User:Theonlytruemathnerd/sandbox
| Shrimp-Elephant Battle | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of Shrimp-Elephant War | |||||||
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
| Shrimp Army | Elephant Warriors | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
| General Ocean Badass | George | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| 527 | 2 | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| Unknown | Unknown | ||||||
The Soundings Program is an educational curriculum approach developed for American middle school students that allows the students themselves to define a curriculum based on a theme that they themselves choose, and using metrics that they themselves devise.[1] Due the the vast number of visitors that Soundings gets, there are many other classrooms around the world that implement aspects of the program, but there is only one full Soundings classroom, located in Wayne, Pennsylvania, at Radnor Middle School.
Description
[edit]Springer describes the program as "an integrative and democratic curriculum", referring to its cross-disciplinary approach to topics, and its student-selected themes and metrics. A visitor to the classroom in 2007, Professor Mike Muir, says that "Rarely, had (he) worked with students who were so articulate, involved with their learning, and so clear about what they were learning! It was amazing."[2]
Work
[edit]Daily Work
[edit]Every day, two students present the Class Log from the day before, which includes the summary for the day, who was absent, who visited the classroom, the Quote for the week, and the Log Question. The Log Question is a question that is put on the chalkboard every day, and can range from questions such as How do you know when you've learned something? What does it mean to be left- or right-brained? and What is the nervous system? Every day all of the students are expected to answer the Log Question, which is then discussed the next day. Twice a week two other students put a quote up on the chalkboard, and all of the students have two days to write a response.
Work Time
[edit]The main part of Soundings time is devoted to Work Time. During Work Time students can work on a variety of projects, such as Focus Papers, Current Events, Self-Assessments, Individual Research Projects (IRPs), Lab Reports, Log Questions and Quotes, Unit Work, or Coffeehouses. Focus Papers are essay that are assigned monthly the usually correspond with what the class is doing at that time. At the beginning of the year the topic of the essay is what the students want to accomplish throughout the year. There is also a mid-year assessment in January, and a paper at the end of the year, the topic of which is about what the students took away from the program. Current Events are due bi-weekly, with Self-Assessments due on opposite weeks. Current Events are one to two pages long, and include a summary of the article read, along with a connection that the student has to the article and an impact that the event will have on the world. Self-Assessments are one way that the students, along with the teachers and the students' parents, are able to see upon what they need to improve. There are two IRPs throughout the year, one due at the end of January in the form of a presentation and one due at the end of May as a formal essay. Both times the students pick their topics, rather than the teacher doing it for them, although there are many due dates so that the teachers can keep tabs on the progress of the projects. There are several Lab Reports during the school year, usually with a focus on physical science. After the experiment is over, the students turn in an extensive report, complete with graphs and a very extensive conclusion.
Development
[edit]The program was developed by middle school educator Mark Springer at his school in Radnor, Pennsylvania beginning in 1998.[3] In 2006, he published a text on the program,[4] and in 2010, he retired from teaching to pursue full-time development and promotion of the program.[3] The program is currently being implemented by Dave Mercurio and Danielle Bajus.
Results
[edit]In reviewing various integrated curriculum approaches, the National Middle School Association's Susan Drake noted that Soundings students show no marked difference in standardized test scores,[5] but "Parents are overwhelmingly positive about the program, and high school teachers report that Soundings graduates appear to discuss topics at a more sophisticated level than students who have not been in the program."[5] In addition, students who have gone through the Soundings Program have gotten a higher GPA than non-Soundings students.
References
[edit]- ^ "Welcome to Soundings". Radnor Middle School. Retrieved 12 December 2012.
- ^ "A Visitor's View of Soundings". Radnor Middle School. Retrieved 18 December 2012.
- ^ a b "ASCD Presenter Bio: Mark Springer". ASCD. Retrieved 12 December 2012.
- ^ Springer, Mark (2006). Soundings: A Democratic, Student-Centered Education. National Middle School Association. ISBN 9781560902003.
- ^ a b Drake, Susan M; Burns, Rebecca C. (2004). Meeting Standards through Integrated Curriculum. National Middle School Association. p. 15. ISBN 9780871208408.