The City as a
Classroom
Treating
the city as a classroom is one of Fenway’s fundamental approaches to teaching
and learning. The school has developed a network of organizational and
individual contacts that connect students to working adults in a range of
professional fields, and it opens many opportunities for outside adults to
participate in school and classroom activities.
In
all areas of the curriculum, Fenway students (and staff) approach problems and
projects the way successful adults, e.g., scientists, authors, business people,
social workers, civil servants, approach them. Students work both individually
and in cooperative groups, and project-based learning is included wherever
possible. While the “correct” answer is valued, so is the process of
arriving at that answer. “How did you reach that conclusion?” and “Were
there other possible solutions or ways to view the problem?” are common
questions from teachers.
Like
working adults, Fenway students also:
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Produce work that demonstrates their thinking processes, effort,
and capability. Fenway students keep portfolios, put on exhibitions, and
present project results to their teachers and adult judges from the
community and local colleges.
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Are engaged in thinking deeply about a core set of questions and
themes, rather than studying a broad range of disconnected subjects.
·
Collaborate with adults in “real world” work settings. Fenway
has connections with many outside organizations and individuals who
provide professional expertise and mentoring, joint program activities,
and worksite experiences for students. Those organizations include Blue
Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts, the Boston Museum of Science,
Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, and the Pfizer Research Technology Center. |
Fenway
also has a long history of collaborating with other educators, beginning with
its ties to the Harvard Graduate School of Education and currently including a
partnership with Emmanuel College, where Fenway juniors and seniors may take
courses. Innovative curricula from educational development centers, such as
Facing History and Ourselves and the Interactive Math Project (IMP), were first
piloted at Fenway.
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Project Week
Every year, in the April week before spring break, Fenway empties out into
Boston. All students (except seniors, who are already out on senior internships)
are mixed in groups with teachers and staff they may or may not know. The groups
are formed from sign-up sheets for different topics to investigate in the city,
such as, “Down But Not Out: How Does the City Serve its Homeless?”;
“Putting On a Show: Theater Production”; and “Sports as News.” School
leaders plan an opening and closing event for everyone on the first and last
days of Project Week, to be held in a large public space like Government Center.
Group leaders plan three middle days of activities which introduce students to
places, people, products, talents and technology in the Boston area related to
their selected topic. Every group does a project that reflects what has been
learned.
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