by Angie Briceño | Feb 3, 2020
Picture: Elonce Paraná (2015). Youth “ambassadors” start the debate at the IV Uniting Goals Meeting. Taken from www.elonce.com
This year brings new experiences for high school students as two big opportunities for cultural and global learning are coming to Futuro Verde!
Model United Nations is a simulation in which students from diverse educational institutions represent diplomats from different UN member countries. Each participating student must study topics relevant to the country they represent, such as culture, economics, domestic and foreign policy, and general features of the society they represent. Students go through various stages before they can compete at the national or international level. These stages include preparation and sessions; the sessions stage may take place within the school, between schools, and eventually competing to reach the international level.
The Youth Ambassador Program is a program sponsored by the U.S. Embassy in which interested students can apply for an exchange to the United States, where they participate in activities with other international students focused on topics such as interculturality, mutual respect between different countries and cultures, civility, community development, and others. Students who wish to apply to this program must go through a rigorous process with the U.S. Embassy. However, this process is well worth the effort because of the experience and learning that will benefit those who are selected. The program is a 3-week exchange for students between the ages of 15 and 18.
Once again, we encourage parents to encourage their children to take part in these great initiatives. We look forward to a fruitful 2020!
by Katie Chiaverini | Feb 1, 2020
CREW is what Futuro Verde refers to as its advisory block of time with all groups of students. Students are divided into different crews based on their respective grade levels and assigned a CREW teacher each year. We call this special time, shared over the course of two lessons each week, as CREW based on the concept of a crew on a boat or ship and the notion that they are all on board and working collaboratively toward a joint goal. In Futuro Verde, we don’t have passengers, everyone is a member of a CREW. This foundational understanding helps support students in their sense of belonging, their development of empathy and in the strengthening of their sense of self and their connectedness to others.
CREW time happens a minimum of two times per week, once at the beginning of the week and once at the end of the week, and should be meaningfully planned just as for any other class. CREW students and teachers actively integrate their school planners into CREW time, making goals and reflecting on them directly in their planners.
This year we are excited to be adding some new additions to the CREW structure. We have purchased a curriculum resource called Tribes by Jeanne Gibbs which focuses on learning within a caring culture and building community to support the development of our CREW class time. Tribes strive to educate children and youth in a holistic manner as it emphasizes the developmental process of tribes as responsive education, a community of learners, a caring culture, human development and learning, and student-centered active learning. The Tribes philosophy will be implemented throughout the school day by all teachers and administration but strategically utilized in each CREW class in a structured way.
The development of the IB skills (self-management, social, thinking, communication, research, and reflection) will still be an integral part of the CREW time in addition to those proposed by Tribes (inclusion, community, and influence). CREW time continues to be a time where teachers and students collaborate on the planning of their yearly field trip, making sure to cover learning connections, communication, budget, a plan for fundraising and transportation. This year, we will be adding in another component, service and giving. Each CREW group will identify an issue that calls them to action and decide how they can make a positive change in regards to their chosen cause. This can include volunteering, petitions, campaigns or fundraising. Parents will be invited to join in as well! Service learning is very important for developing and strengthening empathy skills, which are vital for success and happiness. The service learning aspect of CREW, now starting in Pre K and beyond will be an important element in your child’s success in the MEP Community Project for 10th grade and the IB CAS projects in 11th and 12th grade. Service learning is a very important piece of the IB program and we would like to pave the way for our students and allow them to get the most out of their educational experience.
We are eager to be able to put these new improvements in place. Please talk to your child about what they are doing in their CREW class and stay up to date on all their fundraising efforts and service learning.
by Lural Ramirez | Jan 22, 2020
Futuro Verde has long prided itself on our student success with graduation exams and we are proud, each year, of our students and their achievements academically. The academic results for any school are very important and we know how much our students’ success in elementary, middle and high school continue to pave the way for their university acceptance and university success. Prospective and current parents alike often consider our exam results to be a sign of the quality of teaching and learning at Futuro Verde. Like it or not, exam results continue to be an important factor in ongoing access to post-secondary opportunity and success.
