Amy Biehl High School • Humanities

Humanities

Facing History and Ourselves “Using Facing History and our habits, norms, and safety language (“stop the drama”) gives us all a common language, a family dialect that we use to understand difficult situations and move forward... When students fail, we bring in other upperclassmen who repeated grades to explain what is at stake and how to strategize to remedy those struggles.  How do students access extra help?  Why are they embarrassed to ask for help?  How can we create an environment that speaks to students?  How can we get them to take ownership of their own learning?  Our family provides the answers.  Facing History is instrumental in that.”  - <a href="http://www.facinghistory.org/teachingaward/2009" jquery1294982584077="59">Matt Bernstein</a>, past teacher, Amy Biehl High School  <img width="200" height="150" border="0" align="left" alt="" src="/UserFiles/life at abhs23.JPG" /> Amy Biehl High School, a founding member of the Small Schools Network, is a charter school in New Mexico. Located in downtown Alberquerque, it has a stunningly beautiful building, even including a refurbished courtroom for special school events.  Amy Biehl has the dual mission of both service and scholarship, and the creation of what they call “conscious scholars.”  The school is named after Amy Biehl, a young woman who was murdered in South Africa in 1993 while doing service work with the South African population. Amy Biehl High School and Facing History and Ourselves are a natural fit because of the value each places on the Amy Biehl story.  When the high school faculty realized that their students were not particularly connected to story of Amy Biehl, they worked with Facing History and Ourselves to develop a course on South African history.  Now all students study Amy’s story, learn about forgiveness and reconciliation through the story of Amy’s parents and Amy’s murderers, and learn about colonization, apartheid, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, and post-apartheid South Africa. At Amy Biehl High School, many staff members use Facing History.  Facing History concepts are used in advisory, an integral part of the Amy Biehl curriculum.  From the ninth grade up through senior year, each student participates in a multitude of activities corresponding to Facing History and Ourselves’ themes of civic engagement, tolerance, and community participation.  <a href="http://www.facinghistory.org/resources/hhb" jquery1294982584077="60">Holocaust and Human Behavior</a>, <a href="http://www.facinghistory.org/resources/rm" jquery1294982584077="61">Race and Membership</a>, <a href="http://www.facinghistory.org/resources/publications/choosing-participate" jquery1294982584077="62">Choosing to Participate</a>, and other resources from Facing History and Ourselves are all utilized in the academic coursework.  In ninth grade, each student works on a social action project, which focuses on an issue of their choosing that affects their community.  In twelfth grade, students undertake the Senior Project, which is a culminating service-learning project.  Students combine academic learning, employment skills, and service to the community.  Part of Amy Biehl High School’s mission of service is to get involved in community issues through understanding deep, underlying needs or problems, and only then volunteering one’s time and skill.  Each student works with a mentor in a humanitarian organization, contributing at least 100 hours to their project.   The ninth grade project and senior project, combined with various coursework throughout the four-year experience at Amy Biehl High School, are constant reminders of the connections between Amy Biehl’s story, reconciliation, and the importance of choosing to participate in both small and large ways throughout one’s life.   A concerted focus at Amy Biehl High School is placed on academic excellence and college readiness, skills which Facing History and Ourselves values.  Each student is required to take college courses before graduation, in addition to all of their service work in the community.  The combination of these different missions instill in students a combination of values that will allow them to make a significant difference in the world.  School Demographics  Out of the 295 students in grades 9-12 at Amy Biehl High School, 46% are White, 44% are Hispanic, 5% are American Indian/Alaskan Native, 4% are Black, and 2% are Asian/Pacific Islander.  17% of the students are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch,<a href="http://www.facinghistory.org/about/who/profiles/amy-biehl-high-school#_ftn1" jquery1294982584077="63">[1]</a> while 44% are first-generation college bound.  50% of entering freshman are two or more grade levels behind in reading and/or math, and 21% of students have special education needs.<a href="http://www.facinghistory.org/about/who/profiles/amy-biehl-high-school#_ftn2" jquery1294982584077="64">[2]</a>   <img width="500" height="112" alt="Graphical Representation of Courses" src="http://www.facinghistory.org/system/files/u213126899/Amy-Biehl.gif" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto" /><img alt="Graphical Representation" src="http://www.facinghistory.org/system/files/u213126899/Graphics%20Key%20middle.gif" style="width: 231px; display: block; height: 322px; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto" />   Through the generosity of the Einhorn Family Charitable Trust, Facing History and Ourselves has developed the Small Schools Network. As part of this network, schools deepen their work with Facing History to develop thoughtful, compassionate, and civic-minded school communities.  The schools share best practices, develop professional ties with their peers, and receive ongoing support from Facing History. Amy Biehl High School is a founding member of this network.<a href="http://www.facinghistory.org/teachingaward/2009" jquery1294982584077="65"> </a> At ABHS we approach the Language Arts and Social Studies as an integrated inquiry. We encourage students to think critically about complex moral, social and political issues and to examine their own values and attitudes as individuals in a global society. Our hope is that ABHS graduates become active and well-informed citizens and community members. To this end, the faculty embraces Facing History and Ourselves.  A tenet of the Humanities curriculum is that “less is more.” Our belief is that depth is more important than coverage. Courses are not designed as surveys of American or World History. Studying American History, for example, students spend several weeks on a topic, exploring it in great depth. It follows that ABHS students do not use textbooks, except as a resource or within a study of historiography. We emphasize first hand sources, simulations, seminars and inquiry. Teachers look for connections to our students’ lives and the relevancy of subject matter to current events.   The core skills of writing and reading are fundamental to the Humanities curriculum. Literary circles, composed of small groups of students and community volunteers, figure prominently in our classrooms.  Students write for a variety of purposes. The vertical plan for writing instruction builds confidence and appreciation for writing, while ultimately preparing seniors for the demands of academic writing in their dual credit courses at UNM or CNM. The Amy Biehl Humanities curriculum balances rigor and relevancy.  In keeping with the namesake of the school, our graduates become “conscious scholars” and are prepared for college and citizenship.