Part Two: La Paz Community School; Self, Family, Community, World

   

     Can you imagine a school that doesn't rely on standardized testing and letter grades? A place where students are graded on their creative abilities and not their memorization skills? At La Paz, students are evaluated on portfolios that they put together as well as a narrative evaluation from the students' teachers. Students are also numerically evaluated on a 0-4 scale based on the learning objectives of Bloom's Taxonomy:

    

    You might remember asking yourself or your teacher the question: “When am I ever going to use this?” At La Paz you will find students ask this question very little if at all. Everything taught at La Paz across all grade levels are based on “Themes”. The eight themes of the school year include: Peace Ambassadors, Sustainability, Origins, Land and Sea, Wellness, Energy, Creative Expression, and Gratitude. During the sustainability theme, for example, students and teachers have used recycling to teach math using volume, mass, etc. Bianca Javogue, now a senior, spoke of her class project a couple years ago relating to the theme Land and Sea; where she and her classmates constructed a boat, learning geometry, algebra, bouyancy, and more. The boat was later used to teach other biological sciences in the field putting their project to use.

  As a way of giving back to their community and school, students participate in service learning. Each year, students come up with their own unique projects, giving them the ability to express themselves while bettering the community, school, environment, or other places where they see need. Many of the projects are environmentally focused, but there are students who choose to express their talents in videography and other arts. Students aren't the only ones chipping in either parents are required to donate 8 hours of their time per school year. This includes transportation, fund raising, and program coordinating. Some other parents like Ashely Javogue also serve on the board of directors, providing as a voice for other parents and even students.

    Everything La Paz does comes down to their “Peace Practices”; it holds the essence of everything La Paz is trying to accomplish. You will see the words Self, Family, Community, and World on each students uniform. The peace practices are designed to help students develop peace within themselves and the ability to become long-term learners. Once they have been able to develop themselves, they will be able to carry those same values to their families, community, and eventually the world.

    All grade levels, Pre-K through 12^th grade, work together as a community, and strive to bring each other up through mentoring. While there are still complaints about school lunches, nosy teachers, gossip, and worst of all homework, students still love the relaxed mentality of the school. There isn't a constant pressure to succeed, rather that it is ok to fail and make mistakes. Failure only makes students try harder, create new ideas, and build to something they can be proud of. Student also have the choice to go to dance class, yoga, futbal, surfing, basketball, tennis, rock climbing, and it all counts towards learning. Extracurricular activities provide another class room disguised as fun, but non the less teaches confidence, grit, teamwork, and life lessons.

    Guanacaste is not the only place in the world whose culture and environment are in danger; the La Paz model and schools like it can be followed elsewhere. Working with students and teachers in order to create active learners, creators, and inquirers, is the key to bringing the world together as a community. This can all be accomplished by supporting schools like La Paz, and helping those trying follow their example.

  

    Please don''t forget to check out the La Paz school's website as well as their facebook page, they are always looking for volunteers and donations. You can also see the La Paz school short documentary here.