The GreenMount School
Encyclopedia
The GreenMount School is a cooperative
, independent
day school
located in Baltimore
, Maryland, USA. Children are enrolled from kindergarten
through 8th grade. The school is located in the Remington
neighborhood of northern Baltimore, near Johns Hopkins University
.
s in 1993. These parents, who had previously been homeschooling
their children, created a one-room school house with 26 students of various age in the basement of a church on Greenmount Avenue in the Waverly
neighborhood of Baltimore
. The founders set the school up as a parent-run co-op and initially assumed both the administrative and teaching duties. The first full-time professional
teacher
was hired in 1995 and eventually administrative duties were handed over to a full-time head of school (currently Steve Warner). Parents remained heavily involved in the daily business of the school, however—a tradition
that continues to this day, in large part through the parent co-op
.
After years of growing enrollment, the school moved to its current location in the former Wyman Park Recreation Center in the summer of 1997. The building is presently leased from the City of Baltimore
and abuts a city-maintained playground
.
The school currently has an enrollment
of approximately 76 students, a fulltime faculty of 7, an adjunct faculty of 6, and three administrative staff members.
Full enrollment is considered 90 students in kindergarten through 8th grade.
educational philosophy
. According to the school’s website:
Along with a strong foundation in mathematics
, science
and language arts
, the curriculum is supplemented with music
, art
, theatre
, environmental
and urban
explorations, physical education, and library studies. Each year the curriculum is fashioned around three different theme-based programs. Some examples of themes are “From Radicals
to Reagan
: 1960-to-1980”; “Australia
and Oceania
”; “The Age of Extremes: World Wars, Boom and Bust, Harlem Renaissance”; and “The Greening
of GreenMount.” Each theme culminates in a school-wide event where students share what they have learned with family and friends.http://www.greenmountschool.org/about.shtml
These themes are integrated into the curriculum via a variety of projects the students undertake. For example, 5th and 6th graders did the following projects in Fall 2007 while studying “From Radicals to Reagan: 1960-1980.”
The curriculum is generally oriented towards multidisciplinary
, project based learning (PjBL)
, usually centered on the theme in question.
Based partially on Howard Gardner's notion of multiple intelligences
, the school is dedicated to multi-age education. This is reflected in the classes themselves, each of which contains two grades (The classes are currently separated into kindergarten and grades 1/2, 3/4, 5/6 and 7/8). Students frequently work in groups of mixed ages and mixed abilities.
Fridays, which are half days for students, are considered “community days,” during which the entire school meets as a unit and embarks on a single daylong project, usually oriented towards the current theme being studied. All of the students get together to work on a theme-related project with their “buddies.”
First graders are paired with 8th graders, 2nd graders with 6th graders, etc.
Students also participate in a variety of out-of-school activities, including field trips, community service
, middle-school apprenticeship
s, camping trips
, and (for 8th graders) international travel.
The school regularly has visiting artists and lecturers from the Baltimore area. Past visitors have included filmmaker John Waters
, children’s book author Nancy Patz, Baltimore Blast
players and Edwin Mulitalo of Big Ed's Band Foundation http://www.bigedsband.com/ and Baltimore Ravens
superstar.
model with parents actively participating in the school. Each parent is responsible for donating 40 hours of their time to the school each year, and generally signs up for a specific ongoing job. The jobs can range from serving on the GreenMount school board, to mopping the gym floor once a month, to teaching afterschool classes. Past classes include sewing
, painting
, hula hoop
, and web page design
.
Cooperative
A cooperative is a business organization owned and operated by a group of individuals for their mutual benefit...
, independent
Independent school
An independent school is a school that is independent in its finances and governance; it is not dependent upon national or local government for financing its operations, nor reliant on taxpayer contributions, and is instead funded by a combination of tuition charges, gifts, and in some cases the...
day school
Day school
A day school—as opposed to a boarding school—is an institution where children are given educational instruction during the day and after which children/teens return to their homes...
located in Baltimore
Baltimore
Baltimore is the largest independent city in the United States and the largest city and cultural center of the US state of Maryland. The city is located in central Maryland along the tidal portion of the Patapsco River, an arm of the Chesapeake Bay. Baltimore is sometimes referred to as Baltimore...
