Local Histories Syllabus

Local Histories: The Community Preservation Project
Trillium Charter School
2008/9 Semester 1
Instructor: Ken Gadbow
Email: Ken@TrilliumCharterSchool.org
Phone: 503-348-9849 (mobile), 503-235-8307 (home)
Blog: http://ken-trillium.blogspot.com

Course Structure:
Students will be expected to participate in many ways: through writing, reading, listening, and small group activities. There are short listening and writing assignments each day, which may include read-alouds. Students will keep a log book of what we do each day in class and save all material they create in their files.

Course Objectives:
Students will acquire a greater knowledge about the 20th century history of Portland, and the Pacific Northwest. Students will develop their skills as listeners. Students will develop greater abilities to express themselves through writing. Students will be able to tell historically accurate tales about specific places in and around Portland.

Course Overview:
This class focuses on developing the student’s knowledge and appreciation for firsthand experiences of senior members of our community. We will study national and international events through the lens of local historical happenings. Through interviewing community members and researching relevant events, students will come to better understand the personal impacts of the Great Depression, World War II, the Civil Rights Movement, the Labor Movement, and the Vietnam War, among many others.

Code of Conduct:
All students are expected to know and uphold the Rights and Responsibilities of the Trillium Constitution. We will use the non-violent conflict resolution process that includes conversations, mediations, and agreements.

Grading:
Participation: 50%
Projects 30%
Presentations: 20%

Participation will be graded according to the student’s involvement in daily class activities. Your logbook will be evidence of your participation in class.

Attendance Policy:
The majority of your grade in this class comes from your participation. If you are not here, then you cannot participate. If you cannot participate, then you cannot meet the expectations of the class. If a student must miss a class, ze must communicate with Ken beforehand. Ken’s contact information is listed at the top of this syllabus. Please use it. Failure to attend class, or to communicate clearly with Ken, will be a problem.

Course Schedule:
This semester long class is divided into 5 sections: Listening, Looking, Gathering, Recording, and Synthesizing. Through Listening, and then Looking, we will spend the first part of the semester honing our skills as “perceivers”. We will concentrate on that which we can personally hear and see in our own community, then bring that information back to the classroom to discuss the why’s and how’s of those findings. During the Gathering unit, we will uncover strange, important, and unique events that have happened right in our neighborhoods through both walking and virtual field trips, as well as primary source archival research, using diaries, journals, newspapers, and other firsthand accounts to learn about the places around us. During the Recording unit, we will then use our improved listening and looking skills to conduct interviews with senior members of the community at the Marie Smith Center on North Albina Street. We will conduct a series of interviews there, record what we learn, then use that information to create picture books based on the senior’s personal experiences. The Synthesizing unit is designed to support students in creating a coherent story, based on historical events, and first-person narrative and personal observation. The books students create will be the final project of the semester and will be offered as gifts to the seniors upon whose life stories they were based.

Weeks 1-3 (September 8-25): Listening, with week 3 field trip.
September 24-26: Upper School Campouts.
Weeks 4-5 (Sep 29 – October 8): Looking with week 5 field trip.
October 9: Staff Development Day. No school.
Weeks 6-8 (October 13-30): Gathering with week 8 field trip.
Week 9 (November 3-6): Recording, Interview Skills.
November 3-7: Mid-Semester Point. Parent conferences begin.
Weeks 10-11 (November 10-20): Recording, Marie Smith Center visits.
November 24 – 28: Thanksgiving Break. No school.
Weeks 12-15 (Dec. 1 - Jan. 15): Synthesizing.
December 22nd – January 2nd: Winter Break. No school.
Weeks 16-17 (January 12th-22nd): Working on projects.
Week 18 (January 26-29th): Presentations
Last week of term. All projects due.
Thursday, January 29th: Upper School Exhibition Day

Senior Inquiry Syllabus

Senior Inquiry
Trillium Charter School 2008/9

Instructor: Ken Gadbow Phone: 503-348-9849 (mobile), 503-235-8307 (home)
Email: Ken@TrilliumCharterSchool.org Blog: http://ken-trillium.blogspot.com/

Credit available: Minimum .5 LA with .5 to be arranged depending on project focus.

Course Objectives:
Senior Inquiry is a required year-long class for all students graduating from Trillium in 2008. During this class, students will:
• Plan, develop, and carry out Senior Projects.
• Receive timely counseling to ensure satisfactory completion of graduation requirements.
• Prepare for the post high school experience: college, jobs, careers, and more.
• Plan for commencement in June.

Code of Conduct:
All students are expected to know and uphold the Rights and Responsibilities of the Trillium Constitution, and use the non-violent conflict resolution process.

Attendance Policy:
Every Tuesday, we will meet as a whole class to discuss progress on our projects and the college application process. Additionally, each student is required to meet one on one with Ken on a regular basis. It is imperative that students attend the senior class meetings as well as their individual sessions with Ken. Failure to communicate clearly with Ken will be a problem. If you absolutely cannot make a meeting, you must contact me beforehand. My contact information is above. Please use it.

