Some of the enterprises for Industries have been expanded for the upper grades. Students now use desktop publishing technology not only for greeting cards and calendars, but also to create publications for the preschool and elementary school audience. Rindge students make vocabulary flash cards in Spanish, French, and Portuguese, using a bilingual dictionary to translate vocabulary words according to grade level. They create African-American and Hispanic-American history puzzles by selecting and researching a theme, writing a two-page report on it, and making a wordsearch puzzle using key words. Other products include math flash cards, vocabulary workbooks, personalized calendars, and thematic coloring books. The emphasis throughout is on helping students to express themselves in writing and to acquire desktop publishing skills by capitalizing on their interest in computers and the entertaining nature of the products.
One direction we would like to pursue further is that of community service as a way to engage students and to embed AAI learning. There are many things students could do within their communities that would empower them and place them in leadership roles. We have begun a comprehensive service learning program that integrates internships with ideas concerning community economic development. In 1995-1996, seventeen juniors and seniors are participating in the Cambridge Service Corps. Community Problem Solving 101 serves as the curricular foundation for the work of the Corps. The course runs the length of the academic year, meeting every school day for one or two periods and including several hours per week of structured after-school time. Comprising close to half of the students' entire courseload, it is credited as a combination of social studies, English language arts, and vocational/technical arts. We hope to integrate mathematics and science in the future.
During the course of the year, Cambridge Service Corps students will explore neighborhoods, do weekly service placements, conduct real-world case studies, inventory local resources, and work together to develop a shared vision for the city. They will decide as a team what issue to target and will then develop and lead a culminating community-wide service project that reaches out to the broader community through town meetings, a City Council presentation, a cable television appearance, newspaper commentaries, recruitment of volunteers, and solicitation of donations.