It was a great experience to visit with the incredible faculty and staff at Fondren Middle School in Houston, Texas. What these teachers were able to do is simply inspiring. See the article below from the Houston Chronicle:
This has been a year of transition at Fondren Middle School after the campus gained International Baccalaureate certification last summer.
But Principal Monique Lewis says the change has been much more than that – “a complete transformation in the way teachers deliver instruction, the level of expectation, how students are learning, how they are listening, how they embrace what they just talked about in class, and embracing the differences in diversity and inclusion.”
The school, 6333 South Braeswood St., is one of four HISD middle schools to offer the Middle Years Programme through IB, a nonprofit foundation that offers challenging educational programs for students aged 3-19 to help develop skills to live and work in a globalizing world. Focuses are on technology, foreign languages and applying classroom instruction to real-world events through partnerships with local and national community service organizations.
A November event at the school to celebrate the school’s IB status and educate the community about the program included guests such as former astronaut James Reilly.
A large emphasis is on connecting students with other parts of the world and country.
“We are very passionate about our approach,” Lewis said, saying that Fondren is not the typical IB school.