For years, when we only had the MEP diploma to offer, we would anxiously await our exam results each year and we’re fortunate to proudly share the 100% success trend year after year. Now, with students working toward a new goal with our IB diploma option in conjunction with our MEP Costa Rican diploma and the option for IB certificates as well, we are reconsidering our approach to revealing the details of our students’ results. So, why the reticence to share more and make a bigger deal about student exam results moving forward? We will share with you three main points and some specific details that explain our new policy moving forward.
- Futuro Verde is a mission and vision driven school. Parents continually share with us how much they see and feel our mission and vision day in and day out as they visit and interact with our school and our students. Our mission and vision speak to the preparation of our students to be critical thinkers, to be fully bilingual and environmentally minded and to strive to promote a harmonious world on a local and global scale. Examination results, though important and often sought out as measures and determinants of success, prove wholly inadequate in measuring a child’s true ability in the foundational ways of thinking and of being that we seek to develop in our students.
- Our second main concern with over-emphasizing student exam results relates to a growing trend worldwide to be much more mindful of student well-being. An ever present pressure for perfectionism, irrationally high expectations and overly competitive environments for learning and youth development, as shown by current research, such as that summarized in the following two articles: BBC article on the rise in toxic perfectionism, article on role of parents and teachers regarding student well-being, are leading to a mental health crisis never before seen among our children and young adults. Over emphasis on the part of our school and our community on the exam results of our students leads to a deterioration of our students’ well-being.
- The third, yet primary, reason for our shift in approach to sharing student results speaks to the nuance Futuro Verde now lives of student exam success. Students at Futuro Verde can choose among any number of paths to success, with each bar of success being slightly different, yet nonetheless meaningful, than the other. As only a sample of the many opportunities for success that our diploma students can choose from are: full IB Bilingual diploma and MEP diploma, only IB Bilingual Diploma, only MEP diploma, MEP diploma with IB course certificates, etc. With such a myriad of options, quantifying our student success with only one percentage number is no longer informative in any way. Furthermore, the IB Diploma offers a range of success, from a maximum of 45 points to a minimum of 24 points. Each of our students is unique and their challenges and support systems, as well as individual circumstances during exam time, can vary dramatically. No student should be made to feel that success comes only by receiving both full diplomas at top scores. For many students, hard work and top effort will bring with it a MEP diploma only and this success should be celebrated with the same heartfelt support as that given to our school’s high achieving students, of which there are many.
With these three main points in mind, we share some important specific details to consider:
- Futuro Verde students are developed in a holistic manner, with emphasis placed on their academic development, their commitment to service and their community, their emotional and physical strength and well-being and their ability to face an uncertain future with the thinking and communication skills that will ensure long-term success and adaptability. We focus on this holistic development, not on cramming for exams in order to maximize points received.
- Futuro Verde accepts students into our diploma program with all levels of ability and disability. We are inclusive, not exclusive, because we know that the learning characterized by an IB education is beneficial to all and accessible by all!
- All of our students, prek-12 receive an IB aligned education and all our students are encouraged to attempt the full IB diploma with MEP equivalency. Most schools only allow in a select few students into their IB program in an effort to pad their results as a school. Futuro Verde is committed to IB learning for all and a differentiated path to diploma success at the end of the journey with us.
So, if you are curious about our results as a school, we can share this with you: All graduating Futuro Verde 12th graders from our first graduation years ago and all the way to this year’s students in 2019 have achieved a diploma and the qualifications necessary to be accepted at the university of their choice. Because our class sizes at Futuro Verde are small and our emphasis on student well-being is paramount, we will not share the exact diploma each of our current graduating class has achieved. But, please know and remember:
- we are exceedingly proud of each and every one of our students and their respective success stories! They are hard-working, driven, kind and passionate and we can’t wait to see what they will do and become in the years to come.
- as a school, internally each year, we put substantial effort into looking at all of our exam results, both national and international, on a macro and micro level, in order to understand patterns, see trends, and consider where we can make structural, curricular, and instructional improvements moving forward.