, Maryland, USA. Children are enrolled from kindergarten
Kindergarten
A kindergarten is a preschool educational institution for children. The term was created by Friedrich Fröbel for the play and activity institute that he created in 1837 in Bad Blankenburg as a social experience for children for their transition from home to school...
through 8th grade. The school is located in the Remington
Remington, Baltimore
Remington is a neighborhood in northern Baltimore bordered to the north by Hampden, Wyman Park, and Johns Hopkins University and to the east by Charles Village. The southernmost boundary is North Avenue and the long southwestern boundary is formed by Falls Road in the I-83 corridor...
neighborhood of northern Baltimore, near Johns Hopkins University
Johns Hopkins University
The Johns Hopkins University, commonly referred to as Johns Hopkins, JHU, or simply Hopkins, is a private research university based in Baltimore, Maryland, United States...
.
History
The GreenMount School was founded by a group of six parentParent
A parent is a caretaker of the offspring in their own species. In humans, a parent is of a child . Children can have one or more parents, but they must have two biological parents. Biological parents consist of the male who sired the child and the female who gave birth to the child...
s in 1993. These parents, who had previously been homeschooling
Homeschooling
Homeschooling or homeschool is the education of children at home, typically by parents but sometimes by tutors, rather than in other formal settings of public or private school...
their children, created a one-room school house with 26 students of various age in the basement of a church on Greenmount Avenue in the Waverly
Waverly, Baltimore
Waverly is a historic village in Baltimore, Maryland, United States. Located near I-83, York Road and major bus connections, Waverly provides access to downtown Baltimore, Towson, and the Baltimore Beltway...
neighborhood of Baltimore
Baltimore
Baltimore is the largest independent city in the United States and the largest city and cultural center of the US state of Maryland. The city is located in central Maryland along the tidal portion of the Patapsco River, an arm of the Chesapeake Bay. Baltimore is sometimes referred to as Baltimore...
. The founders set the school up as a parent-run co-op and initially assumed both the administrative and teaching duties. The first full-time professional
Professional
A professional is a person who is paid to undertake a specialised set of tasks and to complete them for a fee. The traditional professions were doctors, lawyers, clergymen, and commissioned military officers. Today, the term is applied to estate agents, surveyors , environmental scientists,...
teacher
Teacher
A teacher or schoolteacher is a person who provides education for pupils and students . The role of teacher is often formal and ongoing, carried out at a school or other place of formal education. In many countries, a person who wishes to become a teacher must first obtain specified professional...
was hired in 1995 and eventually administrative duties were handed over to a full-time head of school (currently Steve Warner). Parents remained heavily involved in the daily business of the school, however—a tradition
Tradition
A tradition is a ritual, belief or object passed down within a society, still maintained in the present, with origins in the past. Common examples include holidays or impractical but socially meaningful clothes , but the idea has also been applied to social norms such as greetings...
that continues to this day, in large part through the parent co-op
Cooperative
A cooperative is a business organization owned and operated by a group of individuals for their mutual benefit...
.
After years of growing enrollment, the school moved to its current location in the former Wyman Park Recreation Center in the summer of 1997. The building is presently leased from the City of Baltimore
Baltimore
Baltimore is the largest independent city in the United States and the largest city and cultural center of the US state of Maryland. The city is located in central Maryland along the tidal portion of the Patapsco River, an arm of the Chesapeake Bay. Baltimore is sometimes referred to as Baltimore...
and abuts a city-maintained playground
Playground
A playground or play area is a place with a specific design for children be able to play there. It may be indoors but is typically outdoors...
.
The school currently has an enrollment
Education
Education in its broadest, general sense is the means through which the aims and habits of a group of people lives on from one generation to the next. Generally, it occurs through any experience that has a formative effect on the way one thinks, feels, or acts...
of approximately 76 students, a fulltime faculty of 7, an adjunct faculty of 6, and three administrative staff members.
Full enrollment is considered 90 students in kindergarten through 8th grade.
Philosophy
Since its inception, GreenMount has embraced a child-centeredStudent-centred learning
Student-centred learning is an approach to education focusing on the needs of the students, rather than those of others involved in the educational process, such as teachers and administrators...
educational philosophy
Philosophy of education
Philosophy of education can refer to either the academic field of applied philosophy or to one of any educational philosophies that promote a specific type or vision of education, and/or which examine the definition, goals and meaning of education....
