Identity, Community and Globalism
Identity, Community, and Globalism, the curricular cornerstone of the school, focuses on students developing a critical understanding of themselves, their local communities, and how both fit within a larger, interconnected world. As students engage in project-based analyses of their individual purpose, students will examine issues of social justice within their local community and global society. Students will

 

conduct collaborative yearlong social justice based action research projects, and present findings to larger audiences at the end of each year. Realm students also develop their capacity as readers, writers, thinkers, and communicators.  The goal is for students to enter into broader communities as adults, reading critically, enriching their lives through reflection, and participating as active community members. Realm thus encourages students to engage in the world of ideas, to develop arguments on topics they care about, and to connect these arguments to other curriculum content. Thus, students will develop concrete skills and capacity for formal analytical papers and creative, reflective writing, poetry, and critical self-expression.

 

Students will also complete a culminating senior thesis project that captures how the individual student fits within a local community context and demonstrate interconnectedness with the world. Upon graduation, students will have demonstrated a clear individual sense of purpose, will be able to collaborate across borders with diverse partners, will be able to critically analyze the world, act as change agents, and know how to function successfully within the local community.

Complex Systems
From genes to ants to beehives, from atoms to plastics to recycling cans, from notebooks to the Internet, from citizens to society, Realm students will learn to dissect scientific problems through the lens of Complex Systems by understanding the physical, biological, ecological, and social universe in radical new ways. These efforts begin as early as sixth grade, with students completing a yearlong project that explains, defines, and demonstrates a complex system through models they construct (real, virtual, analog or digital).

Features of Complex Systems

Difficult to Determine Boundaries
It can be difficult to determine the boundaries of a complex system. The decision is ultimately made by the student.

Complex Systems May be Open
Complex systems are usually open systems; that is, complex systems are frequently far from being in harmony or balance, but despite this flux patterns may be present.

Complex Systems May Have a Memory
The history of a complex system may be important. Because complex systems are dynamic systems they change over time, and prior states may have an influence on present states.

Complex Systems May be Nested
The components of a complex system may themselves be complex systems.

Relationships Contain Feedback Loops
Both negative and positive The effects of an element’s behavior are fed back in such a way that the element itself is altered.

Symbolic Expression
At Realm, we believe that all students should develop creative artistic expression that reflects culture, language, and personal identity. Performance, visual arts and music are infused throughout the curriculum, particularly with technological design, and all students conduct several public performance of artistic expression throughout their years at Realm. A cumulative artistic performance that reflects the Innovation and Design and Identity, Community and Globalism realms is a centerpiece of the graduating portfolio.

Health + Wellness
Because health and wellness are critical to student capacity to engage in intellectual development and to community improvement, Realm focuses on developing skill sets to balance physical and emotional well being. Through a counseling intensive structure and regular advisory supports, students will be able to model dealing with conflict and stress, and will demonstrate a well balanced approach to being a student and person within an often troublesome, complicated, and violent world. Students will graduate with demonstrated success in understanding their own emotional intelligence, and with a strong awareness of self and others that is critical to personal and community health.

Electives
In addition to these curriculum realms, students will be provided with electives that reflect the rigor required of California’s A–G requirements, and which reflect California’s diverse communities. In addition to Spanish language courses, standalone math courses to ensure excellence in mathematics, and English supplemental support courses, hands-on opportunities for internships, professional apprenticeships, and summer exploration projects will prepare students for a range of after high school options. Students will also be able to concurrently enroll in community and technical college courses to expand curricular options and student capacity to choose meaningful next steps beyond graduation.