Today we got the opportunity to visit a school that was completely different from the public schools that we have already been to. I had preconceived notions about this school because kids in the after school care that I work at had previously gone there or are currently going there and I had heard many different opinions about it. I was glad to finally get the opportunity to make my own opinion of the school and to see what they are all about.
I decided to break this blog up into the positives and negatives that I gathered from our one day visit. I think the biggest positive for this school would be the job of teacher here. It is a completely different atmosphere for teachers at this school compared to public school teachers. The reason I say this is because from what I heard today, teachers get to be as creative as possible and are not held to outside evaluations. The elementary and middle school classes that I observed seemed pretty crazy, but I assume that this would be the norm for these kids and teachers. I did like that teachers were able to look over some behavioral "outbursts" and that there was no negativity directed towards the students that I observed. The skills lab that I observed was a very fun atmosphere and the teacher was excellent and some of the transition students were helping out in the classroom, which is awesome. The teacher also incorporated "cup stacking" as a fun activity for students and they were so great at it! The class sizes are a dream! For the high school classes; I felt it was a completely different atmosphere which I thought was odd considering the same students from the elementary and middle would be going into the high school classes. The kids that made up the high school rooms seemed to have more social challenges than anything else, but it was a good atmosphere and the teachers conducted themselves very well and always encouraged students to try their best. The transitional program seemed to have great outcomes and lots of job opportunities appeared to be available to the students.
Those were my positive thoughts toward the school. I do not like saying that I have negative thoughts toward any school, but some things concerned me a little bit and I am fully aware that this is just a snapshot day and it is a different structure of school and that is always hard to get used to. I thought that some of the behaviors in the classrooms were overlooked due to disabilities that should have been addressed, but teachers looked over for whatever reason. I like the idea of not punishing children, but I think some of these children could have been "redirected" so the classroom didn't appear so distracted and crazy. The class sizes were great, but it seemed that all the students in the middle school classes needed one on one assistance from the teacher and the students were very dependent on it. The high school class I observed were getting their quiz grades back and it appeared that they all received D's and F's with the occasional C. I loved that the teachers seemed extremely positive and less stressed (when compared to public schools), but I also feel they have less pressure which is great, but it made me question how much effort they were putting into making sure these students were performing at their very best and engaging in productive struggle. The staff was extremely nice, but not as knowledgeable as our prior schools, many questions that were asked were not given a straight answer, which I am sure has to do with the "creative" structure of the school and that is completely understandable. I just am left wondering if some of these student's are being pushed to do their very best everyday because they are in a very restrictive environment. I know that social skills are addressed, but I don't feel that student's can get the full understanding of these social skills when compared to being put in an inclusion setting.
I enjoyed the day and look forward to returning in the summer and learning more about the school. The staff was extremely kind to let us there and I hear many others throughout the year visit. I always like different ways of approaching matters and it this school was definitely a good example of a different approach!
"The educator must believe in the potential power of his pupil, and he must employ all his art in seeking to bring his pupil to experience this power." -Alfred Adler
