Eagle Rock Curriculum Archives - Page 2 of 3

Eagle Rock School Educators Put the Spotlight on Literacy

Each year, the instructional staff here at Eagle Rock School chooses a narrow and specific curriculum focus for the year. Known as the annual focus, our educators are continuing to pinpoint improving student literacy, an undertaking that actually began last fall. Specifically, our instructional specialists are focusing on Literacy Across the Curriculum (LAC), a topic of focus as way back as 2011 and 2012.

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And while a lot of learning and progress was made, the consensus was that there wasn’t enough systematic implementation to make a lasting difference. As a result, this time around the instructional staff is seeking ways to improve student’s reading comprehension across the board.

Specifically, from now through August, instructors intend to hone our students’ abilities to find evidence within claims, and write persuasively with a warrant, claim and impact.

To prepare for this literacy focus, every staff member at Eagle Rock is reading Continue reading…

Explore Week — An Opportunity for Students to Go with the Flow

When we hear that someone is “in the zone,” or “on fire,” we know these terms are describing a person who is performing at his or her peak. Whether it’s the basketball player who hits 15 free throws in a row or a jazz drummer improvising complex patterns at breakneck speed, we recognize great skill when we see it.

However, what we might not realize is that the potential to achieve this state of being exists in every one of us. And unlocking this potential is possible given the right circumstances and application of willpower. In fact, by becoming concurrently relaxed, alert, focused and responsive, achieving Flow is a mental and physical condition allowing most of us to operate at the top of our abilities.

Learning how to go with the flow is the topic of just one of Eagle Rock School’s learning options underway this week (Feb. 22-26) both on and off campus. It’s all part of our Explore Week, an opportunity for students to explore a variety of topics that don’t start with the “three R’s” of “reading, writing and ’rithmatic.”

Instead, our student population is participating in a week’s worth of education surrounding music, art, hobbies, sports, outdoor activities and other pursuits intended to expand the mind and body beyond regular classes.

We’re going to begin this list of course titles underway through Friday, including the above-mentioned “Go with the flow,” offering, as well as a short description of the instructors teaching these one-of-a-kind courses: Continue reading…

Understanding Eagle Rock’s Co-Curricular Student Leadership Development Prototype

Promoting leadership skills has always at the top of the list when it comes to maximizing the personal growth of each of our students at Eagle Rock School. If you need examples, just look to our evolving Leadership for Justice (LFJ) curriculum and the Power Standard portfolio that is required of each student prior to graduation.

All students at Eagle Rock School are given the opportunity take on a variety of leadership roles throughout their time here, starting with our Wilderness Orientation Course where they are required to serve as Leader of the Day on several occasions.

This expectation continues at school with Kitchen Patrol, House Leader responsibilities, Chore Leader roles, Intramural Captainships, as well as other activities inherent to living in a high-functioning on campus community. In addition, we honor the times students are often quietly leading in non-formal leadership capacities around the community.

Enter the Co-curricular Leadership Development Prototype — a framework developed to enhance leadership opportunities and support throughout our students’ time here at Eagle Rock.

The first trimester of the “prototype” provided us with valuable insights into what was most important and engaging for the students as we worked with them in their real life leadership situations. You can give kudos to our Continue reading…

World Class Instructors Visit Eagle Rock for Explore Week

Did you know that throughout recorded history, humans have had an attraction and affinity for gemstones? People from kings, pharaohs, monarchs, and businessmen, to artisans, shamans, scientists, and commoners have honored the power of the stones and worked with them for various personal and spiritual purposes.

That’s just one of the many topics Eagle Rock School students learned about at the end of October during the latest installment of Eagle Rock Explore Week. Students had a chance to discover a variety of topics related to hobbies, music, art, sporting and outdoor activities and other pursuits intended to enrich our community and better their lives.

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The weeklong learning options had the added benefit of offering a slight break for many of our Instructional Specialists, so they can prepare for the rest of the trimester, while enabling students to pick up knowledge they’ve self-selected as being beneficial to the future.

We have listed the titles of some of these opportunities below, along with the name or names of the instructors involved: Continue reading…

Engaged Global Citizen As Part Of Eagle Rock’s 5 Expectations

A quick glance at the curriculum here at Eagle Rock School illustrates how we insist our students take charge — and take possession — of their own learning experiences and responsibilities. As a value-driven school, we encourage our students to concentrate heavily on mastering certain competencies.

