Adolescent Program

The Adolescent Program divides its curriculum into five units of work during the year, with each unit last 4 to 5 weeks. The three period lessons of Primary and Elementary Montessori programs evolve into the three periods of a unit: introduction, exploration, and mastery. The 4-5 week cycle of learning also prepares students for the semester and project-based systems of high school and collegiate learning. 

The weekly schedule of adolescents also begins to resemble adult life as students manage their daily responsibilities: attending scheduled lessons, using a planner to structure and prioritize their work, and striving to meet deadlines and standards of excellence set by their advisors and themselves.

Successful candidates for the Adolescent Program demonstrate responsibility, respect, self-direction, curiosity, and community-mindedness.

Adolescence is a period of intense, rapid development physically, emotionally, cognitively, and socially. Arbor teachers acknowledging this important opportunity to help the adolescent student learn skills for mindfulness, stress management, and self-reflection. Through this, they develop powerful tools for positive emotional expression and regulation.

Additionally, adolescents wrestle passionately with questions of identity, ethics, and complex local and global issues. Through the study of humanities and current events, AP teachers guide students to harness the strength of their convictions toward action. Knowing how to channel their emotions, Arbor students feel empowered to lead positive change.

Adolescents must have opportunities for self-reflection and express their opinions without fear of judgement. They thrive in an environment where they can feel safe as they go through the profound physical and emotional changes that is an integral part of adolescence.

Arbor empowers adolescents with regular opportunities to exercise their creative and innovative motivations in their school work. Throughout the year, projects and units offer students the time and support to dive deeply into topics and projects of intense personal interest. Students present this work and teach their peers and teachers what they've discovered and produced.

Creativity flourishes in many ways throughout the Adolescent Program. Beyond our specialty classes in music, art, and language, students might choose to: 

• Mentor students in the Primary classrooms during the afternoon work cycle. 

• Plan an international trip to Costa Rica, using their Spanish skills to support gardening and painting at a local school.

• Petition and create new manager roles for adolescent students to support fundraising and athletics.

• Hatch and raise a new flock of chickens to harvest eggs for their Market. 

Coming each day to a school that invites action ensures our students retain and develop their capacities for creative, innovative thinking and problem-solving. 

Dr. Montessori believed the adolescent straddles two worlds: that of their known nuclear family and that of the “future family of which the adolescent is the father, builder, center.” (A Social Newborn) The adolescent is leaving childhood—centered around the nuclear family—to be reborn into adulthood, where they will create their newly independent life. Montessori envisioned the ideal environment for this rebirth as a boarding community, where the new “family” would form and allow the lessons of approaching adulthood to unfold in a safe environment.

Since Arbor's Adolescent Program does not offer boarding, class trips are designed to fulfill the need for residential life. These trips push our AP community experience beyond the classroom and into the rhythms and flow of daily life. Adolescents learn to balance other’s needs and desires with their own as they live with roommates, decide where to eat dinner, and choose activities. They learn to listen and compromise. They learn that, sometimes, we have to make decisions based on the good of the community, rather than on personal preferences. These lessons allow the adolescents to practice the skills they will need to build their “future family.”

Both our AP students and our guides return from the trip with a new understandings: of their own independence and of their place in the universe, the world, and the community. 

A close relationship between the teachers and the students is critical to the foundation of the Arbor Adolescent Program. Adult guides work side by side with adolescents, serving as experts who offer support, instruction, and feedback. The relationship between the adult and the adolescent is one of respect, understanding, and love. The adult in the adolescent community takes on many different roles: teacher, guide, coach, advisor, role model, and expert. With a student-teacher ratio of 8 to 1, students are ensured individualized attention.

In order to give the adolescent the opportunity to self-advocate, students also take the lead their parent-teacher conferences with their advisor and parents. The student sets their own pace and leads the discussion of their work. They organize all their work from the trimester and select pieces of work to share from all subject areas. These may be pieces that show the skills they have learned, or they may be pieces where the student struggled and learned from their mistakes. We believe that all of the work our students complete is a learning experience.

Students are encouraged to practice and role-play their conference presentation in advance. By advocating for themselves and leading the conferences during their time in the Adolescent Program, the student takes an important step in expressing their independence and advancing their journey to adulthood.