AdVENTURE Parent Agreements
1. I will reinforce AdVENTURE’s philosophy.
Philosophy:
- We believe that students learn best when they are active and engaged, therefore we use hands-on activities in our teaching and learning.
- We believe that students learn best when the lessons are relevant to them. We use problem and project based learning to achieve relevance.
- We believe that technology is best learned when taught in conjunction with 21st century skills (communication, collaboration, productivity, leadership, responsibility, accountability, social and cross cultural skills, innovation, creativity, flexibility and adaptability, digital/media literacy).
- We believe that students should practice developing habits of heart and mind (aka PIE – Passion, Effort, Integrity and ICE – Importance, Cause & Effect, Evidence.)
- We believe that knowledge is continuously made and recreated with multiple perspectives and new evidence, so we value critical dialogue in order to rethink knowledge and problems.
- We believe that people have a responsibility to actively participate in community improvement, so we integrate service-learning into our curriculum.
- We believe that students learn best through self-reflection, therefore we provide students with specific feedback through rubrics to guide student reflection and goal-setting.
Collaboration: Collaboration is a 21st century skill that is highly valued at AdVENTURE and in the global workforce. Therefore, AdVENTURE encourages this with group projects. While most group work is facilitated in the classroom, there is often the need for students to work together outside of school to meet their groups’ goals and deadlines. Group collaboration is sometimes assigned as “homework” at AdVENTURE.
3. I understand that my child will have to collaborate digitally with partners at times and therefore will allow them access to online content.
Digital Collaboration: Students are sometimes asked to do research outside of school, especially on group projects. Digital collaboration is only done on platforms provided by AdVENTURE on secure networks. AdVENTURE will never ask students to collaborate in an open forum.
So that teams are not negatively affected by students who have had their “electronics privileges taken away” or students who don’t have access to the internet or electronics, it is understood that other alternatives are worked out. For example, if a student is “grounded” from using electronics, perhaps an exception can be made for school work, or make arrangements ahead of time to stay after school, or visit the library to use the resources there.
4. I will promote critical thinking by encouraging questions and exposing my child to a variety of experiences. I understand the importance of providing these experiences not only during the school year, but continuing through the summer months for my child to remain engaged in the AdVENTURE Mission, and maintain their level of achievement.
5. I will keep up-to-date with what is happening at AdVENTURE.
Updates: Parents can keep up-to-date by reading emails, newsletters, checking School Loop regularly, reading the school loop calendar and attending parent meetings. At AdVENTURE, all information will be sent electronically unless you request a hard copy. Parents can join the AdVENTURE parent yahoo group: [email protected]
6. I will make sure that my child reads outside of school on a daily basis.
Reading: Reading increases vocabulary, grammar, and spelling skills. Students don’t have to be limited to reading novels. Students are encouraged to read more about the topics they are studying in the classroom, reading about current events, or reading about their favorite hobbies.
7. I understand that parent involvement is important and will offer my skills and abilities for the benefit of all children in the program as the opportunity arises.
Opportunities for parent involvement will be provided by AdVENTURE and might include, but are not limited to: judging exhibitions, participating as a panelist for evaluating student work, planning and participating in family fun nights like astronomy night, engineering design challenge night, chemistry night, etc., attending open house and back to school nights, driving for field trips, helping in the classroom, donating school supplies, etc.
8. I will ensure that my student does his/her homework and school work because I understand that it affects his/her progress.
Monitoring Homework and School work: Students and parents check school loop for information about assignments that are due and/or are missing. Since many assignments are checkpoints on the way to bigger projects, making sure these get done is an important part for the success of a child at AdVENTURE.
9. I will ensure my child gets to school on time and is present every day.
Attendance: AdVENTURE does collaborative, project-based learning. Missing school at AdVENTURE affects students’ ability to complete projects at the level and with the knowledge that is expected. Also, students at AdVENTURE work in collaborative groups, so missing school means they will miss out on some of what their teams are doing.
***Please Note: This is a living document to be revisited and revised annually.
