strong critical and systems thinking skills. By engaging in dialogue, writing, hands-on experiences, service learning, and risk taking, students will think deeply about critical and complex issues.

2. Students will build strong social and emotional intelligence skills. By working closely in small groups, through service learning, and through engaging in complex issues, students will cultivate social and emotional intelligence to a degree that is not possible in a traditional classroom.

3. Students will develop strong communication skills. By engaging in dialogue with others, listening to various speakers and peers, and by writing, students will develop strong communication skills.

4. Students will understand the historical contexts of the place that they live and will be able to relate this to other places. Both in geologic timeframes and in human-scales, students will study the history of the place they live.

5. Students will foster an appreciation and understanding of the place they inhabit, its residents, and its systems. Through a lens of the 5Ps and place-based learning, students will have a greater understanding of the place that they live, which will foster a greater appreciation. In this appreciation, they will also begin to find their own niche in that place.

6. Students will develop a strong sense of place and responsibility and citizenship of that place. Through deeper understanding of the place that they reside, students will become better, more involved citizens that ask complex questions about the places they live and the systems that are at work in that place.

7. Students will develop a greater love of lifelong learning. Since learning will be hands-on and meaningful, students will develop a greater love of lifelong learning after leaving the Acer Project.

8. Students will engage in personal development, specifically in accountability, responsibility, and commitment. By pursuing all of the above, students will develop a greater sense of accountability, responsibility, and commitment.

Goals and Outcomes

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Academic Offerings

One of the things that makes the Acer Project unique and effective is its flexibility; this is especially apparent in its curriculum. The curriculum of the program has 5 core components, with room for up to 7. The first three are based on traditional subjects of English/Language Arts, Social Studies, and Science. These are matched with a Service Learning and an Independent Project/Study/Internship option. Together these make up 5 courses worth of time and Carnegie Units. This flexibility allows students to take certain courses and leave out others if need be.

Also, the Independent Study option allows for credit recovery, dual credit, MOOC’s, and more.

Students are asked to participate in all 5 base curricular components; however, keeping with the mission of the program, certain exemptions can be made because the program is intentionally designed to be flexible.

Included are some of the components of each of the 5 main course offerings, including variations each year and/or semester. Below are descriptions of each of the first 5 course offerings. Syllabi will be attached at the end of the program manual for each course.

English/Language Arts Course: Place and Identity: A Survey In Literature Goal:

As the first part of the Acer Project’s English course, this course is developed to important English and language arts skills through the framework of a student-driven inquiry of the concepts of identity and place as they relate to their own lives.

Description: Designed as the English educational component of the Acer Project, this course surveys literature in the framework of two large concepts: place and identity. Alongside the 5Ps, this course will study a variety of sources of literature and writing that meet the national Common Core Standards. Not just literature, this course will explore speeches, take on projects and activities, and applied learning to accomplish goals of understanding place and identity. All of these elements align to learning objectives in the Common Core and beyond. As an exploration of place and identity, it will serve as a platform for the exploration and contemplation of what it means to be in a place and what aspects of identity are important and where those come from and what they mean. In the true interdisciplinary nature of education, this course will overlap intentionally in some fields of study with that of the social studies component of the course and the natural history science section in order to create a more rounded education and to draw connections between disciplines.

Social Science Course: Social Systems and Citizenship: A Historical Perspective Goal:

As the first part of the Acer Project’s Social Science course, this course is developed to improve and build upon important Social Science skills and knowledge through the framework of a student-driven inquiry of the concepts of the 5Ps through the lens of various Social Systems throughout time and place in order to evoke a sense of citizenship of place.

Description: Designed as the Social Science component of the Acer Project, this course delves deeply into the discussion of social systems, with a particular focus on peers, people, and the planet.

Academic Offerings

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as race and gender, through a historical lens in order to promote critical inquiry about what the social systems of the United States and the world have meant throughout time and how they have changed. Through a more thorough approach and understanding of social systems and how they influence us, we can begin to develop a more in-depth sense of identity. Exploring concepts of systems promotes a truly deep critical inquiry that enables students to ask and attempt to answer very difficult question. Besides just understanding systems, the students in this course will explore the underlying concepts of each of these systems. From discussing freedom and democracy to exploring and debating capitalism and social-democracy to understanding the roots of racism, students will be challenged with tough philosophical questions that enable them to come to more holistic answers to questions that every student and citizen in a democracy should discuss. By engaging in these philosophical questions with members of a group, students are participating in a true democracy, by hearing every voice and engaging with connected knowing, even when views differ from their own.

Science Course: Natural History and Ecology of the Champlain Valley Goal:

As the first part of the Acer Project’s Science course, this course is developed to improve and build upon important skills and knowledge of scientific thinking through the framework of a student-driven inquiry of the concepts of the Natural History and Ecology of the region that surrounds the students.

Description: Created as an interdisciplinary science course, the Natural History and Ecology of the Champlain Valley serves as the key foundational science course for students entering the Acer Project. This course will explore both the micro and macro elements of ecological systems present in the Champlain Valley region. As Ecology and Natural History are not individual subjects by themselves within the framework of the Vermont State Standards, this course will then lead students through an interdisciplinary and cross-disciplinary approach to science, incorporating aspects of chemistry, biology, ecology, physics, and environmental science. By integrating across disciplines, students will become more well-rounded and will be able to ask “Enduring Knowledge� scientific questions, discovering through observation and experiments. Through this critical inquiry and experimentation in an experiential way, the students will grasp not only content knowledge but will learn to think more like a scientist.

Service Learning Course: Taking Action In Our Community: A Course in Service Learning Goal:

In the spirit of generosity in the Circle of Courage, the service learning course through the Acer Project is designed to both compliment learning from other courses and past experience and integrate new knowledge and skills into an applied setting in a broader context than just the classroom.

