Arts Academy Revitalization Action Team

Val’s Vision (first draft) for Crossover Days

December 7, 2007 at 3:09 pm | In Curriculum Sharing, Discussions |

This is my vision (first draft) for Crossover Days. Most of the examples involve my class because I have the most experience with how it could be chunked up.

I hope that this will be a jumping-off point for discussion, because I think we could make this into something great.

What is a “Crossover Day”? A Crossover Day is a day each week when participating programs offer classes in the style of the Community of Learners or Adult Ed. Classes can be a single session or multiple sessions. Community members can enroll (if allowed by the instructor) for a small fee. All posting of classes and sign-up for classes is done online.

• Crossover Days happen every Friday in both sessions. All classes are 2.5 hours long. I think the regularity of every Friday is important to maintain, especially if we can get community members used to checking the Web site to see what’s happening on a Friday.
• Instructors can enter course information online.
• Students, staff, and community members can sign up for a course online.
• Instructors can offer chunks of courses. Example: Ms. Green will offer a 6 session course in PHP Basics. Ms. Green will offer a 6 session course in Advanced PHP. Prerequisite: PHP Basics or permission from the instructor.
• Instructors can offer small chunks. Example: Ms. Green will offer a 3 session course on combining Flash and PHP. Prerequisites: Flash Basics, PHP Basics.
• Instructors can offer a common course during Crossover Days. Example: Ms. Manzi will offer a 3 session course in Layout Basics. Ms. Green, Mr. Nichols, and Mr. Beane will require their students to take this course.
• Community members can take classes. Example: Mr. Smith, who lives nearby, is thrilled to see that Ms. Krasnow is offering a 3 session course on finding the right market for your product. He signs up online and pays a small fee to enroll.
• Community members can teach classes. Example: Ms. Nadeau, a Portland resident, is interested in teaching a 2 session Horticulture Crossover in Phytoremediation.
• 8th Grade Exploratory Option 1: Mr. Beane will offer a 5 session exploratory course for 8th graders interested in Video Tech.
• 8th Grade Exploratory Option 2: Jennifer, a student at Moore, sees that Ms. Green is offering a 5 session Robotics and Intro to Java Programming class. The class is open to PATHS students and 8th graders.
• Semester Class Option: Ms. Green will offer a 10 session class in Using CSS for Web Design. The class is open to PATHS students, all students in the Portland Schools, and community members (for a small fee).
• Students can teach other students: Clarissa is so good at PhotoShop that she wants to teach a class on Advanced Image Processing Techniques. She works with Ms. Green to develop a lesson plan and then offers a 2 session course for 10 students.
• Crossover Days can be outside the usual subject area. Ms. Green will offer a 6 session class in Argentine Tango. Class size is limited to 20.
• Crossover Days happen every Friday, but instructors don’t have to offer one every Friday. Example: Ms. Green holds a regular class for 5 Fridays so students can finish a big project. Or: Ms. Green and her students take Ms. Manzi’s course in Layout Basics for 3 Fridays.

There are a lot of logistics to work out (scheduling, insurance, contract requirements, etc.) but I think it would really energize PATHS to have something like this going on.