I had prepared a lot of questions to ask her but also asked some follow-up questions just based on the flow of our discussion. I wanted to know more about how the school operated. Even though I have gone for well over 20 hours, I still have a lot of questions about how everything actually works as far as the students completing all of their requirements, especially those who are scheduled to graduate this year. I have noticed how unmotivated a lot of the students seem, and I often wonder how much they actually achieve by the end of the year.
Doc gave me a very good impression of the educational vigor of the school. She explained that while many "at risk" students--which include those who are very smart or extremely anxious, involved with the courts, or have some sort of family problems--learn how to "slip through the cracks" in regular public schools, they don't have that option at Beacon. They can't cheat their way through the school because they all have different assignments. She admitted that most students struggle quite a bit during their first semester at Beacon as they are introduced a new way of learning and have to "unlearn" the traditional school ways. But by the second semester, most students actually complete more than enough to fulfill their requirements for that year. She also told me that all of last year's graduates got into their first choice of college with full ride scholarships.
After hearing Mrs. Walsh and Doc talk about the philosophy and implementation of that philosophy within the school, I am still trying to evaluate how their claims match up with what I have seen. Obviously, my experience there has been very limited, which also limits my scope of what really happens in the classroom. I am really supportive of the fact that the teachers seem to invest so much of their lives in the students, both in and out of school, and have a very close relationship with each of them. I also think it is very good that they are seeking to help students be interested in what they are learning, especially since so many of them come into the school completely "turned off" of learning because of their previous experiences.
However, some of the things I am still concerned about include the lack of discipline I see the students demonstrating in the classroom. I think it is good to give them some independence and choice in their learning, but it seems like most students need a bit more structure than what they are being offered at Beacon. As a homeschooler, I had a similar experience of being allowed to work on whatever subjects I wanted to throughout the day, but I had to fulfill certain requirements each day before I was allowed to be finished for the day. The approach at Beacon is that students are simply required to complete a certain amount of work by the end of each semester rather than during each day, which does not seem to work very well for motivating them to work hard during the course of the day.
Even though I might not agree with all of the things being implemented at Beacon, I really have enjoyed my time there. I have loved spending one-on-one time with the students, and I really hope to practice that in my classroom in the future. I realize that it will be a lot harder if I have five or six classes of thirty students each, but I hope I can find ways to get to know the students as individuals. Some ways to do that might be scheduling conferences with each students as they work on more major assignments, making attempts to talk with them before and after classes, and allowing them to write about things that are personal and meaningful to them. I think the most important thing I can do as a teacher is to love and value each of my students, to look for ways to meet their unique needs, and to see that they are all in my classroom for a specific and good reason, even if that reason is not readily apparent.
Good for you! You took a very reflective approach to your time at Beacon: open to new understandings but able to question what you were learning. Whatever your final conclusions about this particular charter school, they were formed after considerable consideration, both from experience and from questioning those around you.
ReplyDeleteCharter schools seems to inspire very dichotomous views (much like homeschooling, really) from the general public. Love them or hate them, I think charter schools are part of our educational infrastructure for some time to come, and it's important for teachers to understand all aspects of education. I think your experiences at Beacon have supported your development as a teacher in multiple ways. I'm glad that you, too, seem to see your time there as a learning experience.