The Muñiz Academy is a two-way bilingual high school located in the former Agassiz School building in Jamaica Plain. Named for Margarita Muñiz, the founder and longtime principal of the Hernandez K-8 School, it opened three years ago and now has a full complement of 320 students in grades 9-12.
I love that the school organizes instruction around yearly themes selected by staff: Revolution in 9th grade, Immigration in 10th, Social Movements in 11th, and Leadership & Community in 12th. The themes build on each other and are designed to offer opportunities for authentic learning. Each term students explore a different topic within the theme.
At the beginning of this year seniors are participating in the BPS High School Redesign effort. Students hope to influence the discourse, planning, and the decision-makers in the district. In science they will be doing a building analysis to examine environmental impacts related to global warming.
Visual Arts teacher Daniel Villafana had students using laptop computers to write individual “artist statements” connecting their work to a quote, while at least three different classes of students practiced a variety of musical instruments.
There is ample evidence of critical thinking about issues that affect student lives throughout the building. Students in Marilú Alvarado-Hernández‘s Spanish class are reading El Pais de las Mujeres by Gioconda Belli as they learn about feminism and the issues of gender inequality. Giant posters in Wanda Muriel‘s ESL classroom show students’ agreement and disagreement with various provocative statements about public education. In Antonio Arvelo‘s Humanities class, 11th graders were examining obstacles to attaining the American Dream. Students also have a variety of opportunities to work in small groups, often leading their own inquiries. Juan Gomez‘s pre-calculus math students were collaboratively examining and making sense of graphical representations of data. In Robyn Pelletier‘s Humanities class, tenth graders were grouped to study and take on different roles from an event in American history.
Students at every grade level spend a day visiting area colleges, and large posters in the entrance area show the results of student research on a variety of institutions of higher learning. The Muñiz Academy is definitely preparing its students to enter college with 21st century skills!
Amika Kemmler-Ernst, Ed.D.
amika45@comcast.net