River School Course Offerings
Fall 2008
Did you ever wonder about where hawks, eagles, or monarch butterflies come from and where they go? Or consider what the water quality is in the Belfast Bay, and how it affects species such as mussels and clams? Biological field study lends itself to answering these and dozens of other questions about the natural world around us. By using the scientific method to pose a question to base a field study inquiry on, students can design a series of projects. Collaboration with local organizations such as the Belfast Bay Watershed Coalition, the Sheepscot Wellspring Land Alliance, Mid-coast Audubon, and other groups will be a part of this course.
Standards and expectations:
- Students must keep notes from class discussions and assigned readings. Teacher will ask to collect notes to make sure you are doing them.
- Propose at least one project for the course based on a biological topic that interests you, relevant to the local area. Ask for help if you are stuck for ideas.
- Participate in all field studies for projects.
Students will decide together in the first week whether they wish to take tests or write papers to demonstrate learning in the course.
Courses actually taught during each semester will be chosen by students at the beginning of the year, with teachers helping in the decision-making process. We may also develop courses not listed here based on student interest.
Literature is the place where history becomes “hi, story” as Joy Harjo puts it. In the writings of various cultures across time and space, we can learn about the human condition, and can begin to see how human experience is linked and common in important ways. In this course, we will range from ancient writings like Gilgamesh to modern ones like those of Breath, Eyes, Memory by Edwidge Danticat. Over the course of a year, we will read and discuss a wide range of books, and will learn about the cultures and circumstances from which they were born. We will supplement reading with films, guest speakers, and cultural artifacts that will help us understand the stories we are encountering.
Learn about yourself, others and the world through adventure. Experience collaborative adventure by way of outdoor pursuits such as: hiking, biking, flat and white water canoeing, caving and low level rock climbing. With an experienced adventure education professional as your guide, you will have the opportunity to see new places, to crawl into tight spaces and move your body in new and unique ways. Together, we’ll create a safe and fun learning environment in and outdoors. You won’t be disappointed!
What am I ever going to use this stuff for, anyway? Nothing, if you haven't spent the time to learn at least the basics. If you can speak some math, you can understand a lot of science and technology which is otherwise closed to you. And most important of all, it gives you one more way of looking at the world, which makes you an educated adult. This course can cover everything from Pre-Algebra review through Calculus. You can start wherever your abilities are (even if all you know is 1 + 1 = 2), and move at your own pace. Get credit when you have mastered a set amount of material based on a contract you will create with the teacher. Learn from books, computers, each other and teacher. We will focus on application of mathematical concepts, and will link our work to work in other courses and disciplines.
Art can express community, and expressive art objects can connect the heritage of a community to its contemporary inhabitants. Students will develop their skills in clay relief tile making, working with clay master Randy Fein. The students will uncover how to express concepts, ideals, goals, history, & fascination, in clay relief tile making. Students will gain knowledge concerning the relevance of contemporary and historic community public art installations, and discuss the impact these work may have on modern day living. The instructor will guide students thru the process of proposing, conceiving, designing, executing, engineering, and installing a community tile public art project for a site to be scouted out by the students in the town of Belfast.
Materials fee: Clay, glazes, usage of tools $60 per student
Additional Courses for Future Semesters
Courses actually taught during each semester will be chosen by students at the beginning of the year, with teachers helping in the decision-making process. We may also develop courses not listed here based on student interest. Here are some possibilities:
Science
Science credit
Teacher: Louisa Carl
Did you ever wonder why ocean temperature and current changes in one part of the world can cause massive storms like Hurricane Katrina in another part? Or why air pollution in the Mid-west causes acid rain in Maine? James Lovelock and other scientists are increasing describing our whole planet as a living organism that works are one complex system to respond to change and adapt. We’ll look at basic earth science and Gaian ecology, studying such phenomena as plate tectonics, the planetary water and carbon cycle, basic atmospheric chemistry, global wind and ocean currents and so on. We’ll also look at how the earth responds to outside pressures like meteor impacts and solar flares, and inside ones like human overpopulation and pollution.
We’ll explore this course via reading and web research, but we’ll also try to find ways to explore Gaian ecology here in Maine via field trips and experiences. Course credit requires reading and web research, participation in class discussion and projects, and a final paper.
