CURRICULUM

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BALANCING TRADITION AND INNOVATION

At the heart of Greenwich Village High School is a challenging academic program for students who love learning. Classes require commitment, curiosity, participation, and a great sense of adventure.

Greenwich Village High School offers an academic program that balances tradition and innovation. Ninth graders will study English, history, mathematics, science, the arts, and a world language–a typical high school curriculum–but students will work with teachers who act as a team to provide connections and context for what is learned. Students will do homework, write papers, and take tests, but they will do so within a program intentionally designed to create an integrated learning experience that equally values the theoretical and the applied.

Whenever appropriate, classes will be held in locations around the city and teachers will connect classroom topics to the wider world. For example, in a traditional ninth-grade physics course studying energy, the morning class might be spent discussing how electrons are excited around the nucleus of an atom. Then, in an afternoon field-trip period, students might visit with an MTA engineer to understand how this same principle powers the subways that millions ride every day. In an English class, students might read a recent piece from The New Yorker about a Shakespeare play studied in class and then meet the play’s director to further explore his or her ideas, work, and life. A chapter from a textbook might begin a study of world history, but students might also meet with a curator at the Museum of the City of New York to understand how artifacts complement the story. Studying foreign language will teach vocabulary and grammar, but practicing these language skills in the neighborhoods of New York will allow students to immerse themselves in the cultures and customs of native speakers. And when students produce works in visual, performing, or creative arts classes, they will be able to draw on a wealth of new experiences to do so. At GVHS, innovative technology will be an integrated part of these learning experiences, enhancing all artistic and academic disciplines.

As conceived, the GVHS academic program will build outward from a traditional ninth-grade curriculum that appropriately leverages the resources of New York City to an American studies program in the tenth grade, including extended field experiences outside of the five boroughs. The junior year will have a global focus, with possible overseas study opportunities. For senior year, each student will pursue a mix of required courses and create a self-directed program of study with a faculty sponsor.