Early in the 2018-19 school year, students expressed interest in a journey to the Azores, an isolated Portuguese island group in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. Students and teachers spent much of the first semester planning the trip and learning about the Azores. During the early part of the second semester, the group [...]
For our regional intensive this year, students collaborated with the teachers to design an in-depth study of Indigenous People in New England. Our study focused primarily on the 5 Wabanaki tribes in Maine and the Wampanoag of Massachusetts. We visited the Penobscot and Wampanoag nations to spend time with the tribes to understand their [...]
Structured Academic Controversy: Teaching Strategies in Action, by Brad Lopes Was Abraham Lincoln a racist? Was the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki a war crime? Did the 14th Amendment really abolish slavery? These are the kind of questions that have troubled historians and teachers alike for many years. It is human [...]
The New School has a solid commitment to climate justice. Students gathered during the summer break to work with Social Studies teacher, Brad Lopes, in conjunction with the Energy Efficiency Advisory Committee of Kennebunk. They attended the Select Board Meeting in Kennebunk on August 14 to urge the town to join the Global Covenant [...]
The students and teachers at The New School started a four-part dinner series as a fundraiser for their intensive programming. The dinners planned by each advisory and include a five course meal, beverages, and unique themes for entertainment. The first dinner was a season-specific Harvest Dinner, consisting of locally grown produce and fish. Jason Romagnoli, [...]
LEAP stands for Learning, Exhibitions And Performance. The excitement and anticipation is palpable during the prep time for LEAP Night. The students spend the days leading up to the evening preparing their portfolios, putting finishing touches on displays and carefully crafting a table that speaks to each student's uniqueness. This individuality is one of the [...]
The greenhouse is coming along in spite of the delay in getting our building permit. It was approved last Wednesday, but hasn't come to us yet. We have dug the foundation ditches with pick ax due to hitting hardpan. This will make us the strongest people in the whole school. Muscle men and women! C.N. [...]
On a beautiful fall Saturday in October, one some may argue as the most amazing time to be in Maine, 13 members of The New School community gathered to further the progress of the cooperative leadership model, taken on by the school this June. Students, teachers, board members, and other various stakeholders spent 5 hours [...]
On a cool autumn morning, a bus full of K-8 School Around Us students and their three teachers arrived at The New School ready to work together on collaborative science explorations. Evan Dewdney was already stoking the fire in our brick oven, generously built for the school as a senior project a few years [...]
The New School was fortunate enough to gain TWO new fabulous teachers this summer. Brad Lopes joined our faculty in August, but already feels like he's been here for more creating his classes, leading an advisory, and getting to know the teachers. Brad refers to his role at The New School as his "dream job," [...]
