Lesley Zylstra reads to a classroom at Hawley Environmental School
The massive, unprecedented and ongoing funding cuts to Wisconsin’s public education system may cause many to assume that parents must enroll their children in private or charter schools to ensure access to specialty curriculum in college-preparatory programs, arts, environmental studies, advanced foreign language studies and the like. The reality, however, is that many of these offerings exist within the Milwaukee Public Schools (MPS) system.
Continuing the work of a previous article highlighting Milwaukee High School of the Arts’ specialty offerings, we here take a closer look at three more MPS schools that go above and beyond their state-mandated curricula. We solicited responses from faculty member Lesley Zylstra and Principal Richard Bukosky of Hawley Environmental School, Principal Andrea Corona of MacDowell Montessori School and Principal Yvette Martel of Milwaukee School of Languages to learn more about what their institutions have to offer.
Hawley Environmental School
True to its name, this K4-fifth grade elementary school focuses on environmental education. Boasting a greenhouse, aquaponics lab, weekly environmental education classes and school gardens, Hawley likewise offers art, music, physical education and technology classes—all in addition to its regular academic curriculum. Hawley is also in the process of innovating its specialty curriculum into a STEM-based (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) program, with environmental studies remaining at its heart.
Asked what makes environmental studies important to elementary education, Zylstra and Bukosky replied by email in a statement that read, “By definition, ‘elementary’ means ‘relating to the most rudimentary aspects of a subject.’ Environmental studies, though it can become incredibly sophisticated and developed, at its core is ‘the basics’: how we survive, how the Earth works, how living things function. It only seems fair to teach our youth these basics.” As populations and resources become strained, the need for environmental scientists and engineers with a grounding in Earth systems will only grow.
“It is one of the fastest-growing job markets today,” the statement continued. “Hawley Environmental School’s vision is that ‘Hawley students will be globally-minded critical thinkers and environmentally conscious leaders.’ We don’t pretend that this is accomplished when they leave Hawley at 11 years old, but we do hope that we have laid the foundation that supports these future adults to be productive citizens in the future—for their own benefit and all of ours!”
|
|
Hawley’s environmental studies emphasize enviro-economic systems such as food production. The statement stressed that through its participation in the Fresh Fruits and Vegetable Program (FFVP), Hawley not only provides students nutritious snacks but also the opportunity to learn about the food growing and production process in our country. A recent teachable moment occurred when students expected to try pluots (a plum-apricot hybrid) for the first time but did not receive the fruits as planned, leading neatly into a discussion of the recent wildfires in California and the impact this has had on the enviro-economic system.
Students likewise engage with Milwaukee’s and the nation’s pressing issue of hunger. “We teach our students how to grow their own food, harvest, cook, compost and, with the help of the FFVP, the nutritional value and health benefits of fruits and vegetables,” according to the Hawley statement. “By the time students leave Hawley, they have even experienced working in our one-of-a-kind, three-system Aquaponics Lab with teacher Casey McEvilly. This is another example of asking our students to scale back from the small picture of feeding current hunger to the bigger picture of sustained health and food system production.”
Focusing as well on place-based education, students enjoy and help maintain two outdoor classrooms, eight raised-bed gardens, a sensory-pollinator garden and a native Wisconsin prairie garden. Of course, it wouldn’t be place-based education in Milwaukee if our tremendous water resources were not included. To wit, students study the Great Lakes and water resources and industries.
A partnership with the Urban Ecology Center provides education on Milwaukee’s immediate watershed through multiple access points along the Menomonee River, where students investigate biotic indicators of water quality. The Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewage District (MMSD) provided a map of water flow from Hawley to Lake Michigan and Jones Island. Fifth grade students visit Jones Island to learn about the systems MMSD engineers have designed to manage the local watershed and process waste before the water returns to the lake. Likewise, through a partnership with the Alliance for the Great Lakes, Hawley students participate in beach cleanups and collect pollution data.
“With a specialty curriculum, it takes planning, research and collaboration to be sure we are meeting both state and district requirements, while keeping our school’s mission in focus,” the statement added. “We use multiple resources—curricular, digital and human—and consistent integration of subjects so that our environmental program is not just science, math, literacy or social studies, but rather a part of each one of those subjects, and those subjects are each a part of the environmental program.”
