|
 |
Theme: Continuity and Change
Our overarching theme provides students with opportunities to explore the dynamic, evolving nature of cities, societies, institutions and individuals throughout history. Through multiple ways of knowing, students investigate, interpret and analyze recurring events, dilemmas and persistent issues. Employing empathy and critical thinking, students learn to relate relevant knowledge of the past to their understanding of contemporary issues within the study of Benin, Delhi and Philadelphia.
Guiding questions within this course of study include:
What are the defining elements of a social group and a social group?
How can studying particular individuals, social groups, societies, cities, and cultural objects help us to understand ourselves, our society, our place in the world?
What is the difference between knowledge and ways of knowing?
What forms of expression does knowledge take and how is it accumulated?
How is knowledge transferred from society to society and culture to culture?
How does knowledge vary and how have societies changed because of knowledge?
English
Sarah Schlein
In English class students explore the role of the individual in society by examining characters that accept, question, or challenge the existing social order. By analyzing characters and their role in society, students move beyond plot summary to careful reading, textual analysis, and interpretation. During class and small group discussions, students participate in informed, shared, purposeful inquiry using academic language to express their ideas. In addition, students deepen and refine their reading, annotation, critical thinking, discussion, and editing skills in preparation for essay writing. They practice the mechanics of writing---sentence structure, grammar, spelling, word choice, and paragraphing---developing a position or argument, identifying an audience, and organizing their ideas in a sustained piece of writing. Students develop an understanding of how individuals define themselves and their values in opposition to the cultural norms. Essential questions focus on the role of folktales and proverbs in conveying knowledge in pre-literate society, the effect of external ideologies on family, social, and cultural structures, and the possibility of maintaining traditions while accepting the “new”. Students also actively engage in an Independent Reading Program, reading texts from a suggested list connected to the curriculum and expressing their ideas through a reading journal.
The focus during the second half of the seventh grade continues to be on building skills for writing effective expository essays. The class challenges students to move beyond plot summary to textual analysis and interpretation, organizing their ideas according to the conventions of the five paragraph essay. Written exercises help students to deepen critical thinking and editing skills. During this time, students explore the concepts of Knowledge and Synthesis within the study of Delhi (India) and Philadelphia (USA). The essential question they investigate is how societies synthesize or resist new forms of knowledge. And to enhance an understanding of colonial and revolutionary America students may read Fever 1793 by Laurie Halse Anderson, My Brother Sam Is Dead by the Collier brothers, and/or excerpts from A Narrative of a Revolutionary Soldier by Joseph Plumb Martin.
Life Skills
Mary Nealon, Sam Tuttle
The Life Skills course is a sequential curriculum that builds on the cultural and social awareness issues developed in earlier grades. The program continues to help students acquire accurate information and the skills necessary to make healthy, responsible decisions as they grow.
The seventh grade Life Skills course focuses on developing students’ understanding of conflicts, and how to use them as opportunities for growth. Also focused on is the empowering of students to effectively resolve conflicts, and to become student leaders as peer mediators for other student-centered conflicts. In addition, during the second half of the year, seventh graders work with The School’s High School Placement counselors in preparation for the academically rigorous and socially demanding process of applying to high schools in New York City.
Mathematics
Sabrina Goldberg
The first semester begins with the prerequisites for studying algebra. Students are challenged to explore their sense of number, describe patterns, and evaluate variable expressions while being introduced to the concepts of inductive and deductive reasoning. They begin to think algebraically as they investigate the formulas for complex area and perimeter, as well as powers, exponents and the order of operations. Students also review decimal operations, learn metric measurement, conversions, and scientific notation. After they compare and order whole numbers and decimals, students describe data using mean, median, mode, and range. They learn to interpret bar graphs and line graphs, and construct data displays of their independent research on African countries utilizing Excel software. Next students resume studying number patterns and fraction operations in preparation for comparing and ordering fractions, and for operations with integers. Student work on number patterns is extended and deepened through a project utilizing numerical sequences: arithmetic sequences, geometric sequences, the binary sequence, the sequence of cube numbers, and the Fibonacci Sequence. The curriculum is further expanded through the Enrichment Activity Center (EAC) encouraging students to work independently and at their own pace.
