Welcome to Just Keep Learning Educational Village

The dolphin is our school mascot. Dolphins are highly intelligent creatures. They are naturally curious and eager to learn. They work together in pods to accomplish their goals. When a dolphin is ill, its podmates rally around it to offer support and encouragement.Dolphin Lore


The ocean's varied depths are a symbol of our encouragement and our support of the depths of learning available to all those who are members of our Village.

These are the qualities we promote in our students at Just Keep Learning Educational Village. We hope that your family will join ours!

Our beautiful, outdoor learning environment includes community gardens, root cellars, nature and jogging trails, pathways, and courtyards. All building pods open to a shared courtyard. The external walls of the buildings are constructed of safety glass. Using Eric Jensen's Super Teaching "Menu for Classroom Environments" the Educational Village incorporates visual, kinesthetic, and auditory elements into the interior learning environments.

SOME OF THE FEATURES OF OUR VILLAGE INCLUDE:

Our Village is a single track year round school with three week breaks between nine week regular sessions. During breaks, students may participate in various enrichment opportunities at the Village or in the nearby community.



Our Village opens at 7:00AM and closes at 11:00PM Sunday through Saturday.



Our Village features a parent center which includes a health-care facility, social services, childcare, a recreational facility, and an adult learning center.



Our Village currently houses students aged three through eleven and will add two age groups per year during the next three years.



Students are grouped in ten pods of forty-five; fifteen students per facilitator.



Our flexible schedule allows for students to learn at their own pace, with no bells to impede our teaching and learning.



Facilitators are afforded time in their daily schedules for collaborative planning, and they are involved in continuous staff development.



Families commit to twenty hours of volunteer work at the Educational Village each year.



Our Village has partnerships with higher education institutions, community organizations, non-profit associations, and for-profit corporations.



Educators, parents, community members, and students are represented on a team, which makes all managerial decisions by July 1st of each year.



Teachers are called "Facilitators of Learning". Our principals are our "Lead Facilitators", who are continuously in the classrooms working with children.



Technology helps bridge the gap between our Village and the world around us. All students in our Village are provided with computers for home and school.



Our students are offered the opportunity to interact with other cultures and learn multiple languages.



The Arts are an integral part of our curriculum. Students are encouraged to express themselves in varied modes, allowing students to tap into their multiple intelligences.



To help develop synergistic use of both sides of the brain, and fine and gross motor development, our youngest students are encouraged to learn to play at least one musical instrument.



Music is piped throughout our Village to stimulate creativity and promote a nurturing environment.



Student exhibitions culminate each of the nine week cycles.



Because students are learning to nourish and care for their environment, there is no destructive graffiti.

1. Students/Facilitators Actively Engage in the Learning Process

provide exploratory experiences

encourage authetic, cooperative projects

promote problem solving

include facilitator/student demonstrations

engage students in simulations

include active research

make use of role-playing

include hands-on experiences




2. Students' Ideas are Respected and Valued; Stress is Low; Self-Efficacy is High

create a feeling of community

foster low stress environment

provide supportive, positive feedback

promote individual/cooperative success

encourage interdependency and peer support

practice conflict resoultion

support student's dreams and aspirations

create multiple, varied situations where individuals are repetitively successful




3. Students Have Ownership of Their Learning and Assessment

give students voice in what/how they learn

engage students in designing assessment

use peer teaching

develop flexible learning activities that meet individual needs and interests

create experiences where students are committed to both the content and the nature of the learning activity




4. Students Engage in Both Social Interaction and Self-Reflection

create learning activities that allow for communication in flexible, diverse and adaptable settings

provide instruction on how to engage in positive social interaction and self-reflection

facilitate a classroom environment conducive to social interaction and self-reflection

provide opportunities for individual/group reflection

encourage multiple forms of appropriate journaling




5. Students Develop/Use Critical-Thinking Skills and Numerous Strategies for Problem Solving

teach students how to think critically and use numerous strategies

engage students in activities which facilitate the use of higher-order thinking skils and numerous problem solving strategies

support students' sharing of ideas and strategies used to accomplish tasks

provide learning experiences that challenge students' engagement




6. Student Learning is Tied to Particular Situations and Illustrates a "Value Beyond School"

create learning experiences that are directly related to the learner's immediate and not-so-immediate life outside of school

build upon students' prior experiences and viewpoints

relate new experiences to past ones, aiding students' recall and transfer of ideas

develop learning experiences that have personal and emotional ties for students




7. Students/Facilitators use Prior Knowledge to Construct New Knowledge, Attitudes, and Beliefs

assess prior knowledge of content, attitudes, and beliefs

address misconceptions prior to and during learning of new ideas

link new information to old ideas

make use of students' emotional ties to ideas and experiences

Assessment

Purpose of Assessment

Overview of Assessments

Multiple Choices

What Gets Assessed?

SCANS' 5 Competencies

The Wired Classroom

Constructive Staff Development

Collaboration on Planning

Brain Research

Development

Leadership

Learning Organizations

Lesson Plan Ideas

Quality Review

School Reform

Staff Development

Technology and Teaching

Web Site Resources

Web Site Education Newsletters

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