Science credit
Whatever happens in your lifetimes, energy production and use are going to be a lot different fifty years from now than they are today. We will find out what energy is, how it is produced and stored, and how we measure it. We'll look at energy use on a large scale, i.e. for the U.S. and the world, and on a small scale in terms of our individual use for things like transportation and heating. Where does the energy we use come from now? What is likely to happen in the future? What part will petroleum, nuclear, wind, tidal, solar, hydroelectric, coal, etc. play? Finally, we'll look hard at our individual energy use (transportation, space and water heating, etc.) and find practical, economical ways to use less. Energetic attendance, project based homework and quizzes required.
Science credit
Scientists find out things nobody else knows, go to interesting places, have a lot of control over their work, have time to live a thoughtful and active life, and get paid well, even when in college or graduate school. Does this sound like something worth looking into? This experience will give you an idea of what science as a career path is like, and the concrete steps you could take to try it out.
This project-based course will give you a chance to do original scientific research of your own choosing, and put it together in a way understandable by others. No matter where your interests lie you should be able to find an opportunity to conduct research about them. I’ll help you choose a manageable and scientifically verifiable topic or question, research what is already known, design your own hands-on research, do it, put the results in a standard form, and defend your findings. The process followed is the same as you would do as a prospective scientist in college, and as that used in the normal process of science everywhere. Think of it as a glorified science fair project, done to higher standards.
This will be a very demanding course in terms of time and effort, and will require moderate reading, writing and math skills, but will also give you the satisfaction of the completed work. That work, well done, could in itself open doors for you in the next several years. You may or may not decide to enter one of those doors, but at least you will get the chance to peer through!
Social Sciences
Social Studies credit
Teacher: Louisa Carl
What does this “sustainability” buzzword mean anyway? Well, it’s going to mean that we need to change our culture and society in almost every way to address the many environmental and social problems we currently face. Your generation will be at the forefront of those who drive the new path to a sustainable future. How can we move towards a non-oil based energy system? How will we continue to feed a growing world population without depleting more soil and water? How can we re-think our whole way of living to make resources go further with less waste? We’ll learn about these and other kinds of issues the sustainability movement is trying to address, what kinds of solutions people are working towards, and how we can change our own actions and attitudes to bring sustainability to our own lives, families, and communities.
We will use reading, discussion, on-line research, and field trips to get immersed in this cutting edge field of change. Part of this course will involve attending and helping out at a national conference aimed at sustainability called “The Great Turning: Education, Leadership and Activism for a Life-sustaining Civilization (see www.GetOntheBus.org for more info). Requirements for credit: reading and web research, in-class attendance and participation in discussion, a research/action project, and three papers on course-related topics of the student’s choice.
History Credit
Teacher: Louisa Carl
Imagine a world where women can’t vote or even own property, where children work in factories up to 18 hours a day and get no education, where blacks and other minorities have virtually no rights at all and can be killed for looking wrong at another person, where dumping poison directly into drinking water sources was allowed, where you can be killed for stealing… Sounds harsh, eh? Well, these things were all true right here in America, many of them less than one hundred years ago. We will learn how we arrived at a modern version of America where most people in society have basic rights. And most of it did not happen via government intervention – we will explore how popular movements composed of regular people fed up with unfair situations came together to make change for the betterment of everyone. Names like Sojourner Truth, Lois Gibbs, Susan B. Anthony, Malcolm X, and Samuel Gompers will morph from SAT Test answers to real people who helped make a new world for all of us.
We will use discussion and class research projects to find out how ordinary folks became extraordinary leaders. Requirements for credit: reading and web research, attendance and participation in class discussion, three research papers, and one collaborative class projects.
Social Studies
Teacher: Louisa Carl
Ancient history tells us Western civilization started with the Greeks, right? Not so fast. And if we look beyond Western civilization, we can find all kinds of world-views that inform our modern culture. We’ll focus on the roles of men and women, boys and girls in a variety of cultures that pre-date our own, to try to see where and how gender roles evolved. What we may find may surprise you. What if native people, and especially older women, actually provided much of the content of the US Constitution? What if the Ten Commandments came from a guy named Hammarabi, rather than from Moses? This romp through history will give us lots of room to test our assumptions about what parts of the past shaped our worldview.
We’ll use reading, web research, and first hand experiences to learn. Credit requires: reading and web research, participation in class discussion and projects, and a final research paper.
History credit
Who walked this ground four hundred, three or even eight thousand years ago? Who was born, grew up, lived and died here? How did they live? What did they eat, and what were they thinking? Who were the “red paint people” who were here long before pottery? How did a thousand year old Norse coin get to Blue Hill? What sort of people showed up from Europe later on, and what was their life like? The answers to these questions are pretty sketchy, but this field trip based course will show you some of what we do know based on archaeology and very early written records, and how we know these things.