During the second semester, students continue their focus on learning how to add, subtract, multiply and divide integers. They apply these operations positively and negatively so that they can represent gains and losses, calculate differences in elevations, apply rates to solve problems and convert temperatures from Celsius to Fahrenheit. This is followed by operations used in calculating points on a number line and on a coordinate plane. After learning how to evaluate variable expressions, students write such expressions and equations of their own. These units of study lay the foundation for more complex investigations in which students learn to simplify variable expressions and continue solving one and two-step equations using inverse operations. Students learn to graph functions in a coordinate plane and use a T table. They are challenged to integrate these skills across the curriculum by creating word problems related to India's demographics and by illustrating geographic data on a coordinate grid. To deepen their understanding of linear equations and the slope of a line, students investigate what motion looks like on a distance-time graph using a motion detector and LoggerLite software. The curriculum is further differentiated through two major undertakings: a Plane Geometry Project that entails classifying, measuring, and analyzing geometric constructions, and The Great Mathematician Project (GMP) and Exposition which strengthens research and presentation skills.
Performing Arts: Music
David Gordon
Music’s integration within the study of Benin City and the music of Africa encompasses the study of rhythm notation and patterns that includes half, quarter, eighth, and sixteenth notes and rests. The music of Ghana gives the students the opportunity to explore melodic notation on the G clef from middle C up to the 4th space C. The playing of classroom instruments and the reading of a musical score includes both pitched and un-pitched instruments, with an emphasis on mallet technique with xylophones and metallophones, and hand technique on the congas, bongos, and djembes. The singing voice is also an area of exploration and performance this first semester with vocal exercises, African songs, two-part singing, and performance repertoire.
Our integrated curriculum used in the study of Delhi gives the students the musical opportunity to study the Indian tabla drum. Using the GarageBand software program on their computers, students create sound designs with various musical forms: AB, ABA, Rondo, and Rondo-Sonata. They also create improvisations on classroom percussion instruments for original poems they compose using vocabulary from books read in English class.
The third trimester continues with the seventh grade’s integrated study of Philadelphia encompassing American popular music with an emphasis on the history of jazz. Within this unit the students increase their mallet technique playing xylophones and metallophones to explore the 12-bar blues, swing eighth notes, sixteenth note rhythm patterns, syncopation, melodic notation, and improvisation. Finally, the students demonstrate their performance skills with a culminating presentation of blues and jazz pieces at the annual Philadelphia Showcase.
Science
Laura Dignon
The Science curriculum is all about systems on the macro, micro and submicroscopic orders. The first half of the school year focuses on populations and ecosystems. Students begin by exploring the interdependence of living organisms, symbiotic relationships, adaptations, the movement of energy through trophic levels and the recycling of life’s basic building blocks. Students then investigate how nature and humans impact ecosystems. They examine the evidence for biological evolution and use cladograms to better understand the relationships between organisms. These content areas are introduced in a variety of inquiry-based laboratory activities and experiments designed to give students hands-on experience with the scientific inquiry process. Students work collaboratively to make observations, ask questions, develop hypotheses, collect and evaluate data and draw conclusions. By engaging a subject in depth, students learn how to learn while they are learning. They learn how to answer not only “What do I know?” but also “How do I know that?” This second question requires the kind of analytical thinking and logical discourse that helps students develop thinking skills that will serve them well in all areas of their lives.
The second half of the seventh grade curriculum moves from the macro world of populations and ecosystems to the microscopic realm of cell biology. Scientific thinking and literacy skills continue to be developed through hands-on investigations into the structures and functions of cells. Students explore the cell as a system, examining interdependence and coordination among organelles. Students study cell replication to deepen their understanding of the basic genetics they touched upon in the fall semester when learning about adaptations in organisms.
As the year winds down, students visit submicroscopic systems as they explore electricity and energy. Atoms and subatomic particles are introduced as a foundation upon which to build a working understanding of static electricity, electrical circuits and batteries. Students research renewable and non-renewable energy sources and investigate the way the world uses and consumes energy. The year culminates with a student-chosen investigation addressing a hot science topic of great public interest and importance. Students interact with a researcher, locally or via Internet, and use real-world data in this challenging final project.
Social and Emotional Learning
Sam Tuttle, Megan Frost
Social and emotional skills and objectives are embedded within the students’ studies allowing them to acquire a deeper understanding of their own identities and family traditions, and an appreciation of those held by others. Continuing to work in small and large groups under teacher and CST direction, students build on earlier activities to meet objectives in self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship management, decision-making, and responsibility. Some of the specific goals for the seventh graders include helping students to distinguish the differences between how they feel from how they’d like to feel, examining how one’s emotions affect behavior, analyzing the consequences of ignoring the rights of classmates, and reflecting on possible consequences before expressing feelings or taking action.
Social Studies
Catherine Georges
Our students investigate, interpret and analyze recurring events, dilemmas and persistent issues. They analyze history and current events using a variety of primary and secondary sources, and examine how point-of-view affects the telling of history within the context of the ancient Kingdom of Benin and Benin City. The oral traditions of the Bini people are investigated. Interactions with and reactions to Europeans and how these have helped to shape West African Society are explored. Studied as well are important individuals within the anti-colonial movements and prominent individuals within modern West Africa. Students examine the role of these individuals in bringing about change and ask: Why did they have the courage to act? What lessons can be learned from their struggles?
