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MGAS Curriculum |
| Our Educational Philosophy |
| In order to create a program that allows us to enact our mission statement, we have identified ten (10 ) concepts/ideas which we believe are vital to help our student understand and make meaning of the world. Consequently, these concepts/ideas, in conjunction with our mission statement, serve to guide the structure and implementation of our program. |
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Power/Governance |
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Scientific Reasoning/Technology |
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Justice |
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Distribution of Wealth |
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Religion/Spirituality |
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Self-Awareness/The Individual |
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The Aesthetic |
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History As A Social Construct |
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Community and Society |
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Communication |
| Our Objectives |
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By exposing our students to these concepts/ideas, we hope to accomplish the following:
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| 1. To expand our student's knowledge base |
| 2. To improve student's basic skills |
| 3. To develop student's critical thinking skills |
| 4. To provide student's with the skills necessary to succeed in the workplace and/or in any post secondary education |
| Our Program |
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Academic Classes: are taught using an integrated, multi-disciplinary curriculum, which is truly “liberal arts” in nature. Any given unit encourages students to look at a selected theme from a language arts, math and science, and social studies perspective. We want kids to approach the idea of “meaning” or “truth” from various disciplines, and in so doing, make connections not only between areas of study, but with themselves in the world. We are very process based—the classroom experience is integral to our academic program. Students either earn credit for their work or they do not, for we do not issue grades. All work for a quarter must be done to receive credit, and any given assignment must meet selected standards before being officially marked as “complete.” |
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Study Tours: are offered once per quarter, a period of one to two weeks where we take the classroom “on the road.” Each study tour is built around a central idea. Past study tours have focused on the “History of Wisconsin”(Old World Wisconsin, Stonefield Village), “Architecture” (Monona Terrace, the UW campus, House on the Rock), Crime and Punishment ( Dane County District Attorney, Dane County Jail, Oakhill Corrections) and the notion of “Making and Creating Stuff” (poetry, crafts, comedy, motorcycles, and a brewery). |
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Independent Study: our afternoon curriculum, allows the students a chance to pursue a variety of interests. These are project-based studies which can be very “academic” or more “hands-on.” Students work on remedial work they need, required work for graduation and projects they choose. Kids have studied Math, Latin, WWI, the natural sciences, China, poetry, music, pottery, psychology, literature, teen pregnancy, design, and many other interesting topics. |
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Daily Newspaper Reading: begins our day. We read for ten or fifteen minutes, share stories of interest, and discuss current events. |
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Independent Reading: separates our two morning academic classes. The students spend about twenty minutes reading books of their choice. |
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“Friday Mornings”
are
a little different. |
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MGAS Curriculum Summary 2006-2007 |
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First Quarter |
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Unit: Diseases and Epidemics · Bioterrorism · Geography · AIDS Unit: Visions of Heaven and Hell · Comparative Religion · Dante’s “Inferno” Study Tour: History of European Settlement in Wisconsin |
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Second Quarter |
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Unit: Diseases and Epidemics · AIDS · Terminal Illness Unit: Visions of Heaven and Hell · Heaven · Overpopulation Study Tour: Architecture |
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Third Quarter |
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Unit: Topics in Psychology · Social scientific research · Theories of consciousness · Intelligence Unit: Propaganda and Persuasions · Early history of US · Globalization · Media Analysis
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Fourth Quarter |
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Unit: The Middle East · Ancient Civilizations · Comparative Religions · Israeli-Arab conflict · US-Middle East relations Unit: Propaganda and Persuasion · Noam Chomsky-Media Analysis ·
Non-mainstream political parties |