About Our School

The report of The New Commission On The Skills Of The American Workforce, titled, Tough Choices or Tough Times articulates the challenges we face as educators in erasing the “education deficit” in our country. The report specifically addresses the fact that American workers today can no longer compete with the highly skilled workers of countries like China and India who are willing to put their talent to work for low wages. The conclusion that the report draws is that our system must learn to produce graduates who are innovative, creative and critical thinkers who “invent” the technologies, ideas and products that can be produced as outsourced goods.

At The GreenMount School, we are laying the groundwork for the very type of individual that is called for by the commission. Our students are encouraged to investigate topics, skills and strategies deeply to create what the Harvard Review calls “deep smarts”. The students here are allowed to use a constructivist approach to learning and are often independent in their approach to it. Our graduates are confident, contributing and capable of looking at new situations in which to apply prior learning effectively. The curriculum is theme-based with an emphasis on student products that demonstrate the intended learning.

An important part of our program is the preparation the students receive for their experiences as middle school students during which time they have the opportunity to travel abroad and be involved in the community in service learning projects. The travel this year in February will involve our eighth grade students in a week-long trip to Barcelona, Spain. During the trip the students will be hosted by their counterparts at a middle school there, but for the most part, the students will be responsible for planning the trip. They will decide on the itinerary, make arrangements for in-country travel, and make decisions about what they want to learn while they are in Spain. We believe that it is important for students to have a sense of other cultures and gain confidence as world travelers. In the spring of this year, students from Barcelona will travel to Baltimore to learn more about our culture and our approach to education. Our students will plan activities for their guests based on what they think are essential learning experiences for their new friends. In preparation for the trip and for receiving our guests, students are trying to raise money to offset the expenses of travel to Europe and the expenses of entertaining the students from Barcelona when they arrive in April.

Service learning projects are an important part of our middle school students’ experiences here at GreenMount. Our main goal is to expose our students to entrepreneurship so that they can exercise choices in their subsequent education. For example, a student who last year had a great experience at a local bakery has been featured on the Food Network because he wants to attend a special program in high school that will give him the skills and knowledge to apply chemistry, physics and even biology to become a chef. Our students learn from the real world and are given opportunities to explore many possibilities for their futures as members of the American society.