. According to the school’s website:
- “We see our school as a diverse community where children are given the space and time to learn and the encouragement to succeed. Students develop academic, behavioral and personal skills that enable them to thrive in different environments. The curriculum is connected to or grounded in real-life experiences. It is creativeCreativityCreativity refers to the phenomenon whereby a person creates something new that has some kind of value. What counts as "new" may be in reference to the individual creator, or to the society or domain within which the novelty occurs...
, multiculturalMulticulturalismMulticulturalism is the appreciation, acceptance or promotion of multiple cultures, applied to the demographic make-up of a specific place, usually at the organizational level, e.g...
, community-based, and centered on experiential learning through thematic curriculaCurriculumSee also Syllabus.In formal education, a curriculum is the set of courses, and their content, offered at a school or university. As an idea, curriculum stems from the Latin word for race course, referring to the course of deeds and experiences through which children grow to become mature adults...
. ”
Along with a strong foundation in mathematics
Mathematics
Mathematics is the study of quantity, space, structure, and change. Mathematicians seek out patterns and formulate new conjectures. Mathematicians resolve the truth or falsity of conjectures by mathematical proofs, which are arguments sufficient to convince other mathematicians of their validity...
, science
Science
Science is a systematic enterprise that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe...
and language arts
Language arts
Traditionally, the primary divisions in the language arts are Literature and Language, where language in this case refers to both linguistics, and specific languages....
, the curriculum is supplemented with music
Music
Music is an art form whose medium is sound and silence. Its common elements are pitch , rhythm , dynamics, and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture...
, art
Art
Art is the product or process of deliberately arranging items in a way that influences and affects one or more of the senses, emotions, and intellect....
, theatre
Theatre
Theatre is a collaborative form of fine art that uses live performers to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place. The performers may communicate this experience to the audience through combinations of gesture, speech, song, music or dance...
, environmental
Environment (biophysical)
The biophysical environment is the combined modeling of the physical environment and the biological life forms within the environment, and includes all variables, parameters as well as conditions and modes inside the Earth's biosphere. The biophysical environment can be divided into two categories:...
and urban
Urban area
An urban area is characterized by higher population density and vast human features in comparison to areas surrounding it. Urban areas may be cities, towns or conurbations, but the term is not commonly extended to rural settlements such as villages and hamlets.Urban areas are created and further...
explorations, physical education, and library studies. Each year the curriculum is fashioned around three different theme-based programs. Some examples of themes are “From Radicals
Political radicalism
The term political radicalism denotes political principles focused on altering social structures through revolutionary means and changing value systems in fundamental ways...
to Reagan
Ronald Reagan
Ronald Wilson Reagan was the 40th President of the United States , the 33rd Governor of California and, prior to that, a radio, film and television actor....
: 1960-to-1980”; “Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
and Oceania
Oceania
Oceania is a region centered on the islands of the tropical Pacific Ocean. Conceptions of what constitutes Oceania range from the coral atolls and volcanic islands of the South Pacific to the entire insular region between Asia and the Americas, including Australasia and the Malay Archipelago...
”; “The Age of Extremes: World Wars, Boom and Bust, Harlem Renaissance”; and “The Greening
Greening
Greening is the process of transforming artifacts such as a space, a lifestyle or a brand image into a more environmentally friendly version...
of GreenMount.” Each theme culminates in a school-wide event where students share what they have learned with family and friends.http://www.greenmountschool.org/about.shtml
These themes are integrated into the curriculum via a variety of projects the students undertake. For example, 5th and 6th graders did the following projects in Fall 2007 while studying “From Radicals to Reagan: 1960-1980.”
- Participated in a mock debate between Malcolm XMalcolm XMalcolm X , born Malcolm Little and also known as El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz , was an African American Muslim minister and human rights activist. To his admirers he was a courageous advocate for the rights of African Americans, a man who indicted white America in the harshest terms for its...
and Martin Luther King Jr. to explore the differences and similarities between King’s message of nonviolent civil disobedienceCivil disobedienceCivil disobedience is the active, professed refusal to obey certain laws, demands, and commands of a government, or of an occupying international power. Civil disobedience is commonly, though not always, defined as being nonviolent resistance. It is one form of civil resistance...
and Malcolm X’s “by-any-means-necessary” black nationalismBlack nationalismBlack nationalism advocates a racial definition of indigenous national identity, as opposed to multiculturalism. There are different indigenous nationalist philosophies but the principles of all African nationalist ideologies are unity, and self-determination or independence from European society...
