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Curriculum for Adolescents

Biographies and Autobiographies - Adolescents require mentorship, not only of their teachers, but also of the great heroes who have influenced the course of history through time. The students are now ready to become closely acquainted with the lives of people who consciously gathered their forces to accomplish significant goals. These collective mentors, especially in the students' key areas of interest, are vital for stoking the fires of individual life missions. The synthesis of art, science, and ethics continues to be vitally important as the detail in the children's drawings continues apace with the more in-depth level of their studies.

Many schools require that children read biographies at this age. However, it is important that the stories of lives of great people speak to the hearts of the students and dovetail with studies of the fruits of their labor. The complement to reading is the dramatic narration of the teacher that brings the struggles, the defeats and victories of the 'hero' to life. The unit lessons become biographical accounts of individuals who have had a powerful influence on the destiny of the world. Whatever the area of science, history, mathematics, or the arts, great minds grapple with clues, leap frog over past discoveries, diverge into new directions . Their stories can inspire students with a sense of life purpose for which academia is only a threshold. It is vital that the children see first hand the moral dilemmas that face great people, and the far reaching consequences of their decisions and actions.

The teachers' unit narratives become biographical accounts of individuals who had powerful influence on an era, and conversely, who were dramatically affected by an era. The purpose is to help the children see firsthand the moral dilemmas that face great people, and the far-reaching consequences of their decisions and actions. It is extremely valuable for the students to put themselves in the shoes of the famous or infamous person and consider the choices they would have made. They can also be challenged to write short monologues or skits for two or three actors.

Fantasy Journeys - Elementary children are mainly focused on the visible world. During this period in the child's development, we take them into microscopic levels in the chemical, mineral, plant, and animal kingdoms. Fantasy rich with analogies helps the children appreciate a world normally only accessible to electron microscopes.

Projects Initiated and Designed by Students - After years of stimulating the children's burgeoning creativity by means of examples, the adult steps back, providing only a spark and suggesting guidelines. He challenges crews and individuals to provide presentations of facts gleaned through projects that highlight the multifaceted intelligences of the group. Now rather than offering the student examples of timelines, flow charts, and models, the teacher challenges the children to generate their own. Having a rich storehouse of experiences with these two- and three-dimensional indicators of understanding, the children can now pool their resources for their own creations.

Collaborative Plays - No longer does the teacher write the plays. The students collaborate on productions by pooling their talents to write the script, create backdrops, and design costumes. The teacher challenges the students to write a certain amount of information into the play so that it serves as a reinforcer of the unit.

Internet Exchange and Appointments - The Internet offers students opportunities to exchange ideas and information with other youths around the world. They can set up appointments to experience direct communication with people who are sailing, going on safaris, in the middle of archeological digs, or manning high-powered telescopes or electron microscopes.

Community Interviews - This is the time for individuals or small groups to travel to offices, shops, and corporations in order to interview members of the surrounding community whose professions interest them.

Community Service Projects - Involvement in outreach projects to help restore environments ravaged by human activity. Involvement in outreach projects to bring relief to people suffering from some form of infirmity. Involvement in free public performances that bring joy and inspiration to those who may have sunk in to some degree of hopelessness.

At this level, academics progress to ever more abstract levels. Teens who are transitioning into adulthood by assuming some adult responsibilities are trying their wings in future fields of endeavor. No longer do we want to turn out graduates with their heads full of facts wondering what in the world they want to do with their life. Nor do we want to deliver adults solely looking at making money. They need to experience life as an active interchange of mutual service between the community and themselves, between their tiny community and the global community, and drawing on spiritual resources to enrich Earthly domains.

Running a business - Ideally, the school is the heart of an ecologically sound, partially self-sustaining community. The high school students could cooperate to run the farm, a store largely stocked with handicrafts created by the children, or cooperative learning games, some of which would be created by the children during study of one of the four harmonies. They would run the newspaper and help care for the youngest children. The community could sponsor a worthy cause and the moneys collected could help support that project.

Becoming the Heroes - The students could choose to research a historical person they greatly admired or disliked. For two to six weeks they could put on that person's skin, attempting to behave as he or she would behave and speak as he or she would speak.

Round Table Topics - Years ago, Steve Allen produced a remarkable show called "Meeting of the Minds," in which actors dressed in period costumes and debated scientific, political, philosophical, and literary points of view. The culmination of the students' familiarity with heroes and infamous characters would be a videotaped experience as they passionately debated pertinent 'Round Table Topics.' This could include friends many miles away who had also been participating in the "Becoming the Heroes" project.

Apprenticeships - After two or three years of interviewing people in different professions, they may have a sense of which jobs they would like to try. Arrangements can be made with community members for apprenticeships that last for a month or a semester depending on interest and other variables.

Mentorship - A mentor would be a guide for the younger children in the school through some sort of big brother or buddy system. The mentor could set aside specific hours to share time with or assist a younger individual in some endeavor. This younger buddy could be in the school or the larger community.

At the same time, the high school student could choose an adult to be his mentor. This could be an individual he serves under as an apprentice, a favorite teacher, or anyone who appealed to him. It would be advisable for the community to have mentorship training in which prospective mentors learned to be effective listeners who remain centered, supportive, and nonjudgmental.

Forums for the Future - A main focus of each unit would be to uncover deeper lessons and extrapolate to the future. The students' job would be to envision future societal governments, architecture, transportation, economics, and technology. This study would keep foremost in their consciousness the relationship of the microcosms to the macrocosm and the individual to the whole.

Projects and Portfolios - The students would keep portfolios with photos of their best project designs, play productions, their most articulate essays, their best art, and excerpts from plays or stories they have written. Their portfolio would also contain a resume of their responsibilities in running the community business, the community itself, and their job experience as apprentices.

Foreign Exchange Students - One of the greatest opportunities to encourage appreciation of different cultures is to invite students from other countries to come and live in a community member's home and attend the learning center. Conversely, the community can send students to other holistic centers and schools worldwide.

Community Service Projects - Community Service projects can include involvement in outreach projects to help restore environments ravaged by human activity, involvement in outreach projects to bring relief to people suffering from some form of infirmity, or even involvement in free public performances that bring joy and inspiration to those who may have sunk in to some degree of hopelessness.