| For
the Children's Guild of Baltimore a newly renovated building with interior
streetscape and colorful hallways reflects the school's teaching approach
- to engage the senses.
Excerpt
from article by Ed Gunts
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"It's an exciting environment and
very different for a school," said Andrew Ross, president of the Guild.
"A lot of school buildings can be foreboding. We want to motivate students
with a learning environment that touches the emotions, stimulates the intellect
and engages the senses."
The centerpiece of the redesigned school is "Transformation Station," a lobby and gathering place that features an interior streetscape with a child-size art museum, animal sanctuary, newsstand, city hall and school store. Colorful hallways and kiosks, classroom displays, a cafe with changeable themes, a refurbished gymnasium and a new administrative office suite were also created as part of the revamped learning environment. |
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| Founded in 1953,
the Children's Guild is one of Maryland's largest providers of special
education programs. It serves 250 elementary and middle school pupils with
behavioral problems and emotional disabilities on campuses in Baltimore,
Annapolis and Prince George's County.
The private, nonprofit organization teaches pupils who aren't successful in public schools. Its Baltimore program has operated since 1989 out of the former St. Thomas More Catholic School for which it has a long-term lease.
The designers altered the two-story building to reflect the Guild's approach to teaching, called transformation education, a philosophy that uses an integrated curriculum and environments that stimulate the senses to help children learn to become successful.
The Children's Guild of Baltimore has transformed its school in Northeast Baltimore into an innovative learning environment for pupils with special needs. |
Ross said the Guild is
so pleased with the results that it is redesigning its other schools to
incorporate some of the same concepts.
"A lot of these ideas are applicable to public schools in general," he said.
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