About Us

Harriet Tubman Village Charter School has been in operation since 1993. We continue to extend a thank you for all the support and confidence given to us by the San Diego Unified School District as we strive for continued excellence. Tubman’s Academic Performance Index (API) is 791. We are proud of our accomplishments last year: increase in API of 33 points and increase in math AYP from 37% to 52% Proficient or Advanced.  Our after-school programs serve grades K–8, and our PrimeTime Extended Day Program provides tutors and homework assistance to all children. We are excited that for the 2011-12 School Year we have contracted with a new Prime Time Provider- ICES.  Our students receive extra support from the University of California, San Diego and SDSU. Recent highlights include our standards-based tutoring program, which includes Saturday school instruction.

 

Electives for 2011/12 (Grades 5-8)

 

 

Art: This class will change your perception of art by looking at the way the bound book (and sometimes unbound book) can be a form of expression that unites many artistic disciplines, including prose, poetry, sculpture, painting, papermaking, and bookbinding.

 

AVID: Advancement Via Individual Determination

 

 ·         Grades 6-8

 

 

·         Designed to encourage average students to become university students. 

 

  • Exposes students to the organization and study skills necessary to compete with high achieving students in advanced courses.

  • Field trips to colleges, universities and other cultural events. 
  • Students become familiar with the different tests, forms, and applications necessary for admission into four-year colleges and universities. 
  • Teacher recommendation REQUIRED

 

Drama: The class will be broken down into 3 units: Improvisation, Creating a Character, and Building a Theater Piece. Improvisation is a wonderful way to begin the year because of its focus on “yes and”, accepting people’s offers on stage, and getting our minds and bodies into a spontaneous state. Through improvisational structured games the students will learn about the who/what/where of improvisation. Following improvisation, the students will have the opportunity to develop a 3-Dimensional Character. This unit will culminate in a presentation of character interviews and monologues written by the students for the character. Finally, the students will have the opportunity to write and direct their own theater pieces, learning about theme, plot, composition, set, costumes, writing, and directing.

 

 

Journalism: This course examines the principles and practices of journalism with emphasis on reporting and writing news and features, interviews, and editing.  Students will also spend time examining today’s print and television press. Students will have the opportunity to create a school newsletter, and/or a weekly school news broadcast-- HTTV (Harriet Tubman TV).

 

Keyboarding and Microsoft Office: Does it take forever to type a paper because you have to find the right keys? If so, this class is for you. You will learn to type without looking at the keys, using proper fingering with speed and accuracy. This will dramatically increase your ability to type papers and reports. You will work with many of the Microsoft Office applications to learn how to word process, create spreadsheets, make presentations, and draw. You will use templates as well as make your own creations. Assignments will be geared toward personal and practical situations.

 

MESA: (Mathematics, Engineering, Science Achievement) offers experience with “hands on” math/science/engineering projects.

 

We also have a elementary gardening program.

 

In addition, more than half of our staff holds a master’s degree in education or a related field of study. Teacher collaboratives in grades K–2, 3-5 and 6–8 work together throughout the school year to address student needs. At Tubman, we are proud of our programs as well as the academic rigor (such as expecting students to read through-out the school day) and ongoing support (such as after-school academic study and homework catch-up) we provide to students. We are excited to be implementing AVID (Advancement Via Individual Determination) in grades 3-8 for the 2011-12 school-year.  All of our programs and activities are accomplished in a safe, caring environment. 

 

 

 

 

Instruction and Curriculum

The HTVCS Governance Board has formally adopted academic standards and curriculum frameworks approved by the California State Board of Education for all subject areas. School curriculum materials, instructional strategies and supports, professional development, and student assessments are aligned with state standards and focused on ensuring that every student has access to a high-quality, rigorous, and engaging instructional program. A range of support opportunities is available for students needing additional assistance.

 

 

 

 

Through the Governance Council, the principal/chief education officer trains others, receives support, and is evaluated. Our curriculum includes the core academic areas and is supported with differentiated instruction and Guided Learning Acquisition Design (GLAD) strategies, and all of Tubman’s teachers in core academic subjects are GLAD trained. With the support of the Site Governance Team, all teachers are instructional leaders and continue to disaggregate students’ academic data in order to address individual learning needs.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Harriet Tubman

Early Life
Tubman was born into slavery in Dorchester County, Maryland. Extensive research now reveals that Harriet Tubman was probably born in late February or early March, 1822, in an area south of Madison called Peter's Neck. Harriet herself claimed she was born sometime between 1820-1825. Born Araminta Ross, she was the fifth of nine children, four boys and five girls, of Ben and Harriet Greene Ross. She rarely lived with her owner, Edward Brodess, but from the age of six was frequently hired out to other masters. She endured inhumane treatment from some masters, including an incident where an overseer who she had prevented from capturing a runaway slave hurled a two-pound weight at her, striking her head. As a result of the severe blow, she suffered intermittent epileptic seizures for the rest of her life. During this period Edward Brodess sold three of Harriet's sisters, Linah, Soph, and Mariah Ritty. When she was a young adult she took the name Harriet, possibly in honor of her mother. Around 1844 she married John Tubman, a free black. He lived in Philadelphia-where Harriet immigrated to when she ran away.

