AdVENTURE and High School
AdVENTURE students must master the same content standards as any other California student. You will take the same benchmarks mandated by the Oak Grove School District and the same California Standardized Tests. At AdVENTURE you will be provided with a challenging curriculum, be held responsible for your own learning, and gain strategies for learning on your own. Beyond the curriculum, you will acquire skills necessary to become a life-long learner and succeed in high school and beyond.
High School Skills:
While some of you might be thinking that our small learning community might leave you at a disadvantage when transitioning to high school, studies have shown that “that students who stayed together with the same teachers through sixth, seventh, and eighth grade and experienced more hands-on, life-related learning activities, integrated instruction, and cooperative learning groups were more successful in their transition to high school than were students (the Non-Delta students) from the same school who had a more traditional middle school experience. In ninth grade the Delta students had higher language arts, science, and social science grades and were more likely to enroll in higher level mathematics courses than the Non-Delta students. The Delta students also said that being involved in the Delta Project helped them make the transition into high school because it helped them feel more confident about learning and helped them get along with their peers.” (Mizelle, 1990)
Beyond High School:
The Center for Public Education states “for success both on the job and in their personal lives, students must also better learn how to apply what they learn.” As an Adventure student you will also begin to develop the 21 Century Skills you will need to excel in college and beyond:
The transition to high school from AdVENTURE might seem daunting, especially after you experience four years of a different structure. However, during your years at AdVENTURE you will have experienced rigorous education in a climate of high expectations. Through our real-life projects, you will also have gained experience in seeing the connection between your coursework, your community and your path to higher education.
Sincerely,
The AdVENTURE Team
References:
High School Skills:
- Time management: Every teacher at AdVENTURE will provide you with projects to complete. These projects have a specific deadline that you will know up-front. The projects will overlap, and be complex. In the beginning, the teacher might help you set your own deadlines to ensure that you are on track. As you progress, it will be up to you to manage your assignments. You will get to decide what needs to be done and by when in order to complete the project. You will acquire skills to get organized and use your time efficiently (outline objectives, rank them in order of importance, avoid procrastination, and divide the project into manageable tasks). While in the beginning you might be tempted to procrastinate, you will soon learn that the project cannot be completed in one sitting the night before. You will not “not have homework”, your homework will just look different.
- Good Study Habits: As you work on your projects, you will notice that it is up to you to learn the material. At AdVENTURE, you will learn how to create study groups, and how to keep them moving. You will learn how you learn, and be able to transform the material presented by any teacher into material you understand. For example, if you are visual, you will know and be able to create graphic organizers out of your research and notes; if you are auditory, you will learn to transform your notes into discussions; if you are kinesthetic, you will understand that you need to do or create activities to help you with the content.
- Goal Setting: AdVENTURE students set goals for themselves, both short term and long term. You will also learn how to prepare an action plan to attain your goals.
- Focus: Many of our activities and projects happen in an environment that promotes discussion among groups. You will learn how to stay focused, even when there are several distractions around you. Since our projects require you to use technology and hands-on learning, you will notice that even when there are other things happening around you, you are able to stay focused and on track.
- Good Note-Taking: With the support of your teachers and classmates, at AdVENTURE you will learn that you do not need to write down everything that was said, or copy a webpage. You will learn how to identify what you need to know, where to find the information you might have missed, and how to summarize key points.
While some of you might be thinking that our small learning community might leave you at a disadvantage when transitioning to high school, studies have shown that “that students who stayed together with the same teachers through sixth, seventh, and eighth grade and experienced more hands-on, life-related learning activities, integrated instruction, and cooperative learning groups were more successful in their transition to high school than were students (the Non-Delta students) from the same school who had a more traditional middle school experience. In ninth grade the Delta students had higher language arts, science, and social science grades and were more likely to enroll in higher level mathematics courses than the Non-Delta students. The Delta students also said that being involved in the Delta Project helped them make the transition into high school because it helped them feel more confident about learning and helped them get along with their peers.” (Mizelle, 1990)
Beyond High School:
The Center for Public Education states “for success both on the job and in their personal lives, students must also better learn how to apply what they learn.” As an Adventure student you will also begin to develop the 21 Century Skills you will need to excel in college and beyond:
- Flexibility and Adaptability: Through our project based learning approach, you will learn to adapt to various roles and responsibilities and work effectively in various situations. At times you will take on the role of producer, project manager, facilitator, negotiator, etc. all in a safe environment that allows you to experiment. Your experience at AdVENTURE will help you deal positively with praise, setbacks and criticism, as well as understand and balance diverse points of view to reach workable solutions. You will help create the rubrics that detail the expectations of your work.
- Initiative and Self-Direction: At Adventure you will learn to monitor, prioritize and complete projects without direct oversight. You will be able to go explore your areas of interest in more depth and have opportunities to gain hands on expertise in areas that you did not know you enjoyed. You will also gain the skills necessary to reflect on your learning, and go beyond the traditional curriculum.
- Social and Cross-cultural Skills: As an AdVENTURE student you will have several opportunities to interact with others in meaningful ways to complete an assignment. As you work together you will learn to work effectively with people of diverse backgrounds, interests and abilities.
- Productivity and Accountability: While working together with other AdVENTURE students, you will learn to set goals, plan and manage projects to achieve results. You will also learn to multitask, participate actively, and collaborate with your team. At AdVENTURE you will be held accountable for your work by your teachers and peers.
- Leadership and responsibility: As you take on leadership roles in your projects, you will develop skills to inspire others, problem solve, and act responsibly with the interests of a larger community.
The transition to high school from AdVENTURE might seem daunting, especially after you experience four years of a different structure. However, during your years at AdVENTURE you will have experienced rigorous education in a climate of high expectations. Through our real-life projects, you will also have gained experience in seeing the connection between your coursework, your community and your path to higher education.
Sincerely,
The AdVENTURE Team
References:
- Trilling, B. & Fadel, C. (2009) 21 Century Skills: Learning For Life in Our Times. San Francisco: Jossey Bass
- “A Framework for 21 century Learning” www.p1.org. Retrieved 2 January, 2012. <http://www.centerforpubliceducation.org/Learn-About/21st-Century>
- Mizelle and Irvin “Transition from Middle School into High School” www.amle.org. Retrieved 2 January, 2012. <http://www.amle.org/portals/0/pdf/publications/On_Target/transitioning_hs/transitioning_hs_4.pdf>
- National High School Center “Easing the Transition to High School: Research and Best Practices Designed to Support High School Learning” www.betterhighschools.org. Retrieved 2 January, 2012. <http://www.betterhighschools.org/docs/NHSC_TransitionsReport.pdf>
