Academics

Awakening Genius
Every Genius. Every Classroom. Every Day.

Awakening Genius

Every Genius. Every Classroom. Every Day. 

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At Kindezi, we believe that every child is innately gifted with genius. Therefore we challenge all of our geniuses with rigorous and relevant content in every classroom, every day. We anchor all of our work with students in trusting and loving relationships. We are committed to delivering genius-awakening learning experiences every day, in every school, in every classroom, for every child.

What is a Genius Awakening Education?

At Kindezi, we believe Geniuses learn best when they:

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Genius Awakening Learning Environments

We honor our geniuses’ identities and the gifts that they bring. We integrate restorative practices and SEL into our daily rituals and liberatory behavior management system. We actively cultivate joy and love in every single classroom.

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Genius Awakening Content and Pedagogy

Geniuses’ are working on culturally relevant, engaging content aligned to the appropriate standards for their subject and grade. We ensure that our curricula includes content where geniuses see their identity and their community (mirrors) reflected.

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Genius Awakening Learning Experiences

Schools leverage the real world application of the content by taking geniuses on field trips and bringing in guest speakers that are connected to the themes of the units being studied. Kindezi schools provide activity suggestions for parents to help support the learning at home that are aligned to the concepts and themes that are being learned at school (i.e. home activities, podcasts, articles, museums, games, questions to ask, etc.)

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Genius Awakening Individualization

Teachers leverage small classroom sizes and pull multiple small groups based on anticipated misconceptions from data and in-the-moment checks for understanding to help push geniuses towards the rigor level of the content.

A Unique Approach

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  • Classes of 10 - 12 students allow for deeper connections between geniuses, staff, and families
  • Our community is steeped in respect, trust, and love that creates an environment where every individual can bring their full identity to school and work.
  • We have high expectations for all students, regardless of their background, need or identity
  • Our teachers utilize a“Challenge and support” approach that values data-driven instruction, student voice, creativity, and innovation.
  • We are committed to replacing all punitive discipline practices with practices that are restorative and support social emotional growth.
  • Our Academic scores indicate that geniuses demonstrate high levels of individualized growth
  • We value a holistic education that also emphasizes social-emotional learning, experiential learning, enrichment and after school activities.
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Our Grounding

Principles of Instruction

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Rigor:

Our students engage in content aligned to the standards for their subject and grade. They work with high quality curriculum, texts, and tasks that expand their understanding and build their skills. They are responsible for doing the thinking in each lesson -- analyzing, reasoning, justifying, explaining, writing, creating. They listen to, build on, and interrogate others’ ideas.  They persevere through challenges, and are not afraid of struggle.

Relationships:

Our students feel seen, heard, and valued by their teachers and peers. Our classrooms and schools are inclusive communities where diverse individuals treat each other with respect, kindness, and care. Authentic connections and trusted adults empower students to take risks, collaborate with others, own their actions, advocate for their needs, and demonstrate leadership.

Relevance:

Our students know school matters because learning is connected to real-world experiences, issues, and opportunities. What our students learn at school helps them understand the wider world, including the social, cultural, intellectual, and emotional settings that shape people's lives and actions. Students feel included and validated at school as they see themselves and their communities represented in their coursework, while also learning about people, places, and times that are less familiar. They develop a social justice orientation and the agency to make a real world difference.

K-5 / Elementary

K-5 / Elementary
6-8 / Middle School

6-8 / Middle School

Content Visions

 Our content-specific vision statements paint a picture of how the Principles of Instruction translate to each class.

ELA Vision

At the Kindezi Schools we believe that all students are capable and have a unique Genius within.

Therefore, we strive to build writers, readers, and communicators who demonstrate a true love and desire for literacy and think critically about the world.

As a result we engage our geniuses daily in complex, culturally relevant text that builds their background and vocabulary while developing skills for creative and purposeful expression. We encourage all students to read independently thereby empowering them with the understanding that reading is their pathway to knowledge and long term success/ choice filled lives.

Math Vision

In our classrooms we awaken each child’s unique genius by using an interdisciplinary approach in order to cultivate mathematicians and communicators prepared to meet the demands of college and career.  In our classrooms:

  • Students think critically and are problem solvers, engaging in and learning from productive struggle while working to solve relevant, real-world problems using multiple methods.
  • Students actively engage with manipulatives and other math tools, progressing from concrete modeling to abstract reasoning.
  • Students learn the hows and whys of math, building on previous knowledge, and use this understanding to construct viable arguments using appropriate academic language, justify their reasoning,  and supportively critique the reasoning of others.
  • Students take ownership of their learning, demonstrating persistence by consistently grappling with and persevering through rigorous, open-ended math tasks as part of a robust, standards-aligned and appropriately differentiated curriculum.

Science Vision

At the Kindezi Schools we believe that all students are capable and have a unique genius within.

Therefore, we strive to build writers, readers, and communicators who demonstrate a love of science and critically make sense of scientific phenomena and occurrences in the world around them.

As a result we engage our geniuses daily in active engagement through collaboration, asking questions to build critical thinking, making connections across disciplines, and problem solving skills. We encourage all students to engage with content as scientists thereby empowering them with the knowledge that science is a discipline. This discipline encompasses behavior and practices that are pathways for long term success and choice filled lives.

Social Studies Vision

At the Kindezi Schools we believe that all students are capable and have a unique genius within.

Therefore, we strive to build writers, readers, and communicators who demonstrate a true love of social studies and analyze historical, geographic, economic, government, and civic understandings through a critical and culturally responsive lens.

As a result, we engage our geniuses daily through image, video, primary source, artifacts, and text inquiry. We encourage all students to make informed decisions as citizens of a culturally diverse society in an interdependent world with an understanding that their knowledge is a pathway for long term success and choice filled lives.