Description: The Service Learning course will be organized in roughly two fashions, the first being a series of organized, intentionally designed collection of service projects with specific entities and organizations in the community that will directly or indirectly link to the topics and skills covered in other areas of the Acer Project. The second component of the course is an individualized, student-driven collection of service learning projects in which each student will research needs within the community, contact potential service learning organizations or sites, perform the 19

Academic Offerings

service, and then reflect upon that experience with the group, facilitator, and/or community. This organizational design will allow adequate space for students to work in small groups or work alone in discovering their own way of participating in service learning, while simultaneously completing service with the larger group.

This course will enable students to practice skills in critical thinking, historical analysis, writing and communication, and civic participation. In addition, they will be directly exposed to many of the concepts from other courses, such as conflicting aspects of identity and privilege, socioeconomic hardships of an area, social justice issues, environmental issues and solutions, humanitarian efforts, and more.

Individual Project, Study, or Internship Course: Goal:

In the spirit of independence, the Acer Project’s course for students to take on their own projects, this course is designed for students to develop independence, create their own meaningful learning experiences, and to apply previous and new knowledge in a context that matters most to them.

Description: The key component of this course, independence, enables students to take on projects, studies, or internships that interest them in order to develop competencies of the Acer Project.

By enabling students to pursue their own learning, the facilitator empowers the student to move above and beyond. This course may earn students credit through a myriad of ways, and new ways are always considered for credit. A few examples of potential projects: · A student who is passionate about architecture and building could design a building on campus, such as a shed or a greenhouse. · A student wanting to pursue a class at a community college or university may be able to align their schedule to complete a dual credit course to get ahead on their collegiate studies. · A student may have discovered a MOOC (Massively Online Open Course) offered through Yale, Harvard, or MIT and may be interested in pursuing this study. · A student may not enjoy traditional academic subjects but may rather learn more from gaining employment in the community, whether at an auto repair shop or a restaurant, students can gain important skills from going into the work force while in high school.

All students who are wishing to pursue an independent study option must submit the request form given. In this form, the student will outline potential learning goals, a scheduled plan, and a short essay outlining why they want to pursue this study. Throughout the process of the project, the student’s progress will be monitored by the facilitator of the program and will be reviewed often. Students may elect their own methods of evaluation and assessment by which the instructor will approve. All students will be given the first form that outlines their projects plan, a mid-term form that tracks their progress, and a final form that encourages them to reflect on their experience.

Academic Offerings

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Program Structure

The Acer Project, though very adaptable, has a proposed structure similar to many other alternative education programs. These include not only the values and philosophies, but also include a structure that will include an off-site and/or separate location from a traditional school.

A proposed schedule structured is listed below.

Day 1:

English~2 hours in the morning Social Science~2 hours in the morning Natural History~2 hours in the afternoon

Day 2:

Service Learning~4 hours in the morning Work/Study/Other Project~2 hours in the afternoon

Day 3:

English~2 hours in the morning Social Science~2 hours in the morning Natural History~2 hours in the afternoon

Day 4:

Independent Project/Study/Internship~4 hours morning or all day Study Session afternoon

Day 5:

Credit recovery/other projects/electives

The program structure of the Acer Project includes three required core classes and two additional courses for credit. The rest of the time slot of the semester can be used either as a community course class, an extension on the internship or project, another course option, or as credit recovery, depending on the student. The flexibility of this program enables many different types of students to participate, especially when the scheduling could be very flexible.

Also, the program is willing to work with other instructors to accomplish other goals, such as adding mathematics credits. In addition, the core elements of the Acer Project include three subjects which Vermont(and many other states) students must complete to graduate: english, social science, and science. The other two main courses, Service Learning and the Individual Internship/Project, are opportunities for student independence and self-directed learning.

Program Structure

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General Project Implementation Plan

By implementing a program like the Acer Project at your institution, several goals and outcomes can be achieved in addition to those of the program. A sample list of goals and outcomes and how they can be measured are listed below.

Goal 1: Increase student graduation rates.

By increasing the number of ways and the types of means by which students can receive both academic credit and graduation requirements, a program such as the Acer Project would lead to increased student graduation rates.

This would be measured by working closely with the personnel of school that keep track of data.

Because of the small group that the program works with, the instructors of the program can easily keep track of student progress.

Goal 2: Increase student satisfaction.

Through hands-on, personalized educational programming, the Acer Project makes each piece of the experience of a high school education more personal. Through this close relationship, it will enhance the student’s satisfaction for being present.

This would be measured by conducting student satisfaction surveys and through observation.

Goal 3: Enhance classroom time and attendance rates.

Promoting this close relationship, the Acer Project would enhance classroom time and attendance rates by increasing student satisfaction. Because of the close-knit community it builds and the accountability required by its students, it would effectively improve attendance rates.

This would be measured by working closely with personnel at the school who record data, in addition to the instructor documenting attendance rates.

Goal 4: Improve student GPA/QPA/Performance.

Depending on which system the school uses, the Acer Project seeks to improve overall student performance. It would do this through a smaller, more supportive environment that is key to its mission. Through incorporating diverse arrays of assessment for students, the opportunity and ability to be passionate about projects, papers, and assignments will directly improve the performance of the student. Through rubrics, tests, and summative and formative assessments, teachers will be able to see improved performance.

General Project Implementation Plan

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This could be measured through a variety of tests, rubrics, papers, standardized testing documentation, and more. The easiest form of measurement would be through observing standardized testing scores alongside the instructor created rubrics and assessment tools.

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General Project Implementation Plan