November 2020 - Eagle Rock Blog

Highlighting 4 More Classes Offered in the Second Half of ER-82

This week, we’d like to give you a glimpse at some of the class offerings available to students during this, the second half of the 82nd trimester. You might notice references in these class descriptions below that talk about Individual Learning Plans (ILP), Power Standards, Distribution Requirements, and Required Experiences.

If you’re new to Eagle Rock, we feel compelled to fill you in on these terms and what exactly is required from each member of our student body before graduation. First off, a student’s Individual Learning Plan (ILP) is just that — individual and personal. It is made up of three sections, including Power Standards, Distribution Requirements, and Required Experiences.

When we talk about Power Standards, these are proficiency requirements in each of our Five Expectations — Healthy Life Choices, Effective Communication, Engaged Global Citizen, Leadership for Justice, and Expanding Knowledge Base. These standardized graduation “musts” can be attained via successfully completing a select class offering, or independent study projects.

For Distribution Requirements, students must meet proficiency standards for at least 24 credits. Those include two credits for each of the Five Expectations, with the remaining 14 earned in other classes. Work performed outside the classroom can garner another two credits. All Eagle Rock classes offer distribution credits, so students have the opportunity to participate in many such experiences.

For more details about Power Standards, please consider reading The Role of Power Standards in this Trimester’s Class Offerings. And for Distribution Requirements, check out Distribution Requirements Play a Big Role in This Trimester’s Latest Class Offerings.

Here then are the four classes we’d like to tell you about: Continue reading…

Job Announcement — Professional Development Associate

Even in the midst of a pandemic, life within the Eagle Rock community continues, as does the occasional opportunity for new staff members to join our team. With that in mind, we are currently seeking candidates for the position of Professional Development Associate, and we would like to have that new staff member onboard by March 1, 2021.

As with all of our positions at Eagle Rock, we’re looking for a person who believes in the potential of young people and is eager to join educators and communities in being a part of enacting major changes in schools across the country. Our winning candidate should be completely comfortable with working at a diverse, tuition-free boarding school that has at its core a belief system that is based on antiracism, relationships, and beloved community.

Before we get to the responsibilities required for the position, we need to outline the qualifications.

First, you must possess a bachelor’s or master’s degree, excellent facilitation and organizational skills, extensive public school experience, and connections to organizations and supporters of antiracist educational change.
In addition, you should be skillful at collaborating with young people, fellow colleagues, educators, administrators, and networks of school partners. You should have experience in working with individuals from diverse racial, ethnic and cultural background, as well as those who identify as LGBTQ+.
Finally, we are looking to hire someone who considers working at Eagle Rock as more of a calling than a 9 to 5 job. This means possessing boundless energy, a team mentality, visionary thinking, seasoned judgment, and a sense of humor.

Among the responsibilities of the professional development associate are these specific requirements: Continue reading…

Eagle Rock Community Puts a “Stamp” on Social Justice

This week, we wrap up our synopses of a number of classes currently underway at Eagle Rock School with It’s Lit! Circles — a gathering of students and community members in what’s known as a Literature Circle for the purpose of discussing literature in depth.

(Source: Schlick Noe, K.L. & Johnson, N.J. (1999). Getting Started with Literature Circles. Norwood, MA: Christopher-Gordon Publishers, Inc.)

Literature circles such as ours provide a way for students to engage in critical thinking and reflection as they read, discuss, and respond to works of literature. In this case, the Eagle Rock community has dedicated this trimester to reading the book STAMPED, Racism, Antiracism, and You, which was written by Jason Reynolds and Ibram X. Kendi.

STAMPED is a “remix” of Kendi’s 2016 National Book Award Winner, Stamped From The Beginning. And as the author explains, it’s not a history book. Rather, it is a “book about the here and now. A book to help us better understand why we are where we are. A book about race.”

That falls in step with one of Eagle Rock’s founding principles, which calls for a commitment to Continue reading…

Getting into ‘Good Trouble’ at Eagle Rock School

As has been the case over the past four weeks here on our blog, this week we’re highlighting another class that focuses much of its attention on presenting Eagle Rock School students with important issues surrounding social justice and nonviolence. Fittingly called Good Trouble, this class is exploring the history of peaceful opposition and social justice through the lives and works of Nobel Peace Laureates from around the world.

The title of the class, Good Trouble, comes from John Lewis, an American statesman and civil rights leader who served in the United States House of Representatives for Georgia’s 5th congressional district from 1987 until his death in 2020, who said, “Never, ever be afraid to make some noise and get in good trouble, necessary trouble.”

In Good Trouble, students are looking at ways to peacefully engage with those who might hold opposing views to their own — always in a constructive manner. In addition to learning how to correspond civilly across lines of difference, students are exploring the intersections of identity, history, current events, and social change and action.

The class is being taught by Josán Perales, our World Languages instructional specialist; Lucia Sicius and Matisyn Darby, two of our 2020/2021 Public Allies fellows; Courthney Russell, Jr., our Residential Life Program coordinator; and Annie Kelston, a student services program specialist and Explore Week coordinator.

And for the first time in Eagle Rock history, we’re using a curriculum that was designed by a Public Allies fellow! Second-year fellow Lucia Sicius spent this past summer preparing six chapters of action-oriented curricula for and by youth, in collaboration with interns at the Peace Jam Foundation —an international organization working through the inspiration of past Nobel Laureates. As an alum of the program, Lucia saw an opportunity for Eagle Rock to model a class that explores identity, storytelling, and deliberate action among students.

The Good Trouble afternoon block is a direct response to current events in the world. Lucia said that, with the inspiration of Continue reading…