CROMWELL - The Freshaman Academy at Cromwell High School is intended to create a meaningful, integrated education with a focus on skills for college and career including collaboration, creativity, effective oral and written communication, and technology and financial literacy. The Academy is designed to meet the needs of diverse learners through a project-based learning (PBL) curriculum and instruction by highly skilled teachers.

       Project-based learning sets the stage for an authentic and skill-driven curriculum. But what does that mean?

       Essentially, PBL provides students, as well as teachers, with an integrative framework for intellectual inquiry in core subjects--math, science, English and history. Students delve into a subject area in response to a complex question, problem, or challenge.

       A simple example would be the way piano is taught to beginners. Piano students aren’t first asked to memorize the keyboard, a set of music terms, or theories before they begin to play. It’s probably safe to say that not even Mozart would have wanted to learn piano if learning began with such boring mechanics. Rather, playing the piano--getting a feel for the keys and where the musical notes fall on the keyboard--begins in the first lesson. Students are also asked what type of music they enjoy listening to, and easy to play tunes in that genre are usually assigned for at home practice. With each progressive lesson, a piano student learns more about musical dynamics, theory, and how musical notes can be combined to form different patterns all with different effects. Theory and playing are integrated in advanced teaching techniques as a student’s skills improve. Assessment proceeds with each lesson--identifying where the student is in both development of skill and understanding of musical concepts. The teacher adjusts each lesson according to the student’s needs, motivation, and ability.

       In academics, PBL curriculum provides students with ways to learn a subject in an applied and relevant manner. Within the teaching strategies that are common to PBL, students have a great degree of â€�"voice and choice,” meaning that they can express and align their interests in ways that are meaningful to them as they are learning. The curriculum is designed to help students develop intrinsic motivation to learn and to be self-directed. Students are routinely engaged in creating high-quality, original products and presentations within the subject areas.

       The high expectations inherent to PBL do not only apply to students; educators selected to teach PBL in the Freshman Academy have to be equally motivated, highly creative and able to collaborate across subject areas with a team of teachers.

       â€�"I am challenged intellectually by my colleagues as we build upon each other’s strengths and collaborate and problem solve as a team to stimulate young minds and prepare them for the future,” said Rachel Eleiott who has been teaching social studies at Cromwell High School for the past five years. Eleiott has taught everything from world history to U.S. history and sociology; this is her first year teaching Freshman Academy. Two years ago, she was asked if she would be interested in teaching in a pilot program that focused on PBL.

       â€�"During that pilot program, four core teachers had an experience that completely transformed my instruction and philosophy on the purpose of education,” she said.

       Christian Allard, who teaches English for grades 9 and 10, also taught in the pilot program. Even having had seven years teaching experience, Allard also finds the interdisciplinary approach a rewarding challenge for an educator:

       â€�"In some ways, the PBL concept wasn’t brand new to me, as I’ve used similar strategies in teaching in the past. But rolling this out with an interdisciplinary model was a large undertaking. It challenges me to see the interdisciplinary connections more readily and to make time to plan for them with other teachers. That’s the significant educational challenge, logistically, to make sure that my colleagues and I are timely in the way in which we present learning opportunities to the students. It is more meaningful this way, though, as students are able to formulate and articulate connections between multiple disciplines. It’s really a better representation of the way people learn.”

       A Day in the Freshman Academy at CHS

       All entering freshmen (grade 9) students attend four core courses: English, social studies, math and science, as a group (cohort). Each cohort also has three electives of their choice. Electives are not part of the cohort. Cohorts are chosen based on math recommendations from middle school (Algebra I or Algebra II). All of the core courses are considered â€�"Level 1 weighted credit” on their G.P.A., which indicates courses at the highest level for depth and content--something colleges and universities look favorably upon.

       Students may begin the day with social Studies with the cohort, then head to English. Following that the science and math teachers have a common lesson that they will team teach for two periods. The remainder of the day is filled with electives and study hall.

       The FA teachers have a common planning period dedicated to the freshman group. This allows for planning interdisciplinary units with their colleagues and ensures that teachers know what each student is learning throughout their core content areas. Additionally, teachers confer with students, parents and guidance counselors during common planning time.