MacDowell Montessori School
MacDowell Montessori—which holds the distinction of being the only public K3-12th grade Montessori school in the nation—has a unique history and set of offerings for students. The elementary-aged portion of the school has been in operation since 1976, making it the oldest public Montessori school in the state and among the oldest in the nation.
In 2006, a charter Montessori high school opened, and, in 2012, the school board moved the elementary school into the high school’s building—merging the two and making the entire K3-12 experience part of MPS. To enroll above the K4 level, grade school students must previously have had continuous Montessori school attendance (case-by-case exceptions may be made), while high school admission is completely open.
Principal Corona described the foundations of Montessori education: “Maria Montessori was a physician in Italy. She developed the initial early childhood curriculum in 1906. She was a medical doctor trying to work in a sanatorium with developmentally disabled and physically disabled children. They weren’t being provided an education in the facility, just physical care. She observed them, studied them and started developing curricular materials to help them engage with content. The children that were never supposed to have a right to education outperformed both Italy’s public and private school children on performance assessments, and it spiraled from there.” The modern Montessori model serves children with and without special needs.
Expanding on the unique features of Montessori education, Corona first offered perspective on the benefit of extending the amount of time students can receive a Montessori education. “The nice part about being a K-12 school is we have a prime opportunity for vertical alignment of our curriculum. We’re all here in the same building and we can talk.”
Addressing the way this setup benefits students, she said, “It gives you the opportunity to build community in a way that most schools don’t have. Some of the students that are graduating this year were here since they were 3 years old, and that’s really special … We try to build opportunities for them to be leaders and for them to showcase their skills. For example, last year, two of our varsity boys basketball players coached the elementary basketball team … We also give older students opportunities to work as tutors with the elementary level students; and we have a Big Brothers-Big Sisters program.”
Regarding Montessori’s unique educational features, Corona said the multi-age classroom approach reflects Maria Montessori’s observation that children go through three-year developmental planes. A benefit of classrooms combining three age groups is that children have the same teacher for three years and develop consistency, community and leadership. “For example, in our K3 through K5 classroom, the K5s are the stewards of the environment and the community,” Corona explained. “The younger students have to ask them for help and guidance. Each time students transition to a new developmental level, they get to work to become leaders once again.”
In Montessori schools, the curriculum is based on students working independently and in small groups and using specific sets of concrete, sensorial materials. “Those materials are sequenced in a way that develops content in the different curricular areas, but also the curriculum is designed so that it allows for cross-categorical studies,” Corona said.
“Also, we allow students to have choice in how they follow up with their learning. For example, if I’m giving you a lesson about currents in the ocean, you may get extraordinarily interested in the science of currents, you may get interested in the doldrums and how ships used to get trapped for months, and you might start researching historical stories about how that happened. Each individual student has the opportunity to follow their interest and explore content in a way that’s most meaningful for them. And, of course, all of that is wrapped up in literacy: vocabulary development, content-area reading and writing and research and inquiry. All of those really important standards are in the Common Core. We provide instruction on those standards but in a way that’s really engaging for students.”
MacDowell is also part of the International Baccalaureate (IB) program, which provides rigorous curriculum for college preparation and offers the opportunity for a standardized, internationally benchmarked test that can translate into three to seven college credits per subject area (dependent on specific institutions’ requirements). All 11th and 12th grade students at MacDowell take a full IB course load focused on six subject groups and the IB Diploma Program core, which highlights theory of knowledge, creativity, activity, service and an extended essay.
Asked how IB merges with Montessori, Corona said, “IB and Montessori are really a natural marriage at the adolescent level because IB also approaches curriculum in a very holistic way and is really looking at developing the attributes of the learner … It provides a further opportunity for students to have deep content-area learning.”
Regarding partnerships and specialty programs even beyond the Montessori approach and IB program, MacDowell works with multiple organizations including Danceworks, Milwaukee Chamber Theatre, Milwaukee Repertory Theater, Urban Ecology Center, Havenwoods Environmental Center and the Milwaukee County Zoo.
