Curriculum and Programming

 

Overview

The Balto School will be a residential program where a statewide cohort of high school juniors will complete a semester-long Alaska-focused leadership curriculum.  Our content is place-based and instruction emphasizes inquiry and experiential learning. Skills identified for leadership in Alaskan communities and utilization of educational partners in Seward anchor classroom learning to Alaskan communities.

 

 

Place-based Alaskan curriculum

The texts and projects that comprise our curriculum are unique to and endemic of Alaska, focusing on skills and knowledge necessary to prepare our students to be the next generation of Alaskan leaders. Learning will be integrated into the Seward community, accessing educational partners to allow students to participate in authentic learning activities.

Children reading in Jesse Lee Home

Inquiry-based instruction

An inquiry model in the science and technology curriculum cultivates and builds upon students’ selected interests and allows them to explore core content in real-world learning experiences. The inquiry model used in the language arts and social studies curriculum strengthens students’ persuasive and collaborative skills while allowing them to determine the course and substance of their discovery of a text.

 

Blended Learning

Core curriculum is supplemented by online learning resources that allow students to pursue their own interests while being assisted and guided by a teacher. In this environment, students select their educational pursuits and teachers act as coaches, helping to guide them through the resources. Content ranging from remedial to college-level rigor is available from a wide range of open-source resources,. This productive, new model allows students to work at their own pace while accessing influential academic leaders in their chosen fields, classes to be effectively administered by teachers with generalized knowledge, and classroom space to be used more productively (for more, see “Rise of Blended Learning in K-12 Education”, Innosight Institute, Inc. 2011).

 

Educational partnerships with local:

 

●   marine research organizations,

●   accessible populations of marine mammals,

●   a thriving fisheries and shellfish industry,

●   the production of alternative energies,

●   and rich and varied natural surroundings.

 

Suggested Readings

Copyright 2013 - Balto School  

 Design by Raven Storm Digital