Each class will consist of a discussion period and field trip. We will meet once a week, and extend sometimes late into the afternoon. We’ll visit museums, colleges and archaeological sites, and talk to people who are trying to find out more. In between classes you will be expected to spend considerable time studying internet and/or written sources, and engaging in on-line discussion (or maybe just posting on a bulletin board made out of bulletin board, tacks and paper!) Participation in class discussions, extensive take home final project, and skilled and competent exhibition participation required.
English
Creative writing Credit
Teacher: Louisa Carl
“I do know how to pay attention, how to fall down
into the grass, how to kneel down in the grass,
how to be idle and blessed, how to stroll through the fields,
which is what I have been doing all day.
Tell me, what else should I have done?
Doesn't everything die at last, and too soon?
Tell me, what is it you plan to do
with your one wild and precious life?”
- Summer Day, Mary Oliver
Reflecting on our relationship to nature is something people have done since the beginning of the human consciousness. This has resulted in a whole lot of wonderful writing -- in poetry, prose, and non-fiction forms. We will survey a slew of writers, from Thoreau to Alice Walker, from Terry Tempest Williams to Carl Hiaason, from Mary Oliver to T. Coraghessan Boyle. We will read for the joy of it, but will pick up a lot of good writing tricks and tips along the way. This course will help you explore your own connection to the natural world, and will improve your writing skills too. We will take mini field trips outside to write and read as much as possible.
Requirements for credit: reading and web research, in-class attendance and participation in discussion, regular writing assignments, and one final oral reading of a finished and polished piece of writing.
Art
Art Credit
Teacher: Louisa Carl
Art is an expression of inner and outer worlds unique to human beings. Each person is born with the ability to create, but many of us get intimidated: by comparing our work to “real” artists, by early critics, by society’s disregard of the arts, or by our own inner critic and shut off our own artistic impulses. To overcome all these takes work and inspiration. Being an artist is not an easy path in life, even for those with tremendous talent. We will explore how others do this, and try it ourselves. One day a week, we will attempt to release ourselves to the magic of making art.
This course will be an individually tailored foray into the world of the arts. You will select at least two media to explore and work with. Media possibilities include: painting, sculpture, photography, music, theater, mixed media, jewelry and/or clothes design, dance, etc. We will work to meet local artists and hear about their work and their artistic process. We will also take advantage of the rich art community in Belfast by taking many field trips, including places like Waterfall Arts, local galleries, the Maskers Theater group, and so on. Course credit is based on participation in group discussions and field trips, the design and execution of three artworks in two different media, and two papers about a researched artist or art movement.
Math
Math credit
What am I ever going to use this stuff for, anyway? Nothing, if you haven't spent the time to learn at least the basics. Besides graduating from high school and not having to do the same old stuff all over again in college (for $1000 per course), knowledge of math opens a lot of career doors. If you can speak some math, you can understand a lot of science and technology which is otherwise closed to you. And most important of all, it gives you one more way of looking at the world, which makes you an educated adult. This course covers everything from Pre-Algebra review through Calculus. You can start wherever your abilities are (even if all you know is 1 + 1 = 2), and move at your own pace. Get credit when you have mastered a set amount of material. Learn from books, computers, each other or teacher. Must be taken five times a week, but because it meets every day, there is never assigned homework. If you want to check out some details on how it works, ask me for a syllabus.
Physical Education
Physical Education credit
We live in a great part of the world with many opportunities for outside recreation. What are you waiting for? Put the laptop in the dishwasher (it’s frozen up again anyhow), shoot your television, and head out the door! Try a new outdoor sport and you may find a lot of pleasure in the years to come.
This is a series of weekend, spare time or vacation outdoor adventure activities. Five and perhaps more activities will be scheduled, many of which involve overnight stays, and some cost for food or equipment rental. To get a credit, you must participate in a minimum of three of these group activities.
Backpacking on the Appalachian Trail, gig rowing and kayaking are good choices. Others possible activities include climbing Mt. Katahdin or Mt. Washington, winter camping, snowshoeing, rock climbing, snowboarding and downhill skiing, canoeing, white water rafting, orienteering, and bicycling.
Schedule for this course will vary depending on which activities students participate in, but will mostly be on weekends or vacations, and may continue from one semester into the next. We can get together early and decide what activities we want to do, and when to schedule them.
Languages
|
