“The difference between a dreamer and a visionary is action. The Rowland Fellowships allow educators an opportunity to take those actions.”
The Rowland Initiative at Otter Valley is about creating a unified vision for school change. Caitlin and Jason are leading the development of two programs: (1) an interdisciplinary, sustainability-themed Freshman Academy and (2) the framework for External Learning Opportunities to encourage upperclassmen to design their own inspired, standards-based courses and projects. Beyond developing new programs, the Rowland Initiative is about supporting what Otter Valley already does well (including programs like the successful Moosalamoo Center and well-established interdisciplinary courses) and aligning all of these initiatives under a common mission: to use local natural and social communities to make connections and give meaning to classroom lessons; to inspire students to find personal relevance in their learning.
Jason is continuing to expand the External Learning Opportunities program. In the coming year all independent studies will fall under ELOs. Students will be required to follow the format of performing action research and demonstrating their findings through a service learning project. Students in ELOs are also now incorporating an extensive amount of blended instruction. Blending instruction involves a combination of face-to-face and on-line instruction.
The third link of the Otter Valley Rowland Initiatives, Moosalamoo Center, has expanded its curriculum to include two separate offerings for students. To enable this, it will be moving its program to the main campus next year, albeit in a field station which the students will build on Hawk Hill. The move will allow more students to participate in the program and ensure its heterogeneous mix.
In the fall of 2010, we launched the pilot of our Freshman Academy at Otter Valley. It is an interdisciplinary program in which we team teach 9th grade English, science, and social studies through the lens of sustainability. The daily schedule is flexible to allow for a variety of lesson styles ranging from traditional lectures to high-tech, hands-on group projects. Our first group of students is – as we’d hoped – heterogeneous, challenging us to support students with a wide range of strengths and talents as each struggles toward a higher level of achievement. The curriculum emphasizes not only hard skills in research, writing, critical thinking, etc. but also self-reflection as we ask the students to consider how they learn best and encourage them to engage actively in determining their own educational paths. We are currently in the process of evaluating the program’s success to this point. We’ve administered surveys to students and parents in both the Freshman Academy and traditional 9th grade program, and we’re collecting data on attendance, achievement, and discipline. We’ve seen a great deal of student engagement, enthusiasm, and growth so far this year and are hopeful for the future of the program.
