Other Programs > Journeys

"Mr. C., Miss Julie, look there's a Monarch, its nectaring on the Goldenrod and you can see the proboscis as it drinks!" Julie and I exchange knowing smiles with plenty of satisfaction as we see and hear the excitement in Shahad, our ninth grade student from the UrbanPromise Academy. UrbanPromise and its UrbanTrekkers program has developed an elective course using the work of The Monarch Teacher Network and award winning New Jersey science teacher Erik Mollenhaur to enrich and enhance current studies of science, social studies, geography, English, Spanish, art and technology in our small high school.

The Journeys course will study the life cycle of the Monarch Butterfly, involving hands on experience in raising them, documenting their behavior, tagging them and recording vital statistics for research on migration. The class journeys beyond the classroom. Students do field research, in the campus garden, the Jersey Pine Barrens and Cape May and the overwintering sanctuary sites in the Transvolcanic Mountains in the Mexican State of Michuacan in Central Mexico. The course prepares students with lessons on Mexican History, Aztec mythology, cultural studies and economic and social issues facing Mexico today.

"Journeys" is about transformation, as students, who have had little academic success from traditional approaches, step out of the classroom and into the text of their subject. It's about teachers finding creative ways to excite students to say "I want to know!" And finally, it's about a miraculous journey for all of us.