Curriculum Belief Statement

Students must be able to tell us what they think, clearly and in a variety of ways, with written and spoken languages, visual and musical devices, gesture and stance.  Their arguments must be informed, measured, sensitive to others, and, when appropriate, logically persuasive.  The students must be aware of the tensions between appearance and reality and be able to sort out the relevant from the irrelevant.  They must be able to hear well what others tell them. 

They must have some sense of how the world works – and be interested, ready – to discern an issue or puzzlement and know how to make some sense of it (say, the relationship between a chemical that is possibly toxic and ill infants who are exposed to it).  They should be versed in the language of relationships – mathematics – which allows the shape of these relationships to be used.

 The students must display some awareness of history – our communal memories – to figure out why we are where we are, how we represent ourselves,  the meanings and value of those representations – written, designed, somehow shaped – which define us.

Specific Area Learner Expectations