Last week Chad Blair and JoAnn Groh (principals of PFFS-University and PFFS-Downtown) traveled to Providence, RI with Santo Nicotera and Carrie Brennan (CITY Center for Collaborative Learning) to participate in the Coalition of Essential Schools‘ final Fall Forum. At the conference Chad and JoAnn presented on PFFS’s student support systems, while Santo and Carrie facilitated a… Read more »
In June 2013 we began the first stage of curriculum development for the new school by taking a team of nine educators from PFFS-University and City High School to San Diego to participate in the High Tech High, three-day ‘Summer Institute‘. Between August 2013 and January 2014 this team worked together on five additional, ‘weekend’… Read more »
Both Paulo Freire Freedom School campuses will be hosting a series of tours for prospective students and their families. Tours are a great way to view our schools and learn about our curricular and extracurricular programs. One tour is given at each campus each month, and the two campuses stagger morning and evening tours. PFFS-University (300… Read more »
Personalized kudos, poetry, and gratitude are the hallmarks of Paulo Freire Freedom Schools’ eighth-grade graduation. Our graduation ceremonies exemplify our commitment to honoring each individual student. Instead of just receiving a diploma and a handshake, each Paulo Freire graduate is honored with a unique poem written by the staff. The poem is read aloud and printed… Read more »
Next Friday, April 21st is our Pennington Street Showcase. As previously shared, on Showcase day class will start at 12:00 for middle school students. Although the Showcase will continue until 7:00, we are only requiring that PFFS students stay until 5:00 p.m. If having your son/daughter at home until noon on this day, we will… Read more »
While planning for the beginning of the new school year, one of our teachers felt it was important for us to address the summer’s violent events in order to help students process them. Yes! Absolutely! As a school with a social justice focus, a school that values exploring many perspectives, a school that works to… Read more »
We are hearing frequent reports of serious teacher shortages both nationally and locally. See “Teacher Shortages Spur a Nationwide Hiring Scramble (Credentials Optional)” Aug. 9, 2015 and “Shortage Puts Uncertified Teachers in Arizona Classrooms” Aug. 1, 2015. This only deepens our appreciation for the two groups of teachers and support staff we have assembled at PFFS-Downtown and… Read more »
As you may know, students at both PFFS-University and PFFS-Downtown are fully engaged during these last weeks of school in the deep learning associated with interdisciplinary, project-based units of instruction. Project-based learning (“PBL”) is an instructional methodology that asks students to engage in curriculum in a meaningful way and requires that they demonstrate not only… Read more »
Parents are invited to see some of the work their young people have been doing on March 4th from 5-6pm. Students will present from their Modern Progressives project in which students have analyzed community health issues using research and GIS data. ‘Cell City Metaphors’ will be posted and we might even be able to encourage some… Read more »
Over two dozen students from both PFFS campuses attended the I AM NORM Youth Summit in Phoenix, Arizona on Friday 2/6/15. This conference is part of a youth-led movement that seeks to promote inclusion and embrace the diversity of the human race. We are excited to have these students return and be ambassadors for the… Read more »