MacDowell is also at the forefront of a district-wide initiative to bring mindfulness training to MPS students and staff. Now in its fourth year, MacDowell’s program partners with Growing Minds and Reset Mind and Body to teach yoga, breathing techniques and mindfulness meditation. The results, Corona attested, are invaluable. “That work has been transformative for our students,” she says. “It’s really helped them remain calm and focused on their work and learning in the classroom environment.”
MacDowell’s unique offerings have likewise proven successful on national metrics. Asked to cite a recent achievement, Corona shared, “Two years ago, we were recognized for academic rigor by The Washington Post. We were really pleased to be ranked number 27 in the state of Wisconsin for academic outcomes—especially considering that we graduated a class of 32 students that year, and we don’t have an admissions requirement. We just couldn’t believe it. We felt like the Little Engine that Could.”
Milwaukee School of Languages
Milwaukee School of Languages (MSL) serves grades six through 12 offering immersion programs in German, French, Mandarin Chinese and Spanish. MPS elementary language immersion graduates enter the school’s full immersion programs in sixth grade, and students from other schools may apply to partial Spanish immersion in grade six as well. Art, music and physical education are offered at all grade levels as well as elective courses and Advanced Placement (AP) courses in 11 subjects.
The AP Capstone Program is likewise available, allowing students two AP courses: one focused on seminar learning and the other on research. Both are designed to supplement the discipline-specific studies of other AP courses. This is a coup for MSL since it is one of the first three MPS schools (along with Alexander Hamilton High School and Milwaukee High School of the Arts) to adopt the prestigious college preparatory program.
Asked what makes language immersion an important and effective part of elementary and secondary education, Principal Martel cited several advantages: “It develops students who have more flexibility in thinking, a higher level of creativity, greater sensitivity to language and a better ear for listening. It also helps strengthen basic skills, improving memory and problem-solving skills. It maximizes the brain’s window of opportunity for easy language acquisition, helps develop stronger communication skills and gives students a head start on high school and college language requirements.”
She expanded on the neurological development side of things, stating that “the specialty curriculum starts the students at an earlier age when their brains have a better aptitude for soaking up new knowledge. In immersion, the method mimics how students learn from their parents and others. They learn by doing and by being immersed in the language.”
Interestingly, Martel also argued that foreign-language study improves a child’s understanding of his or her native language, while simultaneously opening doors to cross-cultural appreciation. On a practical note, she maintains that it also increases job opportunities within the global economy.
Asked how language immersion relates to Wisconsin Common Core requirements, Martel said, “All of the teachers use the Common Core State Standards in the core classes. The only difference between a student in immersion and a student in a monolingual school is that the classes for an immersion student are taught in the target language. Content is the same. The culture classes focus on the cultures of the different languages.”
At MSL, full-immersion students in sixth or seventh grade receive language classes taught in the target language, as well as math, social studies and culture classes. English, science, music, physical education, art and computers are taught in English.
Not surprisingly, MSL boasts an impressive international partnership with the prominent German education organization Zentralstelle für das Auslandsschulwesen (ZfA). Martel says, “MSL was selected to be a PASCH school by ZfA/Central Agency for Schools Abroad in 2010. PASCH schools place a high value on German language and culture and offer the internationally recognized German Language Exam (Deutsches Sprachdiplom).
“The Central Agency for Schools Abroad, which is supported by the German government, supports our program with a representative from the agency who helps us with materials, resources and professional development to strengthen our classroom instruction and prepare students for the German Language Exam. Milwaukee German Immersion School (K4-grade 5) and MSL are the only PASCH schools in Wisconsin and one of only a few such programs in the United States; PASCH schools are located all around the world.”
Citing MSL’s successes, Martel also pointed to The Washington Post. “The Post has named MPS’s Milwaukee School of Languages as one of the best high schools in the state according to its ‘America’s Most Challenging High Schools’ list. Milwaukee School of Languages was number three in this ranking and among the top 12% in the country.”
For a complete listing of specialty-curriculum schools within MKS, visit mps.milwaukee.k12.wi.us/en/Schools/Find-a-School.htm and search schools by criteria including “gifted and talented,” “arts focus,” “bilingual” and so forth.
