Middle School

Our Middle School Learning Program (Grade 6 - 8) is aimed at providing students with authentic learning experiences through interdisciplinary units built around central concepts, competencies, and character traits. Learning experiences are designed to be relevant and engaging, drawing on local illustrative content from students’ own school, country, and cultural contexts. In order to build intrinsic motivation and to grow as learners, students are given autonomy and choice, where possible, in how they explore different concepts and in how they are assessed.

Learning is built around a culture of collaboration with teachers and peers as well as through working with and seeking feedback from experts from within the school and the wider community. The focus on rigor is defined by the quality rather than the quantity of work that students produce. Much of the learning is centered around projects that involve a culminating public demonstration of learning that has an authentic purpose and audience.

Students working on a construction project

Courses

Students receive courses in English, Mathematics, Social Studies, Science, Spanish, Physical Education and, during the course of the year, are exposed to four exploratories: Music, Drama, Design Technology, and Crew/Adventure (Grades 6/7). They are also given an elective each semester in one of the following courses: Global Issues, Textile and Fashion Design, Performance and Theater Production, Studio Art, Robotics, and Advertising and Marketing.

Additional support classes include Learning Support and ESOL.

First page of the PDF file: SecondaryLearningProgram20232024

Schedule

Warrior Period

Mission Statement
Warrior Period at Colegio Maya is taking care of students’ well-being by intentionally fostering relationships and a sense of community, helping individuals discover their passions through providing a variety of opportunities to explore their interests, skills, and talents while focusing on the development of the whole child and service to others.

Vision Statement
Warrior Period is the essence of Colegio Maya that aims to create students who are happy, enthusiastic, and motivated to actively engage in academic, extracurricular, and service activities that enhance the school community by helping foster individuality and a sense of belonging.

Purpose Statement
ADVOCACY
Each student will have an adult who will listen, that they can trust and talk to.

COMMUNITY
Each student will have a supportive “home-place” in the school.

Passion Project

The Passion Project is an opportunity for our 8th graders at Colegio Maya to pursue their passion and make a positive impact on their community in whatever area they are interested. It is a chance for them to develop a deeper understanding of the needs of their community and make a difference on a personal, local, or global level.

The Passion Project is their project. It is an opportunity for them to deepen their knowledge and understanding in relation to ANY topic or area of interest. They then have a chance to demonstrate and reflect on key concepts, competencies and character traits related to their area of exploration and apply all these to impact their community.

Students have about three quarters of the year to explore their project, ask questions, develop different research techniques related to gathering their data and then taking informed action. Students develop their own goals, action plans, and keep track of their learning in their process journal. They have two showcases throughout the year, one preliminary showcase in December and a final showcase in May. In both showcases students have a chance to demonstrate their learning to an authentic audience made up of all stakeholders of Colegio Maya and people from the outside community.

Students work closely with their classroom teacher and supervisory teacher to help guide them through the Passion Project process. The relationship with their supervisor is crucial for their success and developing this relationship is part of the learning process. Students take full responsibility for the success of their project through being actively engaged in every step of the learning process and developing key character traits like self-management, self-awareness through ongoing reflection, resilience, perseverance, and empathy.

The goal of passion projects at this key stage in their learning journey is that students will develop lifelong knowledge and skills and character traits that will set them up for being key critical thinkers, innovators, and game-changers for the future. Taking what they learn from this experience and expanding on it in high school in order to truly become independent value-driven citizens.

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