How Does Each Component of the Collegiate Model Prepare Students of This Generation for College, Career, and Life?
Montessori is the building block which prepares our elementary students for such a rigorous collegiate program.
Implementing college level courses successfully in high school requires students to be confident, independent, resilient, and compassionate. Hamlin Collegiate Elementary is leaning into the Montessori Method to help us instill each of those traits in our students- no matter what their socioeconomic background may be.
An integral component of our preparing our students for college, career, and life. To be informed citizens, we must know how to research every single day in order to make good decisions which are best for our families, communities, and society. Starting in the 3rd grade, the concept of research begins with group projects. By the time students are in the 11th grade, they are ready for a 2 year, extensive research project. After so much experience with research, students will be ready for postgraduate degrees, high level career work, and critical thinking for life.
3. Common Instructional Framework (CIF):
CIF refers to 6 proven teaching methods which Hamlin Collegiate students find in their classrooms every week.
Scaffolding: Helps students to connect prior knowledge and experience with new information and ideas.
Questioning: Creates opportunities for students to investigate and analyze their thinking, as well as the thinking of their peers and the authors they read in each of their classes.
Classroom talk: Creates the space for students to articulate their thinking and strengthen their voices.
Literacy Circles: Provide students with a collaborative structure for understanding a variety of texts, problem sets, and documents by engaging them in a high level of discourse. Group roles or rounds traditionally drive Literacy Groups by giving each student a role to play and a defined purpose within the group.
Collaborative Group Work: Students engage in learning by constructing group solutions, texts, experiments, or works of art.
Writing to Learn: Enables students to experiment every day with written language and to increase their fluency and mastery of written conventions.
4. Degree Attainment:
As this year's 9th graders reach their senior year, our goals are that 90% will complete an associate degree. Of that group, 80% will complete a bachelor's degree and/or will earn a high-demand workforce certificate, and 70% will complete a postgraduate degree or certification.
All students in Hamlin have the opportunity to move forward with higher education, high wage/high demand jobs, and low or no college debt.
Watch the video below for more details.
5. Career Pathways:
At Hamlin Collegiate, we prepare students for the future and for future careers. Our students will be highly qualified, prepared, and marketable by the time they graduate. We have added the following career pathways:
HVAC and Sheet Metal
Teaching and Training
Each of these pathways requires a series of courses which prepare our students to pass an industry-based certification test. Graduate with work-based experience and a certification to prove it.
Offering high level academic courses with no support can be a disaster for students who need help with organization, time management, planning, and homework. We use the AVID program as a "catch-all" to make sure our students are up-to-speed in their collegiate journey. For more details, check out the video below.