Creating a Community Across Classrooms
In a year of hybrid – or even fully remote – learning, Ms. Deborah and Ms. Anastasia used stories to create authentic connections between their classrooms.
Category: Blog, from the classroom | June 1, 2021 | kerry
Science, Perspective & the Study of Why
A hallmark of Acera is the ability for teachers and students and follow their curiosity. In this video, Acera’s Lab Sciences Specialist Michael Hirsch shares how one student’s question sparked a new science elective.
Category: Blog, from the classroom, Innovation in Education | May 19, 2021 | kerry
Heroes, Villains and the Roman Empire
Kids need a safe context to discuss ideas around governance, power, hierarchy, conquest and colonialism, culture, and identity – themes that regularly surface in novel ways in modern social and political discourse, but have been central to the… Read More
Category: Blog, from the classroom | May 14, 2021 | kerry
Introducing…Acera High School!
By Courtney Dickinson We are pilot-testing a 9th & 10th high school classroom next school year! We have hired a phenomenal teacher and have a growing group of 9th and 10th grade students who have enrolled as our… Read More
Category: @CourtneyofAcera, Acera News, Blog, from the classroom, Uncategorized | May 13, 2021 | kerry
From the Mystic to Michigan: Acera students explore scientific and societal impacts on water
Environmental Science and Ecology Specialist Kelly Wilson and Engineering and Maker Space Specialist Tim Bilodeau share how Acera’s Watershed Investigations elective evolved from collecting data at a local river to exploring issues of water access and environmental justice.
Category: AceraBlogPost, Blog, from the classroom, Innovation in Education, Uncategorized | May 12, 2021 | kerry
Acera students recognized at Model UN Conference
Four students from the Acera School of Winchester earned recognition for Best Delegate, Best Negotiator, and Best Position Paper during the sixth annual Commonwealth Middle School Model UN Conference in April. The event focused on a variety of… Read More
Category: Acera News, AceraBlogPost, from the classroom | May 10, 2021 | kerry
Save the date: Love to Learn is back!
Join us on May 8 for Acera School’s annual Spring fundraising event featuring musician (& Acera parent) Jacques Schwarz-Bart! Register for Love to Learn Hear from our teachers about some of the projects from this past school year… Read More
AceraEI offers free workshops for public school science teachers
Seeking high school science teachers who want to reinvent biology class! Reboot your lab activities and earn PDPs this summer at a free training workshop covering gene editing, microbiomics & climate change Join the AceraEI Life Sciences Change… Read More
Category: Acera News, AceraBlogPost, Innovation in Education | March 26, 2021 | kerry
Unpacking the concepts of “hero” and “villain”
Ms. Vered’s class uncovers the motivations of “heroes and villains” while examining Julius Caesar and the dawn of the Roman Empire. Kids need a safe context to discuss ideas around governance, power, hierarchy, conquest and colonialism, culture, and… Read More
Category: AceraBlogPost, from the classroom, Innovation in Education | February 4, 2021 | kerry
Acera’s Third Annual Trivia Night is February 4th!
Join us on Thursday, February 4, 2021 from 7:30-9:30 pm for Acera’s VIRTUAL Trivia Night! All proceeds benefit the Reed Hollett Enrichment Scholarship Fund. Invite your non-Acera friends for an evening “in” for a good cause! Acera’s third… Read More
Category: Acera News, Blog, Enrichment at Home | January 11, 2021 | kerry
At Acera, we believe a school’s success can be measured far beyond its standardized test scores. How happy are its students? Do they feel a sense of purpose at school? Are they developing a capacity for perspective taking and problem solving? Are teachers using evidence-based approaches to pedagogy? Acera’s Education Innovation team is working to change how we measure education to include students’ core capacities, faculty’s use of evidence-based practices, a positive school culture, and standards and achievement.
Tech Hub enables students to emerge as community-minded technologists able to solve problems to benefit the whole school. More a philosophy than a place, Tech Hub can start as simply a cart in a cafeteria with one student fired up to be a knowledgable, technically skillful community member. Concurrently developing emotional intelligence skills and a wide array of technological abilities, Tech Hub members model and spread an attitude of fearlessness at using STEM tools to solve real problems.
Small children can understand big ideas, and computer science is no exception. Acera’s hands-on “Computers and Me” curriculum introduces early elementary students to computer science concepts, and is one example of many creative ways computational thinking and technical fluency can be developed throughout K-12 education, starting at age 5. Pilot-tested and ready to translate for adoption by public schools, these computer science learning approaches help students become facile and fearless.
What if math classes are organized based on what each student is ready to learn, rather than by age? This f
How can educators unleash the initiative and creativity inherent in all children? 