Among these competencies is a fundamental philosophy that we call “8 + 5 = 10.” That’s eight themes, five expectations and 10 commitments that are a roadmap of sorts, intended to shape daily experiences both on campus and off.

Specifically, among the five expectations are:

Learning to communicate effectively
Expanding one’s knowledge base
Become an engaged global citizen
Acquiring leadership skills in order to achieve justice
Creating healthy life choices

A few weeks ago we told you about Expanding Knowledge Base as Part of Eagle Rock’s 5 Expectations. In today’s post, we’re going to tackle the intricacies of the third expectation: evolving into engaged global citizens. And what is it that we expect from these newly emerging global citizens?

This expectation is based on a worldwide plan of action, where we encourage our students to develop skills and knowledge in order to concentrate on peaceful, productive interactions with global issues within the context of cultural and ecosystem diversity.

What are some of these issues? According to the non-profit Peace Jam — a Denver-based nonprofit that we align with very closely, especially as it relates to helping our students become engaged global citizens — these issues include: Continue reading…

From Rock ‘n‘ Read to Shakespeare in the Woods

Eagle Rock’s 66th trimester (ER 66) is at the halfway mark and new classes begin next Monday for the second installment of some fairly progressive offerings.

Earlier this week, we published a blog post about Explore Week and the variety of non-conventional learning opportunities that are available to students who want to experience something different on their way to graduation. No credits, no grades, just a chance to look at life through a new pair of glasses.

Now take a look at the some of the classes offered in the second half of this trimester. You’ll find more classes that engage the student, rather than force memorization of vague times and places, or archaic concepts that belong in a book — that remains on a shelf.

Here then are eight classes scheduled for the second half of ER 66, which wraps up on Aug. 8.

Colorado Rocks

Imagine climbing above the clouds focused intently on your movement, then writing and sharing the experience with your fellow climbers. This class is a combination of climbing, reading, writing, and studying geology. Students will use each of these activities as a lens to examine both the geological world and ourselves. Students will rock climb two to three times each week as well as take a five-day climbing road trip.

Facing history and ourselves

The Holocaust was one of the most tragic demonstrations of violence and racism in the 20th century. It was also an incredible example of the power of compassion, hope and the human spirit. In this class, students will explore the events that led to the Holocaust through the lens of human behavior. What were the consequences of the beliefs and actions of those involved in the Holocaust? Utilizing the Facing History and Ourselves scope and sequence, students will start by examining the consequences of their own beliefs and actions before analyzing the impacts these have at a societal level. Students will be challenged to identify Continue reading…

From Dragonfly Citizen Science to Sacred Places

ER 66 classes (the 66th semester in Eagle Rock School’s illustrious history going back to September of 1993) get underway this week. And as you might expect of us, this wouldn’t be Eagle Rock if we didn’t present our students with an assortment of progressive class offerings from which to choose.

As you’ll see, you’re probably not going to find these particular classes offered at your traditional high school, but perhaps — depending on the school’s vision, goals and objectives — the possibility exists. And that’s really the point of blog posts like this one… to inspire educators around the nation with concrete examples of classes aimed at reengaging the disengaged.

With that in mind, what we have for you today is a Part One of a two-part series detailing this trimester’s classes here at the Eagle Rock School.

Come the end of June — the halfway mark of this trimester — I’ll be back to present you with a whole new list of classes that we’re offering for the second five-week stretch of ER 66.

Meanwhile, here’s a rundown of 10 classes being offered right now:

Hip Hop Odyssey

In this class, students gain an understanding of the power of words through exploring the impact of spoken word and hip-hop. Through learning about the history of various forms of art expression (e.g., spoken word, djing, graffiti, mcing, b-boying) students become informed enough to craft their own message as they speak for themselves and those who have no voice. The class includes a travel component where students travel to local and national venues to practice spoken word (sometime called “slam poetry”) and hip-hop.

Sacred Spaces

In this class students gain knowledge about the significance of sacred spaces for different people and cultures through researching and visiting sacred spaces in our area (Colorado’s Front Range) and observing how these sites are utilized. We read and watch videos on the diversity of sacred spaces in different cultural and spiritual practices, with reflections and journal entries addressing the application and value of sacred spaces in moral and faith development. Activities include creating a personal sacred space, creating or renewing a shared sacred space here on Eagle Rock’s mountainside campus, and traveling to Pine Ridge Indian Reservation (located in the southwest corner of South Dakota on the Nebraska border) to extend our experience about sacred spaces recognized and valued by the Oglala Lakota people.