Beginning in the second semester students study Delhi and the wider Indian subcontinent. The oral traditions of the diverse Indian people are investigated. Interactions with, and reactions to, Europeans and how these have helped to shape Indian societies are explored. Important individuals within the anti-colonial movement are studied. Students examine Gandhi and how he used Satygraha to break British control over India. The issue of the partition of India is examined from differing points-of-view. Students read and discuss statements that support unity and then compare these to statements that supported partition.
For the rest of the semester early American colonial history through the lens of Philadelphia is examined. The motives of European settlers and their interaction with and effect upon Native civilizations are analyzed. Students look at struggles within the colonies between the colonial elite and the slave and servant classes, examining early attempts to resist oppression. The events leading up to the American War of Independence are introduced and examined, especially the role of individuals in bringing about change, with the focus always on why individuals had the courage to act and what lessons were learned from their struggles.
Spanish Language
David Rosas
The students begin by studying the Caribbean and its connections with Africa, exploring the history of the slave trade and the effect this had on the area. They study the different elements of Afro-Caribbean culture including music, religion, food, clothes and dance, comparing the Caribbean flags, communicating spontaneously, and exchanging ideas in Spanish. There are a wide range of activities appealing to many different learners, including comparing and contrasting Afro-Caribbean art to that of Benin, mapping the Spanish-speaking Caribbean, and exploring African influences in the literature of Jose Marti and Nicolas Guillen.
During the second half of the year, students connect to their study of Delhi through an exploration of foods from India and Latin America. The students also explore similarities and differences between their neighborhoods and those in Delhi. Through a study of landscapes and pertinent vocabulary, the students are able to describe areas explored though their work. Also studied are La Gran Colombia, Simon Bolivar, and Francisco de Miranda, connecting their fight for independence to the students’ study of Philadelphia.
During this entire year, students use oral and written communication to integrate skills and vocabulary that relate to directions and geographic location. In class, wide-ranging activities focus on the four language skills: listening, speaking, reading and writing. These activities have a special impact on oral communication allowing students to speak Spanish with greater freedom and spontaneity.
Technology
Karen Blumberg
Students in seventh grade continue utilizing technology within their various subject areas and improving on the technical skills introduced and/or reinforced in the sixth grade. Programs used and sample projects have included:
tabla compositions using GarageBand
symbiosis presentations with Keynote
Interactive Africa map/wiki
earth awareness newsletters in Pages
introduction to Elgg social networking using of Excel and Photoshop
Visual Arts
Lindsay Calhoun
In the fall, the seventh graders deepen their understanding of proportion, scale, and composition while exploring ways of representing the human figure. During this process they enhance their ability to manipulate a variety of collage materials and clay. Students are able to use their experiences in the studio to make connections to the role of art and artistic processes practiced in the African culture of Benin, a study which extends throughout the entire seventh grade curriculum.
In the spring, the seventh graders explore ways to represent their ideas through observational studies. Students use pastels and watercolor to capture natural forms such as plant life, fruits, and vegetables. In the process students strengthen prior skills from the fall and deepen their understanding of color theory, drawing and brush techniques. Students then continue their observational study by exploring self-portraiture through sculpture wire.
Wellness
Doug LeBlanc, Dely Francisco
The two main objectives in wellness are understanding how roles in a society create a successful community, and becoming more physically educated individuals. For students to achieve these goals they are introduced to the Sport Education Model. In this model students participate in groups during activities with each student assuming a role that is important to the group’s overall performance. Students understand that a group or society can be successful only when all parts work together towards a common goal. As students accept responsibility for new roles in their groups, they are also learning skills and strategies in a variety of different activities. Through the development and application of these skills, students become physically active and healthy individuals. They are assessed on their ability to complete the various individual goals and on their ability to understand and apply the skills and strategies they have learned.
During our fall term, the focus is primarily on roles played during games beginning with Flag Football, with students analyzing how they can be successful. Next the students focus on learning skills, and participating in activities connected to the cultures they have been studying. Included here are units on Orienteering, as well as Soccer and Cricket, the two most popular sports played in India. Transitioning away from the Sport Education Model, students apply a variety of skills to different games. Some of these are familiar to students, while others are new, such as Pickleball. The main goal for the students during this time is to experience a wide range of different activities. Each one is encouraged to participate in an activity that suits individual needs and goals, eventually leading to a healthy lifestyle.
|
|
|