       â€�"For me, the challenging aspect of teaching FA is creating meaningful interdisciplinary projects that tap into all students’ interests so that their education is as authentic as possible,” said Eleiott. â€�"Most of the projects deal with big problems that don’t have one solution, that is the beauty of it I am constantly learning from my students and research as the projects progress.”

       During the summer months, teachers may attend workshops to help them create and replicate projects that [they] feel will build all the skills necessary for student academic success and preparation for college and career readiness.

       Student Engagement for Learning

       Students are graded on classwork, tests, quizzes, homework, and projects and papers. They also develop a portfolio of experiences that will be shared at a public presentation for parents, students and teachers. Currently, CHS students are completing an individual project called â€�"Ethical Dilemma Report,” in which they research an ethical dilemma that encompasses all four disciplines. The report must address the dilemma, requires the student to takes a position on it and to support their position through mathematical and scientific data. Attention is placed on the credibility and reliability of sources across the four disciplines.

       â€�"Student engagement has definitely increased in the four years that I have been teaching. One of the biggest reasons for this is that each freshman has an iPad, which they use as a critical thinking and problem solving tool,” said Eleiott.

       â€�"Each day I will give them a task to complete using their iPads and the results thus far have been incredible…The students are able to uncover big ideas that can cover various topics in history and makes connections from the past to today. There is much more collaboration and discourse with this model because many times the students are asked to peer assess, collaborate to complete group projects, and debate controversial topics.”

       Allard pointed out the benefits of â€�"Voice and Choice,” which further enhances engagement in learning. â€�"Whenever teenagers have the opportunity to make [learning] about themselves in some way, they are more passionate. This makes for a better learner because he or she is more focused and invested.”  

       Ready for 21st Century College & Career

       Colleges and universities look favorably upon students who take high-level courses and challenge themselves. By making the FA courses Level 1 weighted credit for all ninth graders, every student has the opportunity to work with more advanced skills. Teachers are able to teach to one standard level, but appropriate support, structure and guidance is available to every student so that they can excel.

       The Academy’s focus on 21st century learning skills and strategies that all students need to acquire in their freshman year also aligns with state and national academic standards. Assessment is an important part of monitoring the success of the program and the student achievement. Benchmark assessments and other measures are used along with standardized tests. Throughout the school year, students participate in surveys and end-of-unit assessments that will provide feedback about their experiences.

       In His Own Words: A Freshman Student Shares His Experience with PBL in the Freshman Academy

       Freshman Jack Shauck is the president of his class and the history student of the month at CHS. In this short essay, he shares his perspective on Freshman Academy and PBL.

       â€�"When people look at what Cromwell High School is doing with the iPads, they might be thinking that the devices take away from our learning and distract us—but that is not the case. With both teachers and students having iPads, the educational uses and opportunities are endless. With the iPads students can take notes, draw pictures, take pictures of the board, make imovies, draw graphs, record data, write essays, and much more.

       We have a lot of group projects and iPads are also a very good communication tool where we can iMessage, Skype, FaceTime, and have group messages. This technology that we have the privilege to use is changing our educational experience tremendously and is enhancing our learning.

       The [PBL] experience challenges me because, in group tasks and projects, I have to work as best as I can with other students. When I have an idea or an argument, I usually stick by it and I don’t easily listen to what others say. In PBL, I have to do the opposite of this and work with, and listen to my team and see their point of view. This is a challenge for me because I mostly do all of the talking and tend to see only my point of view.

       The project we are working on now is an essay about an ethical dilemma occurring in the U.S. For the essay, we need to pick an ethical dilemma and then pick a side and have evidence to back it up. This essay must include historical information, science information, mathematical information, and English information. Our teachers have taken time out of their class to discuss this project and work on it with us. This essay will also include a claim, counterclaim, evidence, quotes, citations, rhetoric, graphs, charts, origin, definitions, and more that we have been learning about in all of our freshman academy classes.

       My freshman academy experience so far has been awesome and I hope to not only become a better student but a better person through the rest of the year.”