While skimming through all the articles on my newsfeed, I came across one with the name Steven J. Adamowski in the description. This name is familiar, I said to myself, I feel like I’ve written about him before. Imagine my suprise when I realized that yes, I have blogged about Steven J. Adamowski and his reform plan for Hartford schools in the post A Great Step Forward…I Think. This is the same guy who’s helping start Achievement First in Hartford, you know, the school that creeps me out just a little bit. Well, his latest addition to the reform plan is not creeping me out, in fact, I think it’s kind of cool. Currently, Adamowski is working on bringing the Say Yes program to the Global Communications Academy.
The school is applying to become an International Baccalaureate program. IB schools teach students from a global perspective, with two languages taught, starting in kindergarten, and a third offered for ninth through 12th graders. Other international themes are sprinkled throughout the course work.
For example, a kindergarten lesson on the weather might look at the differences between weather in Hartford and weather in Jamaica, said Principal Darlene Pugnali, who was the principal at an IB school in Mexico City before transferring to Hartford. Details — down to the carpets, which are large maps of the continents — reflect the global perspective Pugnali says the school tries to create.
Instead of having a typical curriculum, the school wraps its lessons around six themes: where we are in place and time; how we express ourselves; how the world works; how we organize ourselves; and sharing the planet.
Looking back on the education I’ve got over the years, I would have loved to have been introduced to international topics. Personally, I feel like I don’t know as much as I should about the rest of the world. Plus, I love foreign languages, so I’m sure I would have loved growing up learning them in school.
The second part of the article, the part about the Say Yes program, is also important for students in urban schools. Say Yes has teamed up with the Global Communications Academy to provide urban students a free college education at the college of their choice as long as they make the grades to get there. I think this is a wonderful idea. I feel like there are many students who feel like school is a waste of time if they can’t afford to go to college to continue their education. But, tell a student that you’ll pay for them as long as they make the grades should certainly be inspiration.
The end of the article included a quote from Connie Coles, the director for Say Yes in Hartford at the Global Communications Academy. She said, “If you keep saying students can’t do stuff, they never will.” I think this quote pretty much sums up how I feel about education, especially urban education. When students grow up with an atmosphere that makes them feel like they can’t accomplish things, why would they try? Give them the resources they need and I believe they can do anything they want.
