"African-centered curriculum is a system of sequentially
planned educational opportunities designed to provide African heritage
children with the necessary and required skills that will enable them to
participate in the global marketplace. The focus and specific interests
are, the upliftment and empowerment of themselves, their African-American
communities, and the total development and growth of the African continent."
Organized around an integrated academic and social skills
model, the African-centered curriculum is geared towards the development
of youth as life-long learners and future leaders. The curriculum is designed
to not only supplement and support the development and mastery of academic
skills (reading, writing, math computation, and critical thinking) but
also to provide students with a solid foundation of values and experiential
learning.
The philosophy undergirding the curriculum is firmly planted
within the concept of African Rites
of Passage. Its primary goal is to facilitate our children's
knowledge and understanding of self - who they are and what they are about
- the purpose, and meaning for their existence as they progress through
life. The goal then is to provide African-American students with the tools
and skills with which to minimize the forces that seek to destroy them
but at the same time, allow them to achieve self-respect, self-discipline,
physical, academic, mental, and emotional success based on the principles
of Kwanzaa, the Nguzo Saba. Coupled with the Ma'atian virtues,
the focus of values includes Responsibility, Decision-Making, Problem Solving
and Conflict Resolution.
The WCS African-centered curriculum recognizes that an
Africentric
approach to life cannot be incorporated into one's existence in isolation
from the universal human experience, for, people are more likely to understand
their personal and group circumstances when they realize that those circumstances
are tied to, and fit into universal patterns of human behavior.
Many scholarshave
argued that children learn at different rates and that they learn 92% of
what they do, therefore, our African-centered curriculum utilizes the concept
of "learning by doing" (which is consistent with the learning styles of
our youth), in today's terms, this IS Engaged
Learning.
To help our students to fully understand and place their
personal and group circumstances within a global context, our lessons will
be centered on the following important concepts;
Maafa, "disaster"
Sba, "teaching," "wisdom," and "study."
Sia, "insight"
Sankofa, an Akan word which means "go back and
fetch it."
Mdw ntr, "divine word"
Mdw nfr, "good speech" or "the beautiful word"
Whmy msw, "deep thought," "reawakening"
and Heka, "power"
believing that these concepts and instructional approach
will: Allow learners to fit their personal experiences
into patterns of universal human behavior. (SBA,
The Virues of Ma'at and Nguzo Saba) Relate their learning
to what they already know thereby, help them fit new learning into
their conscious frame of reference. ("Truth in History" - Become subjects
of our own history and not the objects of others history) Allow
for teachers and students to be creative in both learning and teaching.
(Applying Multiple Intelligences) Recognize the connections
between and among all things and all people. (Respect for the Environment)
Provide learners with frameworks for understanding future
problems that may confront them both in and outside the classroom. (Become
Creators of Knowledge and Problem Solvers)