Curriculum
Objectives

Curriculum Objectives

Let me first give you a sense of who we are. I, Dr. Helen Mundy Hudson, am the Honors English teacher for 9th, 11th, and 12th graders. By the time students are 12th graders, they have spent a good deal of time together. This particular class, though, only spent two years together because I took a leave during their junior year. These students are a very diverse group and tend to go their separate ways and have very different interests. As their teacher, I wanted them to experience a strong sense of community not based on ferocious competition and isolation, but on a shared vision. During late October and early November, we began discussing possible ways to enrich our final semester together. Along with our year-long study of British literature, and our discussions of current events based on class reading of The Atlantic Monthly, students wanted to do something that might really teach them and also have the potential to "change the world." So, through brain-storming sessions and research and reading, we evolved the MOVE HOUSE PROJECT. As the students' letter, which you will read in our Investigations link, says, they came to know of the needs we address because of a student they went to high school with. Ian Hudson was in high school with them; and, even though he couldn't walk or talk in the ordinary ways, he took honors classes, studied Japanese, and scored well on his SATs. In a word, he was college material. Ian is also my son so I was able to contribute know how and links to resources for my students. While students (living in our smallish community of 14,000) only knew of Ian's needs, their project let them know that his needs were shared by thousands of young people in our country.

Once the decision to pursue the MOVE HOUSE had been made, I established the following objectives:

OVERALL OBJECTIVE: Students will gain a working knowledge of disability rights and understand that they are civil rights . This will--we hope--make them life-long advocates for American citizens with disabilities.

* Students will be able to use the Internet to research federal law governing disability,. education, and civil rights.

*Students will be able to work within a group (of 6 or 7) under the direction of an appointed student CEO for a sustained period of time.

*Students will be able to tolerate having many varied and different assignments from those of their classmates, i.e. they will use the teaming approach familiar in the business world. No particular attempts will be made to equalize the quantity of work among students.

* Students will be able to write documents sharing the technical and specialized information they learn with the general public in the form of formal business letters.

*Students will be able to use a spread sheet to compile data about the project.

*Students will be able to work in teams to carry out various aspects of a large project which will be combined into a whole.

*Students will take on all the major leadership roles of carrying forth the project using the teacher as facilitator, coach, and recorder.

*Students will be able to present their proposals to college and university personnel, to MOVE Academy members, and to the general public.

*Students will be able to create a multi-media Power point to convey their information and proposal.

*Students will be able to work in a situation without ordinary assessment.

*Students will be able to express their understanding of the disabled students' situation in creative ways, through writing, painting, dance, or other forms of art.

*Students will be able to extend their learning by reading the YAL book Petey (by Ben Mikaelsen) and then leading discussion of it with a group (or groups) of younger children.

*Students will be able to design and carry out a state-wide information-sharing/gathering survey and campaign.

*Students will be able to assess and carry out appropriate follow-up to their state-wide survey of colleges and universities.

*Students will be able to create analytical pieces of writing which demonstrate understanding of the new subject matter.

*Students will be able to write and submit an article about the project to a nationally distributed journal, like Teaching Tolerance.

*Students will be able to seek out publicity avenues for their project.

*Students will be able to network (to connect) professionals, community people, and legislators who will, in the end, be responsible for agreeing to support such a project.

*Students will begin to learn how to investigate fund-raising in the philanthropic community.

*Students will have the opportunity to interact with severely disabled children in meaningful situations, such as working with them on sitting, standing, and walking skills; or, to help them with feeding and personal care skills (such as brushing teeth).

*Students will have the opportunity and the challenge to chart their own growing awareness and learning by discussing MOVE (Mobility Options Via Education) videos and by reflecting in writing about their responses to their experiences, their learning, and emerging values.

*Students will be allowed to be anxious, frightened, and to let their demons out. It is a given and must be acknowledged that it is not an easy thing to leap the distance from an able-bodied life into the world of severe disability.

Page created by Helen Mundy Hudson Last updated June 10, 2003.