Noah Webster MicroSociety Magnet School

A Pre-K through 8 magnet school in Hartford, CT
 

What makes our school a MicroSociety?

  • An educational program which seeks to balance academic growth with social development.

  • Students are provided with real-world experiences through collaboration with staff as well as the community.

  • Traditional academic subjects are studied, then applied “on the job” .
 
What is a MicroSociety?
   
     In the MicroSociety program, students collaborate with parents, community members, and teachers to build a miniature community in the school and establish a center of commerce and governance in which every child and adult participates. Children create and manage business ventures that produce goods and services. They also run agencies that handle governmental functions and lay the groundwork for organized accountability.
   
    A MicroSociety has six strands: technology, economy, academy, citizenship and government, humanities and arts, and heart (volunteerism and the ethical aspects of society). MicroSociety also has 12 essential elements: an internal currency; a retail labor market; private property; public property; organizations such as ventures, agencies, and nonprofits; agreement on a common purpose; definition of personal goals by teachers and students; meaningful contact with parents; meaningful contact with community partners; teacher planning time for the program; and a technology strand.
   
    This program allows children to create a miniature society in the school; adapts instruction to real world experience; incorporates democratic ideals and entrepreneurship in a culturally sensitive community; and helps children develop positive attitudes toward learning, school, themselves, and their community. It also allows teachers to draw connections between academic skills, learning, and "Micro" activities and creates many opportunities for substantive parent and community involvement.
    

How does our  MicroSociety work?
    

In our MicroSociety, students collaborate with parents, community members, and teachers to build a miniature community within the school. The students have created a legislature that wrote our school constitution and is making laws. There is a court system to enforce and support those laws. A group of students called the PeaceKeepers enforce our laws.

A student-run Post Office delivers mail within the school. Our bank is currently giving loans of our internal money, Wizard Bucks, and setting up checking accounts.

Student developed and run businesses include a  Used Bookstore, Newspaper, Television Studio, Our Symphony, Jewelry Designers, and many more. In each venture, the students are the leaders while teachers serve as facilitators.

Our MicroSociety is "live" three afternoons a week. However, many of the functions, such as the Peackeepers, student-initiated rules and mail delivery, spill over into the rest of the school day.

The goal of our staff in creating this environment is to prepare students to become active, caring, and responsible citizens. We hope that the children will develop positive attitudes toward learning, school, themselves, and their community.  
 
 
 

  

 Visit the MicroSociety Program website to learn more about MicroSociety programs?