. - Organized a mock protest march1968 Washington, D.C. riotsFive days of race riots erupted in Washington, D.C. following the April 4, 1968 assassination of Civil Rights Movement-leader Martin Luther King, Jr. Civil unrest affected at least 110 U.S...
on Washington D.C., circa 1968, as if they were the committee planning the event. This entailed creating a budget, lining up speakers, planning a parade route, developing a transportation plan for 200,000 protesters, and designing posters and bumper stickers. - Created a mock band that survived the musical changes from 1960 to 1980 intact. This assignment involved creating two album coverAlbum coverAn album cover is the front of the packaging of a commercially released audio recording product, or album. The term can refer to either the printed cardboard covers typically used to package sets of 10" and 12" 78 rpm records, single and sets of 12" LPs, sets of 45 rpm records , or the front-facing...
s for the band, one using the design aestheticAestheticsAesthetics is a branch of philosophy dealing with the nature of beauty, art, and taste, and with the creation and appreciation of beauty. It is more scientifically defined as the study of sensory or sensori-emotional values, sometimes called judgments of sentiment and taste...
of 1960 and one the design aesthetic of 1980; writing lyricsLyricsLyrics are a set of words that make up a song. The writer of lyrics is a lyricist or lyrist. The meaning of lyrics can either be explicit or implicit. Some lyrics are abstract, almost unintelligible, and, in such cases, their explication emphasizes form, articulation, meter, and symmetry of...
for a song on each of the albums; and crafting a pseudobiography for the band, covering its two decades of existence. The students also wrote a paper about one of the real bands from this period that served as a musical influence for their imaginary band. - In music class, students studied the history of rock-n-rollRock and rollRock and roll is a genre of popular music that originated and evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s, primarily from a combination of African American blues, country, jazz, and gospel music...
and performed songs from the BeatlesThe BeatlesThe Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...
, the WhoThe WhoThe Who are an English rock band formed in 1964 by Roger Daltrey , Pete Townshend , John Entwistle and Keith Moon . They became known for energetic live performances which often included instrument destruction...
, and Bob DylanBob DylanBob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter, musician, poet, film director and painter. He has been a major and profoundly influential figure in popular music and culture for five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when he was an informal chronicler and a seemingly...
at the culminating theme event. - In art class, students studied artists ranging from Andy WarholAndy WarholAndrew Warhola , known as Andy Warhol, was an American painter, printmaker, and filmmaker who was a leading figure in the visual art movement known as pop art...
to Claes OldenburgClaes OldenburgClaes Oldenburg is a Swedish sculptor, best known for his public art installations typically featuring very large replicas of everyday objects...
. In studying Warhol, they took his famous image of the Campbell's Soup CansCampbell's Soup CansCampbell's Soup Cans, which is sometimes referred to as 32 Campbell's Soup Cans, is a work of art produced in 1962 by Andy Warhol. It consists of thirty-two canvases, each measuring in height × in width and each consisting of a painting of a Campbell's Soup can—one of each of the canned soup...
and crafted sculptures of what they considered the perfect local iconic foodstuff: Old Bay Spice tins. Drawing on Oldenburg’s work, the entire school created an oversized picnic: each class contributed a sculpture ranging from a giant paper mache sandwich to a Capri-Sun juice box to the largest bag of Utz potato chipsUtz Quality Foods, Inc.Utz Quality Foods, Inc. , based in Hanover, Pennsylvania, is the largest independent privately held snack brand in the United States. The company was founded in 1921 and distributes a variety of potato chips and other snack foods throughout the United States....
ever to grace a picnic table.
The curriculum is generally oriented towards multidisciplinary
Interdisciplinarity
Interdisciplinarity involves the combining of two or more academic fields into one single discipline. An interdisciplinary field crosses traditional boundaries between academic disciplines or schools of thought, as new needs and professions have emerged....