Assignments and grading policies:
Students must satisfactorily complete a Senior Project in order to graduate from Trillium. This class is graded A or F. Those are your only two options. Your grade depends on satisfactory completion of the Senior Project. Students whose Project Review Committees approve their project, will be eligible to receive one full credit (1.0) for the year of Senior Inquiry after presenting the approved project to the Trillium community in the spring. Credit areas depend on project focus. At a minimum, any satisfactorily complete projected should warrant .5 credits of Language Arts and .5 credits of elective. Other credits are by arrangement.
SAT prep time and college application material are not ‘graded.’ I will help students budget time for them and lend support and resources. The reward for these endeavors, however, is securing your own future for yourself. If you dedicate the time and energy to this effort, you will reap your own reward. If you blow it off, you will suffer the consequences. No grade required.

Project Review Committees
The Project Review Committee (PRC) is a student-created board that guides, instructs, critiques, and ultimately decides the fate of the individual student’s project. Once a student decides on the subject of ze’s project, ze forms a PRC of at least four members, and arranges the first PRC meeting date. The PRC is required to meet at least three times, in the beginning, middle, and at the end of the project. The student will formally present ze’s project to the PRC on the final meeting, during which the student will defend ze’s work. The PRC then decides whether or not the student has (or has not) met expectations. Approved projects then must be presented to the broader community at Senior Project Night. More details can be found in the “Senior Project Proposal” form, attached.
Please note: Trillium staff members are encouraged to serve on no more than five PRC’s. We have many skilled faculty. Ask potential PRC members early in order to increase the chance of getting them on your committee.

Helpful Dates
• Every Tuesday: Senior Class Meeting in Ken’s Room.
• ASAP:
o Request College Information/Applications
o Decide on Senior Project Topic
o Form Project Review Committee and set first meeting date.
• September 9th: SAT registration deadline for October 4th exam.
• September 26th: SAT registration deadline for November 1st exam.
• October 4th: First SAT exam date
• November 1st: Second SAT exam date
• November 5th: SAT registration deadline for December 6th exam.
• November 14th: Deadline for First PRC Meeting
• December 6th: Third SAT exam date.
• Friday, December 26th: Halfway point for Senior Projects.
• January 1st: Free Application for Federal Student Aid begins accepting applications at 12:01 AM.
• January 15th: College Application Deadlines Begin
• January 23rd: Deadline for Second PRC Meeting
• February 16th - Oregon Student Assistance Commission scholarship application Early Bird deadline.
• March 2nd - Oregon Student Assistance Commission scholarship application Final deadline.
• March 6th: Ordering of Caps and Gowns, and Graduation Announcement (invitations)
• April 3rd: Deadline for professional publishing of Senior Project Papers.
• April 17th: Senior Project Due.
• April 17th – April 30th: Final PRC Meetings.
• Friday, May 1st: Senior Project Fair
• May 18-29: Commencement planning and preparation, including senior speech writing.
• Friday, June 5th: Seniors Last Required Day
• Saturday, June 6th: Trillium Charter School Class of 2009 Senior Commencement

Fall HS Campout

September 8, 2008

Dear Parents and Guardians,

The annual Fall High School campout is coming up soon. We will be leaving for Cape Lookout on the Oregon Coast Wednesday, September 24th and returning Friday the 26th. Students should arrive at school by 8:30 as usual. We expect to leave around 9, and will return Friday around 1. We still need parent drivers and chaperones for the trip, as well as people to help with cleaning and organizing when we get back. Please contact your student’s advisor if you think you might be able to help.

The cost of the trip is covered entirely by the student activity fee.

A list of suggested supplies for your student is below.:

• Tent w/ground cloth and rain fly
• Sleeping bag or blanket/sheet bedroll
• Sleeping pad
• Flashlight/headlamp
• Toiletries
• Towel
• Swimsuit
• Change of clothes
• Sleepwear
• An extra pair of sneakers
• Warm clothing for potentially cool nights
• Light clothing for potentially warm days
• Sunscreen
• A rain jacket or poncho

It is pretty amusing living in the Pacific Northwest and trying to project the weather in the fall. We’ll know better as we get closer, but right now we are planning for sun, rain, cold, and hot. Students should prepare especially for cool and wet, as the Oregon Coast is notorious for delivering both in plenty. It is better to bring rain gear and extra clothes and not need them than the other way around.

All students on the trip are expected to share in cooking and cleaning duties. Drugs and alcohol are, of course, strictly prohibited on the trip. Game systems and loud music are requested to stay at home, while we encourage students to bring cards, board games, and musical instruments.

We look forward to another great high school campout. Please let your student’s advisor know if you have any questions.

Regards,

Elizabeth, Jess, Ken, and Will
High School Advisors

High School Course Catalog

Hi all,

If you have not found it yet on the Trillium website, the link for the high school course catalog is http://www.trilliumcharterschool.org/catalog/hs_catalog.pdf.

And here is the course selection worksheet: http://www.trilliumcharterschool.org/catalog/hs_signup.pdf


Ken