Participants from across the nation traveled to Atlanta in October for the national El Education conference. Amana Academy and Brighten Academy, hosted pre-conference events on Wednesday, Oct. 16, to showcase the exemplary work that’s taking place within both public charter schools.
Amana Academy pre-conference event
Amana Academy held a full-day event to highlight the school’s Expeditionary STEM curriculum for a group of more than 40 educators and school leaders from around the country. Participants had the opportunity to observe how the Fulton County public charter school challenges students to think critically and apply the standards they learn in the classroom to solve problems and make contributions to their local and global communities. They also viewed how Science Technology Engineering and Math (STEM) is integrated across all subjects and woven throughout learning expeditions to empower students to develop authentic solutions and create high-quality products that matter.
Brighten Academy pre-conference event
Brighten Academy also hosted more than 40 educators prior to the start of the El Education Conference. The event was designed to showcase how the school has started to move from implementing English Language Art (ELA) modules to interdisciplinary learning expeditions in the past year. Those visiting Brighten were able to interact with and view students researching, designing and implementing expeditions that make a real-world impact on their local community. Participants also heard directly from teachers and students during several focus-group sessions.
Amana Academy students perform at the El Education conference
The following day, Amana Academy students welcomed El Education conference attendees to Atlanta with a step performance during the opening session. Educators at the school also facilitated two master classes. As part of the first master class, Amana third grade teachers demonstrated how to integrate El Language Arts modules with other academic subjects. Amana Principal Cherisse Campbell led a second master class focused on how educators can select and implement the right measures of character to drive school improvement.
Amana Academy is both an EL Education Credentialed Network School and a Certified STEM (science, technology, engineering, math) public charter school providing a robust Expeditionary STEM education to students in grades K-8 in Fulton County, Georgia. Amana serves one of the most diverse student populations in the county, if not the state, with students claiming over 40 countries of heritage, more than 26 different languages spoken in their homes, and no majority race or ethnicity represented. This diversity is a direct contributor to student success, as global awareness builds empathy and provides context for the historical and contemporary issues that students are exploring in their learning. Amana Academy implements the EL Education Language Arts curriculum in grades K-8.
Brighten Academy is an El Education Credentialed School. The K-8 public charter school located west of Atlanta serving students in Douglas County, Georgia. We believe in educating the whole child through project-based learning and growing our students’ character with our 7Cs. Brighten began partnering with EL Education in 2014 as a Network School and began implementing the K-8 ELA literacy curriculum (first edition) in 2017.
