LOOK INSIDE: PAGE 2 Clown PAGE 7 Raffles PAGE 11 Margaritaville
Carbondale’s community
supported, weekly newspaper
Party hardy and support The Sun The days may be getting shorter, but with your support The Sopris Sun will keep shining brightly all winter. Join the party on Thursday, Nov. 14 from 6 to 9 p.m., at Mi Casita and help us meet our fall fund-raising goal of $2,500. That amount will help us cover the cost of a new computer and updated software for The Sun’s fabulous designer and layout queen, Terri Ritchie, whose old machine sputtered and died recently. The Margaritaville on Main Street evening will include $5 margaritas and a special $15 all-you-can-eat pozole and taco bar for Sopris Sun supporters who make a donation of any size that evening (feed your 12-and-under kids for just $5!). Local duo Guilty Pleasure will add to the good vibes with some lively tunes (thank you, Lyn and Dave). The Sun is a non-profit and cannot survive on advertising alone — donations from individuals and businesses are critical to the paper’s survival. So join the fun on Nov. 14, enjoy some great food (thanks to Kiko and the Mi Casita staff!), and help The Sun continue to inform, inspire and build community in Carbondale. – The Sopris Sun Board Frank, Debbie, Colin, Jeannie, Sue, Barbara, Laura and Will PS: If you can’t make the party on Nov. 14, tax-deductible donations to The Sopris Sun can be made anytime online at www.SoprisSun.com or by sending a check to PO Box 399, Carbondale, CO 81623.
Glenwood Springs school moving toward project-based learning By Debbie Bruell Sopris Sun Correspondent (This article is the second of a two-part series on the transformation process at Glenwood Springs Elementary School). While the Re-1 school district’s visioning process has encouraged community members to begin dreaming about possible changes in our schools, Glenwood Springs Elementary School has already embarked on a path of significant change. GSES is being transformed into an Expeditionary Learning (EL) school — a model of education that aims to incorporate many of the ideals that were given the highest priorities at Carbondale’s visioning meetings, including character development, critical thinking skills, collaboration skills and project-based learning. Last week’s article in The Sopris Sun looked at the initial changes being implemented at GSES. So far staff members have focused on developing the school’s culture and climate. They have worked on developing a sense of belonging, shared purpose and teamwork among students and staff. The next phase of the GSES transformation will delve into learning “expeditions” or projects. According to the initial draft of the report from the district’s visioning process, parents and community members in Carbondale and Basalt expressed particularly strong support for “handson, project-based, experiential learning.”
Project-based learning
Nov. 14, 6-9 pm at Mi Casita $5 Margaritas $15 All-You-Can-Eat Pozole and Taco Bar when you donate to The Sun at the event (kids 12 and under, just $5)
Music by Guilty Pleasure
403 MAIN STREET CARBONDALE (970) 963-4498
Come out and support The Sun, your community newspaper
Volume 5, Number 39 | November 7, 2013
Although GSES Principal Audrey Hazleton has never worked in an EL school before, she arrived at GSES this year with extensive experience in project-based learning. She and her husband, Chris Hazleton, founded a project-based charter high school in Duluth, Minnesota in 2000. She also helped develop and taught at the Olander School for Project-Based Learning in Fort Collins from 2008-2013. Hazleton explained that project-based learning connects students to the local community and real community issues, and provides students with authentic audiences for their work. Rather than working to please a teacher or get a good grade, students are motivated by the fact that their writing, for example, will be printed in the local newspaper or they will be presenting their report in public.
One of the reasons project-based learning is so effective, Hazleton told The Sun, is that kids take an active role in terms of defining problems and developing solutions. “We all learn more when we’re actively doing,” Hazleton said. In an interview with The Sun last June, Re-1’s Director of Curriculum, Instruction and Assessment, Rick Holt, said that project-based learning is widely accepted as a “best practice” in education. Because kids are working with their peers on issues and ideas that they truly care about, projects tend to be highly engaging and full of purpose, Holt told The Sun. Hazleton also noted that project-based learning is very effective when there are a wide range of abilities in one classroom. While working on the same overall project, kids are able to engage at different levels and take on different challenges. She also noted that in her experience, projects can be “so highly engaging that you see kids doing things you never thought they would be capable of doing.” Another benefit of such highly engaging work, according to Holt, is that there is generally much less of a focus on enforcing rules. “When kids are engaged in a project with a real purpose,” Holt said, “you hardly even need rules.” In the EL framework, Holt explained, projects always include three essential elements: academic rigor, character development and contribution to community. Projects can vary in length from less than a month to one year, but they must incorporate a planning process and revising process. Beyond that, Holt said, projects can be “anything you could imagine.” The EL website displays countless examples of actual student projects, including a studentcreated manual on the art and science of keeping chickens and a book on the Great Depression based on interviews, photographs and drawings of community elders. Holt explained that there’s a common misperception that project-based learning stands in opposition to direct instruction. According to Holt, effective instruction includes time for exploration and developing students’ sense of empathy and teamwork, as well as time for explicit instruction. “You can have five minutes of structured, direct instruction,” Holt said, “and then an hour of exploration.” Holt said that if a school or our district as a EXPEDITIONARY LEARNING page 5
LIVE COUNTRY MUSIC! EVERY THURSDAY NIGHT AT 8PM! NO COVER!
$3.00 well drinks • $2.50 domestics - draft & Bottles • $5.00 Jack & Pendleton shots