Though the public schools in Virginia are reputable, my parents insisted that I would attend a private high school. Now that my high school years are behind me, I wonder how my education differed from my peers who graduated from public school. Now that this class is giving me the opportunity to think about education as a whole and visit the local high school, I am interested even more to compare my personal experience to what I will see in the public school classroom.
In Loretta Brady’s chapter of Journey through our Classrooms, she discusses her efforts to get her struggling students (particularly Alfredo and Hannah) to reach higher standards of education. The challenge before her was that these students lacked confidence and were low-achieving (Brady 2). Brady had two years to work with Alfredo and Hannah (4). Brady’s role as a teacher resembled one as a coach who had to instill confidence in her students because there was no denying they were intelligent and capable but they didn’t know that. Brady led Alfredo and Hannah to exceed their own expectations for themselves by providing them with projects and exercises that developed and focused on what they were already interested in and capable of doing (6).
In many ways, I see how my own education in high school was similarly taught by teachers like Brady. Essentially, my teachers had the same two year time-frame to work with me. My high school years were split between two schools, one in Wisconsin and the other in Virginia. Both schools prided themselves on offering a highly accredited superior education. In both institutions, I had teachers who wanted me (and the other students) to reach the greatest potential possible which required going beyond doing what I was comfortable with doing. From student-body speaking opportunities to essay competitions I had teachers and advisors who, like Brady, understood the importance of development through opportunities that built my self-confidence.
When Mason and I visit the Rockbridge High School classroom we chose, I expect we will see students at a variety of levels of accomplishment much like there is in any class. Teachers know their students are not all on the same level and must compensate to include every student. I hope to observe how the teacher includes every student so that they may succeed. In the end, I desire to understand how Mason and I can apply this mentality to reaching out to the students as well.
I would love to read how your private schooling compares to a public school in a rural area.
The dedication that you are already showing to each of the individual students is a great quality to have. Additionally, by bringing in your own personal experience, I think that you can bring a unique and helpful perspective to the classroom.
I wrote something similar in my blog post about teachers including every student so that they may succeed. I think it PBL is a very effective method for students like Alfredo and Hannah to build self-confidence. When they are allowed to work on projects that they are passionate about, they will truly pour themselves into them and develop as a student.
I can see how this differed from my experiences in public school. However, with my experiences, I still firmly believe that No Child Left Behind and Common Core effected public schools for the worse by dragging more gifted students down to the level of the weakest link.
Ron,
I appreciate your ability to make nuanced connections between the readings, your own learning experiences and what you might expect at the high school, particularly this idea of potential, and what norms or expectations schools attach to student aspirations. Was there anything in particular that you think a seasoned teacher like Brady still learned from her reflections on Hannah and Alfredo?
I hope you enjoy your visit tomorrow with Mr. Simms’ Developmental Psychology class, and that you find ways to springboard your own Expeditionary Learning inquiry off of that context.
MAJ Hodde
Reading through your blog I connected with the point with going to two different high schools. While attending my first high school my freshman and sophomore year, I found that the education was top notch but the teachers were by the book. They did not go the extra mile to ensure that the students were truly connected with the learning. Whereas my second high school was in a more urban environment with less opportunities than my previous one but the education was more important to me due to the student teacher relationship I built.