Edutopia - April/May 2008 - (Page 26)

Character Building: Students Jack Walker and Conor Curtin do body work on a hybrid car (from left); the work of 2006 graduate Jesse Davisson and his math classmates prompted a redesign of the new gym; Curtin and classmate Ashley Hodder build a traditional Maine boat. and contribute.’” NHCS students researched Maine nonpro⇒t organizations with partners at Bowdoin’s library, analyzed the groups through the lens of their shared readings, and presented their projects when Bowdoin students visited North Haven. Such trips off island move “school” outside a traditional classroom. Students have visited Europe to apply language skills and to study the Holocaust. A group performed Islands, a student- and community-created musical, in New York City. Each year, the high school takes a fall expedition, like this year’s canoe trip on the Penobscot River. Students paddled through landscapes depicted in Henry David Thoreau’s writings, studied Native American history, analyzed 300 years of historic, environmental, and social changes, and debated land preservation versus economic development. What’s most notable at North Haven is that students’ work has real-world consequences. The school relies on the studentbuilt electric vehicle for daily transportation. Students plan every part of their expeditions—from the shopping and packing duties, to designing and navigating hiking and paddling routes using GPS and GIS technology. They present their ⇒ndings—on expeditions, during projects, even after personal trips to interesting places—to the island’s community at large, often using laptops (all secondary school students have one) and LCD projectors, or videos they’ve shot and edited. “That’s a skill that you can measure in a rubric, but it goes far beyond that,” says teacher Keith Eaton. “It enters into the realm of character and con⇒dence. They’ve had to present to members of the community and really focus on ‘What was the purpose of our task?’” Many of these presentations happen in high-stakes contexts. When they didn’t meet pupil numbers to receive state funding to build a new school, NHCS raised more than $6 million (mostly from summer residents) and the town committed $1.9 million in taxes for the costs. Students such as alumnus Jesse Davisson had essential roles in the building’s design. “For our math class, we made little modular homes out of cardboard and did light studies,” he says while leading a tour of the new building site. Students studied scale and fractions, oriented models according to the construction-site plan, and placed them outside in the middle of the winter for a number of days. The results horri⇒ed them: Except for a few midday hours, shadows darkened the whole front of the school. “The light studies showed it would be a better idea if we ⇓ipped it so we had sunlight coming into the classrooms and the main entrance,” he says. Davisson, his classmates, and their teacher met with architects in Portland, and the students successfully argued for a reorientation of the school. NHCS students get a lot of practice for such pressure⇒lled situations through the school’s own rigorous, public assessments. The island’s community comes out to the annual Knowledge Fair, at which each student presents a project and is evaluated by three teachers. And seniors must present portfolios—including formal assessments in each discipline area, as well as art, music, athletic achievements, and summer activities—to the school board. Not everyone on North Haven has supported the new building or the school’s unusual instruction. An uproar on island ten years ago got national attention and taught Principal Barney Hallowell that, as he says, you have to “honor people’s view that schools have to look a little like school.” But a majority of the community eventually rallied around the school, in large part because of its central role. “The school is the heart of North Haven,” says Hallowell. “It is the educational heart, the cultural heart, the entertainment heart.” The school’s academic results merit this community backing. Though the school rejects teaching to standardized tests, it has been identi⇒ed as high performing on the Maine Education Assessment the last four years, and its students perform in the top of the state’s SAT rankings. It has garnered an accreditation from the elite New England Association of Schools and Colleges, and 80 percent of its graduates pursue higher learning. But no matter what students do, their North Haven education gives them unique preparation. “We have students who go on to selective private colleges, and students who go on to large universities,” notes teacher John Dietter. “We have students who join the military right out of high school, and students who go on to cosmetology school. The gift of this school is that it values and supports each of these students and each of these choices with the same enthusiasm.” e Lisa Morehouse taught secondary English for twelve years in San Francisco and rural Georgia. She is now a public radio journalist and education consultant. 26 EDUTOPIA APRIL/MAY 2008

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Edutopia - April 2008

Edutopia - April 2008 Contents Up Front Feedback Dispatches Sage Advice Ask Ellen Head of the Class Cool Schools Design Reinventing the Big test The Daring Dozen Heart & Soul Pop Quiz: Jack Prelutsky

Edutopia - April 2008

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