Posts from School

  Joel Tolman           December 7, 2016

Last week, Keilly Solano -- a Common Ground High School senior -- took the mic at the front of a room full of classroom teachers, young people, and school leaders from across the Northeast United States. She described her journey from a shy and inward-looking freshman to a senior who’s organizing peers, leading workshops that help other young people find their voice, and pushing to make Common...

  Joel Tolman           November 26, 2016

In February, every member of Common Ground's senior class stood before an audience parents, students, and staff. Each senior shared two acts of leadership, chosen from the electronic leadership portfolios they had been building since they arrived at Common Ground. Drawing on these experiences, students described how they had grown as leaders over the last four...

  Joel Tolman           November 6, 2016

I was a brand new teacher when I came to Common Ground in 2003. The first class I taught — together with Liz Cox, now Common Ground's School Director — was a course about New Haven’s neighborhoods. It sounds a little ludicrous: a first year teacher, new to New Haven, teaching a class about New Haven to students who had called this city home for most or all of their lives. It felt a little...