, project based learning (PjBL)
Project-based learning
Project-based learning, or PBL, is the use of in-depth and rigorous classroom projects to facilitate learning and assess student competence . Students use technology and inquiry to respond to a complex issue, problem or challenge...
, usually centered on the theme in question.
Based partially on Howard Gardner's notion of multiple intelligences
Theory of multiple intelligences
The theory of multiple intelligences was proposed by Howard Gardner in 1983 as a model of intelligence that differentiates intelligence into various specific modalities, rather than seeing it as dominated by a single general ability....
, the school is dedicated to multi-age education. This is reflected in the classes themselves, each of which contains two grades (The classes are currently separated into kindergarten and grades 1/2, 3/4, 5/6 and 7/8). Students frequently work in groups of mixed ages and mixed abilities.
Fridays, which are half days for students, are considered “community days,” during which the entire school meets as a unit and embarks on a single daylong project, usually oriented towards the current theme being studied. All of the students get together to work on a theme-related project with their “buddies.”
Buddy
Buddy may refer to:* A friend or a partner for a particular activity* Buddy , pet of former U.S. President Bill Clinton* Buddy memory allocation, a dynamic memory allocation system for computers...
First graders are paired with 8th graders, 2nd graders with 6th graders, etc.
Students also participate in a variety of out-of-school activities, including field trips, community service
Community service
Community service is donated service or activity that is performed by someone or a group of people for the benefit of the public or its institutions....
, middle-school apprenticeship
Apprenticeship
Apprenticeship is a system of training a new generation of practitioners of a skill. Apprentices or protégés build their careers from apprenticeships...
s, camping trips
Camping
Camping is an outdoor recreational activity. The participants leave urban areas, their home region, or civilization and enjoy nature while spending one or several nights outdoors, usually at a campsite. Camping may involve the use of a tent, caravan, motorhome, cabin, a primitive structure, or no...
, and (for 8th graders) international travel.
The school regularly has visiting artists and lecturers from the Baltimore area. Past visitors have included filmmaker John Waters
John Waters (filmmaker)
John Samuel Waters, Jr. is an American filmmaker, actor, stand-up comedian, writer, journalist, visual artist, and art collector, who rose to fame in the early 1970s for his transgressive cult films...
, children’s book author Nancy Patz, Baltimore Blast
Baltimore Blast (current)
Baltimore Blast is an American professional indoor soccer team based in Baltimore, Maryland, USA. Founded in 1992, the team plays in the Major Indoor Soccer League....
players and Edwin Mulitalo of Big Ed's Band Foundation http://www.bigedsband.com/ and Baltimore Ravens
Baltimore Ravens
The Baltimore Ravens are a professional football franchise based in Baltimore, Maryland.The Baltimore Ravens are officially a quasi-expansion franchise, having originated in 1995 with the Cleveland Browns relocation controversy after Art Modell, then owner of the Cleveland Browns, announced his...
superstar.
Parent co-operative
GreenMount is based on a co-opCooperative
A cooperative is a business organization owned and operated by a group of individuals for their mutual benefit...
model with parents actively participating in the school. Each parent is responsible for donating 40 hours of their time to the school each year, and generally signs up for a specific ongoing job. The jobs can range from serving on the GreenMount school board, to mopping the gym floor once a month, to teaching afterschool classes. Past classes include sewing
Sewing
Sewing is the craft of fastening or attaching objects using stitches made with a needle and thread. Sewing is one of the oldest of the textile arts, arising in the Paleolithic era...
, painting
Painting
Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a surface . The application of the medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush but other objects can be used. In art, the term painting describes both the act and the result of the action. However, painting is...
, hula hoop
Hula hoop
A hula hoop is a toy hoop that is twirled around the waist, limbs or neck.Although the exact origins of hula hoops are unknown, children and adults around the world have played with hoops, twirling, rolling and throwing them throughout history...
, and web page design
Web design
Web design is the process of planning and creating a website. Text, images, digital media and interactive elements are used by web designers to produce the page seen on the web browser...
.
See also
- official school website
- Association of Independent Schools of Maryland
- Baltimore Independent Schools
- Theory of multiple intelligencesTheory of multiple intelligencesThe theory of multiple intelligences was proposed by Howard Gardner in 1983 as a model of intelligence that differentiates intelligence into various specific modalities, rather than seeing it as dominated by a single general ability....
- Progressive education