Lessons Learned
- At Think College Now, kids were thinking about college as part of the career process, it wasnt just about schooling, it was about the career after.
- Writing about careers and gettign jobs, like to become a teacher or a dentist
- Connecting kids to the idea that college is not the end game
- Big focus on going to college including lessons, activities, banners, posters,
- Not much technology integration into the classroom, both schools had traditional computer labs, and then maybe a few computers in the class.
- Use of computers was simply to finish classwork or do Accelerated Reader
- Common planning time for teams of teachers to talk about content as well as intervention for students
- Informational boards in the hallways: events at the school, volunteer opportuntities, student work, student achievement
- Visually stimulating environment, lots of pictures, graphics, posters,
- Students engaged
- Low student suspension and expulsion rate
- strong discipline system schoolwide
- timeout center
- conflict resolultion policy
- second step program
- after school conflict resolution activity
- morning meetings to discuss discipline issues
- Interventions by Berkeley students, targeted to students struggling in specific areas such as writing, reading, or math
- Focus on student achievement
- goals, targets, and dashboard posters on the walls
- "Walls of Shame" dont seem like good motivational tools for kids.
- Posters with stars showing how far each kid is in each subject, but some kids far behind.
- Homework charts on the wall also, showing kids with homework missing.
- Report card at TCN was standards based grading, very detailed, with sepecific comment areas about how the students are doing, places for parents to comment.
- Six week goal setting between teachers and principal about each student
- Small size, 267 students, is a huge advantage.
- family oriented, especially because siblings get preference, and relationships are established
- The name, Roots Academy, has led to the school to have a higher number of African America enrollment than the sister school
- "If you know where you came from, you know where you're going."
- Focus on the theme is critical, pride of faciltities, pride in staff
- Student feeling of camraderie is important, choices to be at school is critical to school success
- When students feel like they have a part in something, they are more likely to put in the extra effort to be apart of the school's success
- Being a small school cant just be about fewer students, you have to do things differently.
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Last modified at 12/2/2008 12:23 PM by Joel Rabin
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