Senior Seminar

COMMUNITY MEMBERS INVITED TO DEVELOP SEMINAR COURSE Brewer High School is inviting members of the local community to participate in developing a new senior seminar course that will be part of the school's new Honors Diploma. Students pursuing an honors diploma are encouraged to follow a pathway similar to a college liberal arts education with requirements in math, language arts, social studies, science, and modern languages. Students who earn an honors diploma will receive automatic acceptance to the Honors College at the University of Maine upon being admitted to the university. Brewer High will graduate the first class of honors diploma recipients with the class of 2008. The senior seminar will be one way that honors diploma students can fulfill a senior requirement. The course will use an interdisciplinary approach to study individuals in history from the Italian renaissance to the United States civil rights movement. Units on each individual will last 3-4 weeks and students will read primary source documents, listen to lectures on audio podcasts, attend a weekly Socratic seminar, and submit a written paper at the end of each unit. The course will be supported by a website as well as cultural experiences such as concerts, plays, lectures at colleges, and field trips. Units on the following twelve individuals will be developed for the 2007-8 school year: Michelangelo, Queen Elizabeth I, William Shakespeare, Thomas Jefferson, Ludwig van Beethoven, Charles Darwin, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Susan B. Anthony, Marie Curie, Mahatma Gandhi, Rachel Carson, and Martin Luther King Jr. Community members with expertise on one of these individuals are invited to participate on a team that will select readings, record podcasts, develop themes of seminars, and suggest cultural experiences. It is anticipated that each team will meet 3-4 times with work being completed by June 2007. To volunteer for a unit development team or receive more information e-mail Glendon Rand at grand@breweredu.org or call Brewer High School at 989-4140. LINK TO OVERVIEW OF SEMINAR COURSE LINK TO SAMPLE UNIT ON CHARLES DARWIN