Escape and Abolitionist Career
Edward Brodess died in early March 1849, leaving behind his wife, Eliza Brodess , and eight children. To pay her dead husband's mounting debts and to save her small farm from seizure, Eliza decided to sell some of the family's slaves. Fearing sale into the Deep South, Tubman took her emancipation into her own hands. Sometime in the fall of 1849 she escaped northward, leaving behind her free husband who did not want to follow. On her way she was assisted by sympathetic Quakers and other members of the Abolitionist movement, both black and white, who were instrumental in maintaining the Underground Railroad.

Called "Moses" by those she helped escape on the Underground Railroad, Tubman made many trips to Maryland to help other slaves escape. According to her estimates and those of her close associates, Tubman personally guided more then 300 slaves to freedom in about 19 expeditions. She was never captured and, in her own words, "never lost a passenger." She also provided detailed instructions to many more who found their way to freedom on their own. Her owner, Eliza Brodess, posted a $100 reward for her return, but no one ever knew that it was Harriet Tubman who was responsible for spiriting away so many slaves from her old neighborhood in Maryland.

After the American Civil War, it was reported that there had been a $40,000 reward for Tubman's capture; but this was a myth to further dramatize Harriet's greatness in the post-war period. She was successful in bringing away her parents and her four brothers: Ben, Robert, Henry, and Moses, but failed to rescue her beloved sister Rachel, and Rachel's two children, Ben and Angerine. Rachel died in 1859 before Harriet could rescue her.

During the American Civil War, in addition to working as a cook and a nurse, she served as a spy for the North. Again she was never captured, and she guided hundreds of people trapped in slavery into Union camps during the Civil War. In 1863, Tubman led a raid at Combahee River Ferry in Colleton County, South Carolina, allowing hundreds of slaves to run to their freedom. This was the first military operation in U.S. history planned and executed by a woman. Tubman, in disguise, had visited plantations in advance of the raid and instructed slaves to prepare to run in to the river where Union ships would be waiting for them. Union troops exchanged fire with Confederate troops in this incident; there were casualties on both sides.


Methods
Tubman's success on the Underground Railroad was partly due to intelligence, cunning, daring, and ruthlessness and in following well developed plans for her expeditions. She relied upon the closely knit black community in Maryland to help her bring away family and friends. She was careful not to meet her charges near their owner's plantations or property, but sent messages so they could meet at another secret location. Tubman was well versed in disguises. She once took the precaution of carrying two chickens with her. When she felt in danger because she recognized a former master, she released the chickens and chased them to recapture them. This amused the master, who never realized the ineffectual chicken chaser was, in fact, a cunning slave stealer.

Once at a train station, Tubman found that slave-catchers were watching the trains heading north in hopes of capturing her and her charges. Without hesitation, she had her group board a southbound train, successfully gambling that a retreat into enemy territory would never be anticipated by her pursuers. She later resumed her planned route at a safer location.

In addition, Tubman had a strict policy that, while any slave could turn down the risk of going north, anyone who did decide to go north but then wanted to turn back halfway would be shot dead to prevent betrayal of the group and network. Fortunately, Tubman apparently never had to resort to such measures.

Post American Civil War Life
Harriet Tubman was an activist for African-American and women's rights. With Sarah Bradford acting as her biographer and transcribing her stories, she was able to have an exaggerated story of her life published in 1869 as Scenes in the Life of Harriet Tubman. This was of considerable help to her sad financial state - she was not awarded a government pension for her military service until some 30 years after the fact. That same year she married Nelson Davis, another Civil War veteran twenty-two years her junior. They lived together in the home she purchased in Auburn, New York, from her famous friend William H. Seward, secretary of state of the United States of America under President Abraham Lincoln. She was surrounded by family and friends who chose to settle near her after the Civil War.

Eventually, due to crippling arthritis and fragile health, Tubman moved into a home for sick and aged African Americans that she had helped found. It was built on land which she had purchased, abutting her own property in Auburn, New York. She told stories of her adventures until her death on March 10, 1913. She was given a full military burial. In her honor, a memorial plaque was placed on the Cayuga County Courthouse in Auburn. Today, Harriet Tubman is honored every March 10, the day of her death.

(from www.wikipedia.org)