Within the coronary heart of midtown Memphis is Crosstown Concourse, residence of Crosstown Excessive. If you stroll into the Concourse, you might be greeted by high-spirited funk and soul music being piped by the atrium’s audio system straight from an area radio station that’s positioned on the bottom flooring of the constructing with a studio window going through the lobby. Highschool college students mill round greeting their pals and ordering drinks from French Truck Espresso as they watch for the college day to start out. The Concourse is residence to over 40 companies, nonprofits and eating places, with Crosstown Excessive dwelling in a nook on the fourth and fifth flooring.
Overlooking the atrium of the concourse
Crosstown not solely occupies a compelling location, however has made the a lot of the area by the inventive use of classroom and shared areas, distinguished shows of pupil artwork and creations, and partnerships with teams such because the Church Well being Diet Hub. They’ve additionally acquired a grant from the XQ Institute to rethink highschool. We had been grateful to have the chance to go to Crosstown on this setting and witness their inspiring instance of modern studying with a significant use of area.
Studying at Crosstown Excessive
There’s a sturdy student-teacher rapport and relationship constructing. As we toured the college, we noticed learners partaking in work that was thematically related throughout disciplines and related to their capstone undertaking.
College students Journaling at Crosstown Excessive
The thematic journeys that college students interact in over the course of their 4 years at Crosstown are guided by questions resembling, “What methods form energy in Memphis, and the way will we have an effect on change inside these methods?” Academics spend time working collectively to align their instructing and capstones to those themes.
For his or her capstones, college students choose right into a “strand” centered on parts of those guiding questions such because the setting, well being care, politics, social & prison justice, and extra. College students from inside every strand come collectively, guided by academics, to collaborate on nuanced private analysis questions, which result in workout routines resembling “professional interviews” with neighborhood companions and PechaKucha displays. College students’ capstone work finally culminates in advocacy campaigns and undertaking showcases (one of many keys to high-quality PBL).
These experiences are constructed upon a basis of competency-based studying, which has given weight to most of the experiences college students interact in. When requested what her favourite a part of Crosstown was, Concord, a senior, replied, “The competencies have been my favourite half–they helped me turn out to be who I’m, and develop and turn out to be assured in my abilities.”
College students standing in entrance of Crosstown’s “Competency Wall”
Inspiring Areas and Sturdy Relationships
One other inspiring part of the Crosstown Excessive expertise is the sturdy relationships between college students and adults, and between the college neighborhood and the area that they occupy.
Crosstown has created a tradition during which it doesn’t matter if a trainer is talking to a pupil, a pupil to a trainer, or a pupil to a pupil–there may be respect. We noticed academics delivering content material in a fashion that’s meant to interact college students, specializing in pupil contribution, questioning, and considerate instruction. “It’s essential to have the ability to be susceptible with academics,” mentioned Ava, a senior, when discussing the help they’ve acquired.
College students even have significant alternatives to each affect the areas inside the college and interact within the companies surrounding it. Lots of the college’s areas have been enhanced by the addition of student-created artwork collections and student-supported murals that adorn the varied hallways of the college.
A nook of the college’s library, designed partly by college students A mural depicting Crosstown college students and their hopes and goals
The alternatives for college kids to interact with the area and other people round them will not be restricted by the college partitions. That is the place Crosstown’s Excessive location inside the Crosstown Concourse turns into so highly effective. To extra deeply join with the grade-level themes and initiatives described above, college students have common alternatives to interact with the companies on the Concourse. For instance, in a single undertaking centered on understanding refugees’ experiences, college students went to a restaurant on the Concourse co-owned by three refugee cooks to interview them about their particular person experiences. The varsity has additionally partnered with the Church Well being Diet Heart, which has a kitchen that college students are capable of make the most of to observe constructing wholesome dietary data and habits.
These priorities contribute to some of the encouraging parts of Crosstown that we noticed–that college students usually and overtly mirror on how they personally have contributed to the college’s tradition, areas, and practices utilizing pronouns resembling “we” and “our.” It’s clear that their tradition of belief, respect and pupil management have made a huge impact on the management and funding college students have within the college.
College students on the Church Well being kitchen
Concluding Ideas
Crosstown Excessive is a mannequin of whole-student, customized, and genuine studying that demonstrates what a dedication to competency-based training can yield for a faculty, and we sit up for visiting once more. One pupil’s phrases specifically nonetheless echo in our minds: “The competencies we achieve right here aren’t requirements for being a pupil–they’re competencies for the remainder of your life.”