The Graham School

photo by Trish

So, I mentioned that I brought students to SEC. You might be wondering what students?! I thought I would tell you about The Graham School, and how my love of community gardening and teaching connects to this amazing school. At TGS, I am an Experiential Teacher. I take 9 freshmen students out into community gardens and farms every Tuesday and Thursday. Here is some information from the website:

http://www.thegrahamschool.org/

The Experiential Program at The Graham School
Purpose
The Experiential Program's purpose is to provide students with research, teaching, and service learning experiences in community organizations and businesses - experiences that will enable students to discover and develop confidence in their ability to engage in productive and significant work and to foster a tangible commitment to the community in which they live.

Overview
The Graham School's Experiential Program offers students the opportunity to enter into a real-world setting and tackle real-world issues and problems. Students leave the school building and enter the community to offer their talents and helping hands while the community offers students the chance to learn about opportunities and challenges in a work and educational environment. The Graham School's Experiential Program offers students exposure to various means and methods of learning, and the demonstration of learning.
The Graham School's Experiential Program requires its students to demonstrate increasing responsibility, independence and self-direction. All 9th and 10th students new to the school participate in the Foundations program. This program provides an initial introduction to experiential work and connects students to the community. Graham School teachers work closely with students in this program. The Connections program is the next level of experiential work at Graham. The Connections program has students placed in more independent settings where students are asked to demonstrate self-direction, leadership and responsibility. Teachers act as guides and learning facilitators with students and their partner site mentors. The culminating experience of the school is WalkAbout. For a portion of senior year, students work independently for 20 or 30 hours a week in internships (WalkAbout) in areas of personal and professional interest.