Below, we describe the building blocks that support and challenge students as they develop their voice and sense of direction and power, with links to student work and other artifacts.

JOURNALS The Met uses journals to help students express ideas and concerns that are still rough or not meant to be broadly shared: a pressing fear or disappointment, a family problem, a nascent dream, an opinion or perception that goes against the norm. In their journals students also reflect on books they read, their internshiip experiences, and their overall learnkng. Students are expected to write three times per week, and advisors write back, often drawing on their own experiences. In this way, students practice putting down on paper what they think, supported by an adult committed to listening. Click here for examples of student journal writing prompts.

COLLEGE PORTFOLIOS The Met requires all of its students to apply to college, even if they do not go—right away or ever. (Over three-quarters head straight to college.) The school embraces the college application process as a tool for helping students dream big, set high standards for their work, and hone their presentation of self. The expectations for what students will do increase yearly, beginning in the tenth grade when they start investigating and visiting colleges. By the time students graduate they will have: met with a college counselor and attended (with a family member) a Met college night; taken at least two sets of college entrance exams; adjusted their quarterly learning plans to reflect the admission requirements of the colleges they are considering; prepared a college portfolio that includes transcripts, a resume, college essay, best work, and awards; and visited, interviewed with and applied to at least four colleges and explored financial aid options. Click here for examples of students’ college resumes.

PUBLIC SPEAKING AND WRITING Public speaking is a constant at The Met. Morning “Pick-Me-Ups” (the school-wide gathering that starts each day) provide a ready stage, as do “town meetings” and other school events. Internships offer another forum, as students make presentations to their adult work colleagues (perhaps reporting research findings) or to other teens (for example, speaking to groups of middle school-aged kids about smoking). Students are also encouraged to raise their voices as citizens (maybe at a public hearing on school spending) or to talk about The Met at regional and national education gatherings. Met staff never take the stage without one or more students by their side, spreading these speaking opportunities broadly across the entire student body. Writing for a public audience is also a Met mainstay and often takes the form of handbooks or reports that convey information to selected community audiences. Just as often, students’ public writing aims for understanding and reflection—essays and poems about school, family, community, identity. Click here for student speech at groundbreaking ceremonies for the new Met complex. Click here for examples of student writing in national publications.

SUCCESS STORIES The book-length autobiographies Met students write—over the course of their junior and senior year— stand alongside the unwritten personal stories they weave, day in and out, while at The Met. As seniors receive their Met diploma, their advisor delivers the “short version” of these success stories, an oral tribute to the graduate for all to hear. The audience learns about the shy student who became an ardent public speaker, the science-loathing student turned aspiring pediatrician. It hears the details: the original style, attitude, and passions each student has carved; their talents and shortcomings, highs and lows, hard-won accomplishments. For adolescents yearning to forge unique and positive identities, the sense of agency conferred by these narratives is among The Met’s most enduring gifts. Click here for examples of advisor tributes at graduation.

Sustained Relationships

Real World Learning

Reflection and Accountability

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