NEW PLACES TO CALL HOME

Ever since Metro opened, we’ve been talking about our two phases of coursework: the Core Prep phase, taught in our own classrooms and the College Access phase, which will take place “out and about” in the community. With our first group of students passing through their gateways last spring (see blog dated 12/1/08), we were ready for our first off-site learning center for elective coursework.

First to sign up and welcome our students was the Franklin Park Conservatory. What a great place to go to school! Since we want our learning centers to be theme-oriented, it made perfect sense for the conservatory to be the setting for high school botany and fine arts courses. We have two new Metro teachers for these courses, who have classrooms at the Conservatory.

Botany was an intensive research-based course in which students chose topics in the plant biology field and created a research question, a hypothesis and carried out the experiment to gather and analyze data. They wrote up their findings in articles that will be submitted to a high school scientific journal. In addition to working with conservatory staff, students solicited advice from biology professors and greenhouse staff at OSU.

The fine arts class was quite fun. Some students were thrilled to finally have an art course; others were pretty nervous because they were worried that they had to draw well in order to pass. Each week the art teacher brought selections of their work to hang up for us at Metro, and they were FABULOUS! They made paintings and drawings and beautiful pieces. I’m sure they surprised themselves with their talent!

One of the first things the students at the Conservatory were able to participate in was assisting a nationally known artist with his contribution to the “Bending Nature” exhibition currently on display. Herb Parker created an installation in the outdoor Bonsai Courtyard that consists of two conical enclosures that offer quiet space for private meditation and conversation across the Japanese pond. He allowed our students to assist in mortaring stones onto one of the enclosures and asked for their suggestions for a title. “Whispering Caves” is their name for the permanent structures that will always mark their introduction to the study of fine art.