OUR PROGRAM

THE HOLISTIC APPROACH TO EDUCATION

Elementary

Montessori

Our method of education was developed by Dr. Maria Montessori. One of the first women to earn a medical doctorate in Italy, Dr. Montessori refined her method through scientifIC observation of children.

When a classroom was organized with excellent materials, she noticed that:

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Children freely engage in deep concentration, problem solving, and practice;
Teachers observe and serve as guides, introducing children to challenging new material when they are ready;
Children of different ages work together and help each other;
Long, uninterrupted periods of time foster concentration.

Since her fIrst school opened for children with special needs in a poor neighborhood of Rome in 1907, her method has expanded to serve all kinds of children in thousands of programs across the world.

OUR CURRICULUM

Middle School

PROJECT-BASED LEARNING

We help schools prepare students with the skills, knowledge,

and habits to lead fulfilled lives long after they graduate.

At Invictus Nashville, teachers deliver dynamic lessons to the whole class, small groups, or one-on-one. Recognizing that each child is unique, educators teach in ways that ensure each student gains knowledge and develops lifelong learning skills on the timeline and in the ways that they learn best.

TEACHING THROUGH PROJECTS

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Students learn from teachers through whole group instruction, small group sessions, and one-on-one time. With hands-on projects and group learning, teachers show students how to apply lifelong skills — such as collaborating with a team, interpreting data and presenting persuasive arguments. When completing work independently, students access a range of additional helpful resources through the Summit Learning platform — it's like having a library at their fingertips. By studying in different ways, students gain a self awareness about how they learn best. Teachers guide students to build habits -- like curiosity, resilience, and a sense of purpose -- that help them thrive throughout their lives.

A window into the classroom

Parents and families have unparalleled access to their child's progress at school. They can see everything from teacher feedback to assessments and grades on the Invictus Nashville online platform.

Parents and families are encouraged to actively support their children's learning. Staying connected with their child's teacher and mentor is a great place to start. With information about daily learning progress, parents can also talk with their children about short- and long-term learning goals, and help reinforce the importance of life skills.

mentorship

Invictus Nashville will start each day with mentoring in small groups. Although they will have group mentoring houses, each student will have one-to-one mentoring meetings each week.

Fostering Lifelong Learning Habits

In addition to classroom instruction, teachers also mentor students during dedicated weekly one-on-one meetings. With their mentors, students set long- and short-term goals, and discuss both their academic and emotional experiences while working toward these goals. Mentoring sessions build strong relationships between students and their mentors. Together, they celebrate successes, discuss reasons for roadblocks, and talk about areas of learning opportunity.

how mentor-check-ins work

Students meet weekly with their teacher-mentors to discuss their progress at school. Each mentoring session has a discussion guide that students use to prepare for the conversation. By building a deep connection and foundation of trust, mentors have honest discussions about struggles and successes with students. During each meeting, students reflect on what went well — and what didn't — during the previous week, and mentors share useful feedback and suggestions for refining an existing goal or setting a new one based on recent experiences. As a student becomes more familiar with goal-setting and planning, they also learn which tasks they should focus on every week.

Mentors also provide support to students while they practice important learning skills. They do this by helping students deal with stress in positive ways, exploring post-graduation options, coaching students on the Habits of Success — social and emotional skills that enable students to be successful at both academic and non-academic pursuits — and more. Mentors are a key part of Invictus Nashville because they help students learn to succeed on their own.

Community service & exploration

At Invictus Nashville, we believe students should have ample opportunities to dive into diverse fields of study and try their hand at different pathways so they can develop a sense of purpose and concrete next steps that work for them. At the core of everything we do is our mission to prepare our students to find their unique path to professional and personal freedom. The Expeditionary Learning journey is designed to help students discover what they find fulfilling by uncovering what sparks their curiosity. Regardless of whether their journey to finding their sense of purpose is a direct route or a windy road, they are learning the whole way. We take this a step further by proposing a school that learns in its community as well—a school where students are learning from and alongside residents and experts in their neighborhoods and city. The learning that occurs alongside experts in their community will supplement the learning they are doing in the classroom in content, and it will also result in greater 21st-century skill development. Students are now being required to enter the world with new “soft” skills that they previously were not expected to have practiced and mastered.55 Mastering 21st-century skills can be what separates students who are prepared for a complex living and professional environment from those that are not, and we believe learning within, alongside, and from their community will promote creativity and innovation, critical thinking problem solving, communication, and collaboration in Invictus Nashville students. These skills will make them more competitive in a local, regional, national, and global market, regardless of the route they and their families choose when they graduate from Invictus Nashville. What exactly does that mean for your student? During the seventh week of each quarter, students can explore a wide variety of topics, such as visual arts, graphic design, film production, engineering, entrepreneurship, and external internships. The topics will be determined based on community partnerships and student interest. Students are immersed in new situations that expand their imagination of possible career paths. Expeditionary learning is critical for a student to reflect on their sense of purpose, and ultimately develop a concrete next step. The expedition framework is based on how students see themselves individually, themselves in the community, and themselves in the world. This will develop and change over time but at Invictus students will be able to have the ability to be exposed to different fields, explore, and pursue with the support of our staff. Please see a picture of the framework below.

expeditions framework

sample daily schedule

Due to the use of the Montessori curriculum in the elementary setting, the work cycles have specific priorities. For example, the morning work cycle would include the following:

Trained Lead Montessori teachers will guide individual students through new lessons in small groups based on student readiness. These lessons range from letters and sounds to sensorial works that develop concentration and self-control. In between lessons, teachers (both leads and assistant teachers) observe children to see who needs more help, and who is ready to move on.
Children choose the work they will practice based on the lessons the teacher has given them. Students return to work until they have mastered that skill. T
The topics covered integrate hands-on experiences in language, math, geography, arts, music, and practical life. This time will also include related arts which will allow teachers to have planning periods as well.

The afternoon work cycles include the following:

Core Knowledge Language Arts: “Listening and Learning”/ELA Seminar: This is held as a grade-level group session.
Math seminar: A small group session where the teacher walks students through solving a challenging, grade-level math problem together; typically aligned to a Tennessee State Standard.
RTI/Enrichment: Students are in tiered groups based on a universal skills assessment. They are working on filling gaps based on the data collected in class and ongoing assessments.
Classroom jobs and/or clubs: Children develop responsibility by taking turns doing different tasks. These might include feeding classroom pets, watering plants, sweeping, preparing snacks, cleaning up after meals, and organizing materials. Our students may be stewards of a particular shelf of materials or a student ambassador who might meet guests. This time will also include related arts which will allow teachers to have planning periods as well

Elementary School Sample Schedule

Middle School Sample Schedule

Nashville's first Montessori Charter School