Run for your Life

Running is among the most basic of human functions. It allows us to cover distance at speed, be it for sport or for fitness or out of necessity. Whether students love to run, hate to run, or have never given it a real chance, this class helps Eagle Rock students discover the beauty of movement and tap into that natural and simple piece of your humanity. In this class students learn how their body changes and adapts to stress and work. We track students’ running statistics on a daily basis, analyze running form and learn how to develop a workout plan to help class participants achieve their goals. In this 10-week course, students run almost every day — rain or shine, on or off trail — with the goal of participating in running events ranging from Continue reading…

Reflections from a High School Arabic Class

We’re wrapping up our 10-week-long Arabic Out West class this week, during which Eagle Rock students learned how to read, write and speak the Arabic language. They also learned about the Arabic-speaking community in Colorado by studying the immigration process for Arab immigrants and refugees.

Throughout the trimester we partnered with Aza Adult Daycare, a community center in Denver that serves refugees and immigrants who are mostly from Iraq.

We made the trip down to the community center four times, and during each visit the class participated in a different activity. The first trip to Aza saw the students prepare materials for a cooking class. During our second outing, the students interviewed different clients at Aza about their experiences in the United States and in Colorado. The students then compiled the interview material into short podcasts to show what they learned about the people they interviewed.

Our interviews gave us valuable insights into some of the challenges that the clients face as they adjust to life in Colorado. One common theme that all of our interviewees touched on was that learning the English language is often difficult once they arrive in the U.S. In order to address this challenge, the class decided to design a few activities that would help the Arabic speaking clients of Aza Adult Daycare learn English.

We started by helping a staff member at Aza teach an English class about Continue reading…

Why We Use The College and Work Readiness Assessment

CWRA If you’ve read some of our blog posts about the classes offered here at Eagle Rock, you know we push the boundary of one’s imagination to create engaging classes for those who are disengaged (see This Trimester Offers Classes from Statistics to Dystopia and Eagle Rock Classes That Add New Meaning to the Term ‘Non-traditional’ for a sampling of our classes). This then brings up the question of how do we ensure students are demonstrating the knowledge, skills and attributes to make the most of their lives now and in the future? After extensive research, we decided to adopt the College and Work Readiness Assessment (CWRA+).

As Larry Myatt (Co-founder, Education Recourses Consortium) wrote here on the Eagle Rock Blog back in October of 2013, performance-based assessments are difficult to measure but decisive nonetheless. As a result, the CWRA+ has been used by more than 300 middle schools and high schools throughout the United States and internationally. These schools work with students from all walks of life, from the most privileged to most severly disengaged. CWRA+ — which is an initiative of the Council for Aid to Education (CAE) — effectively assesses higher-order thinking and written-communication skills. These include analysis and problem solving, scientific and quantitative reasoning, critical reading and evaluation, developing an argument and critiquing various sources of information, as well as writing effectively. Because of our adoption of the CWRA+, we can stand side-by-side with other schools around the country in demonstrating we are graduating young people with the intellectual skills necessary for life success after high school.

Specifically, the CWRA+ provides evidence that the student being assessed has demonstrated critical-thinking skills throughout high school, thinks independently, and can come up with creative solutions to complex problems. We believe this is superior to the more familiar standardized assessments where the measure of student success relies on Continue reading…

Explore Week Students Credit Program — Even When No Credit is Offered

Three times each year, Eagle Rock brings classroom studies to a screeching halt for a week in order for students to “explore” a topic of interest, or gain skills in an specific area where they might want to make a future commitment.

Doing the math, that means the average Eagle Rock student studying here for nine or 10 trimesters before graduating will experience eight or 10 of these weeklong learning experiences.

That’s a respectable commitment of time and resources for our students to explore a range of topics that are completely divorced from the official curriculum that leads to graduation. And it’s a popular part of the learning that happens here at Eagle Rock — especially when you consider students don’t earn so much as a single credit for most Explore Week classes.

When it comes to Explore Week — perhaps more so than anything else on campus — learning becomes its own reward.

To get a sampling of the range of offerings, I’ve described below what was available during the most recent Explore Week during the week of Feb. 23-27: Continue reading…