So, this is why we will be shifting how we share student results now and in the future. We hope that in doing so we strike the correct balance between transparency and placing value on the right things- on student well-being, first and foremost, and on a respect for the complete and holistic development of our students and their preparedness for university and for life.
by Angie Briceño | Jan 2, 2020
On December 19th, 2019 our first IB generation graduated, what an exciting day for everyone!
Even more exciting is the great opportunity that Futuro Verde has presented to 12th graders, the John Dolan Scholarship for the start of the university career!
As you know, John Dolan highly valued the importance of quality education, therefore his family showed great commitment in founding the John Dolan Scholarship Fund. Now, the 12th grade students who meet the requirements will have another incredible opportunity that comes from the legacy of John Dolan, which is that those who obtain the IB Diploma and have entered the university may be granted the $ 1000 John Dolan scholarship to launch their university career. We are very grateful to John Dolan and his family for this incredible opportunity to support students to begin a new stage of their educational career and we wish them all success in this new adventure.
And remember that education is our passport to the future because tomorrow belongs to the people who get prepared for today.
by Noelia | Dec 3, 2019
The end of the year is always a busy time for everyone and school life at Futuro Verde is no exception. The end of the 2019 school year comes loaded with many fun activities and important family events, so we wanted to make sure you wouldn´t miss anything by sharing the dates with you today!
- December 6th, 8 am – 3 pm: Sustainable Solutions Fair, preschool to 10th grade students share their innovative projects and ideas on how to best protect our environment and how to live a healthy life making sustainability part of our daily lives.
- December 9th, 7 am – 3 pm: Professional development – no school.
- December 11th: RAP (schedule to be confirmed): the end of the year event that brings together our diverse school population with dance, music, theatre, lyrical poetry and much, much more.
- December 13th, and 14th: The Mousetrapp, a fabulous play adapted and produced by the students.
- December 13th, 8 am – 1.30 pm: Futuro Verde Trail Fun Run – on the last day of school we hold our traditional Futuro Verde Trail Fun Run race, a fun event for the whole family. Sign up here! School release time is at 1.30 pm.
- December 16th and 17th, 8 am – 5 pm: Parent-Teacher Conferences – no school.
- December 18th, 4 – 6 pm: 6th grade graduation ceremony.
- December 19th, 4 – 6 pm: 12th grade graduation ceremony – 1st FV IB generation.
2019 Holiday Giving Campaign
The holidays are a time to reflect, share and give! Our annual donation campaign, Holiday Giving Campaign, benefiting our community´s families in need has begun! From November 28th to December 6th, bring your used clothes for all ages that remain in good condition and new or barely used toys to Futuro Verde. Do not wrap the items and deposit them in the corresponding boxes before Friday, December 6th! Let’s contribute to a happy holiday season for everyone!
We look forward to your presence to celebrate the end of a great year together!
by Katie Chiaverini | Oct 31, 2019
Futuro Verde is very excited to begin implementing a new curricular support which is a learning platform for math called IXL. The IXL program will be used by students across all the grades and can also be accessed online at home. With thousands of skills that match what we’re learning, as well as insights into student progress, IXL is a great resource to help your child excel.
The IXL math program is made up of four main components that are integrated throughout the program to better personalize learning for each and every student: Comprehensive Curriculum, Personalized Guidance, Actionable Analytics, and Continuous Diagnostic. The program provides over 8,000 skills to support grade level objectives and gives instant feedback to students on their work. Students find it very engaging and motivating as it provides incentives connected to student achievement. Another very important aspect is that the questions adapt as the student answers correctly or incorrectly to allow them success at the appropriate level.
There are many different ways that parents can support their children at home with the IXL program. Parents can encourage their children to visit the personalized “Recommendations wall” within IXL for helpful review or new challenges, as they are targeted specifically for each student! Parents can also sign in to their child’s account and click on Analytics to see what they’ve been working on and check their progress. With built in incentives and rewards, families can help celebrate student accomplishments when a new goal is reached.
On October 31, Futuro Verde provided a parent workshop on how to help support their children at home with the IXL program. We were so glad to have parents as learners and show an interest in their child’s academic growth. If any parents would like to know more about the IXL program or how to help their child at home but missed the workshop, feel free to email Katie@futuro-verde.org for more information.
