Introduction

Dear BCS teacher,

Welcome to the 2007 academic summer!

The rich experiences and sheer ingenuity for which we selected you ensure that your interactions with students will be effective. However, there are certain strategies that our teachers have found useful for preparing for a smoother summer. Once the sessions start, you will adapt your curriculum to the needs of your students. Nonetheless, it will help to have a thoughtfully produced set of ideas and resources from which you could draw during that process.

What distinguishes BCS classes is intensive focus (several hours a day) on a single subject and a final project that students present at the end of each session. Many teachers find it useful to apply the strategy of “planning backwards”. Planning a variety of activities with the final goal in mind can help keep students busy and focused and avoid the risk of boredom given the large amount of time students spend in class.

Remember that it is summer and students come to us to find a learning experience that overcomes the restrictions of the academic year. If students leave with a positive feeling towards the subject, we have succeeded. Even better if they leave with new skills and knowledge and a product to show for it. Just remember, the question is not ´what facts are the students learning?’, but ´what are the students doing?’.