Called the Telstar Freshman Academy, or TFA, it involves all its district’s ninth graders in a hands-on learning method that uses outdoor-based projects and community-building activities as ways to teach across several disciplines.
The program is aimed at helping students feel connected to each other and their community in a place where — as in so many rural areas hit hard by the opioid epidemic and the 2008 recession — connectedness and a shared sense of purpose have been in short supply.
Kelly Dole, the school’s science teacher, says that when she first started teaching at Telstar High School, in 1998, students were often unprepared for life after high school. Coming from rural townships in western Maine, half of them qualified for free or reduced-price lunch, and many were part of families experiencing unemployment, domestic violence or substance abuse.
“This style of learning, this family atmosphere that we have here, it’s a real positive in kids’ lives,” Dole said. “The kids just have opportunities through this program that are really quite astonishing.”
Dole said that this holistic, student-centered paradigm has changed her approach to teaching — for the better. Now, she said, as she approaches her lesson planning and her teaching, she asks herself questions she never asked before: “Do I need every kid to really deeply understand plate tectonics? versus, as a 14-year-old, What does it mean to be a student? What does it mean to work in a group or get along with others? Or to communicate in an effective manner? Or to be a positive force in your community?”
To read more of Emily Kaplan, The Hechinger Report article on MindShift, please click here.
Comments (0)