A Teacher's Story: Educating the Whole Child

By Jonathan Robertson

I chose Center City PCS because of the organization’s commitment to educating the whole child. Through Center City’s three pillars of character, excellence and service, we encourage students to strive for all three of those pillars daily.  It is important for students – of all ages – to have a global view of their world and get a better understanding of themselves through their various learning experiences.  At Center City, one way we are encouraging our students to explore these three pillars are through our annual Capstone project. This service-based learning experience is a way for students to get to know themselves and the world around them.

At Trinidad [school], our fourth and fifth grade students are exploring health around the world in comparison to the United States.  This cross-curricular Capstone project will allow students to see the similarities and differences shared with their world-wide peers.  In math, students are tracking their daily steps.  Through tracking these daily steps, students will be able to have a mathematical understanding of how this works with their health. In science, students are comparing the nutrition facts in their foods locally and globally.  In ELA, students are doing research on the health differences and similarities.

Through their research and exploration, the culminating aspect of this project is a fair-of-sorts where students will have the opportunity to display their work and research to all of their peers throughout the building. When we discuss what the end product should look like, students get excited to showcase their work for their peers to see and explore the work of their peers as well.

This extensive, culminating Capstone project is a great way Center City pushes students to think outside the box.  This type of learning extends beyond just the classroom but pushes students to see themselves as ambassadors of learning. The takeaway from this experience is that students will grow, learn and explore parts of the world they did not know existed.

Jonathan Robertson is a fourth and fifth grade math and science teacher at Center City PCS-Trinidad.

A teacher at Center City PCS - Trinidad shares his experience teaching 4-5 graders.