Reflections on Denver....

OK, I know that most of the people who read my blog teach their children at home but would you indulge me as I put on my public school teacher's hat for a moment? I always have a difficult time explaining to people what I do at my job. I teach home school kids....in a public school. I am met with blank stares. Huh?

We are trying a new model with our teen agers. It is based around the notion of One Kid at a Time. (What a novel approach, eh? They could have asked home schoolers about this one!) A man named Dennis Littky started a network of small schools that look radically different than the normal public schools. Every student has an advisor that stays with them for four years. The advisor is the person who helps the kid set up their learning plan and follow through on what they are learning. They don't have traditional classes like you normally see in a high school. Two days a week students are learning in internships and volunteer opportunities. (Still sounding familiar?) This model has been extremely effective in inner city/at risk populations. When I was in Denver at this little school of 100 kids there was not a white face in the crowd (except most of the teachers).

It was such an inspiring thing to be around these kids and their advisors. First of all, the kids are amazing! The way those kids can articulate what they are learning and why they are learning it is so cool! They are normal kids (not the best and brightest) with really (really) hard lives and they would put most of our kids to shame in the way they take ownership of their learning. They are doing deep, in-depth, real world projects that actually matter in the businesses that they serve. I saw this in Rhode Islands last year when we visited, and I saw it again in Denver last week.

Second, these advisors live and breathe these kids. They are young and sold out to what they do. They work incredibly long hours and that doesn't include the time they spend on the weekend rescuing their kids from situations that I can't even begin to imagine. It is a high burn-out job. Most advisors don't go back after making the four year loop with a group of kids. They usually don't have spouses or families because there is just not energy for both. (My little political side note is that the majority of the advisors and people who work at this job are uber-liberal in all ways. It makes me wonder where the church is in this process, but that is a whole different topic!) I'm telling you, in a different life (read-no family) I would move to Rhode Island (or Denver) and work with those kids in a heartbeat.

They literally save these kids. The statistics of how these kids do in college compared to similar demographics of kids is astounding. If anyone is interested at all I would recommend reading One Kid at a Time or The Big Picture:Education is Everyone's Business. Or, read about Dennis Littky his controversial, but interesting story Doc.

So, why do these schools concern me? Because we figure if inner cities can produce kids who are so turned on to their own learning and futures how much more can we, a school that actually has a partnership with parents, help kids to be excited about their learning. We have all the tools in place. Our students are normal kids. They don't want to work any harder than someone is going to push them. And, by this time, some of our parents are tired of pushing and are ready for an advisor to stand side by side of them and help them inspire, teach and lead. So, that is where I come in! I get to be an advisor for the 9th graders. We are in our first year of this model and it is hard work, but I see glimmers of it paying off. We don't see our kids as much as the other schools (two mornings a week) so we are trying to figure out how to make our model work to best fit our students.

I go from teaching the high school students to working with grade school kids in the afternoon. Then I work with families who are just starting out with homeschooling. It is a great variety. This is the "grown-up" work that I get to do each week. It challenges me mentally and I love the people I work with. But, to top it off my own kids get to be there with me and they are getting great science classes, PE and art, music and other extras that I don't do at home. For this season of our lives, it works perfectly!

So, to make a very long story short. That is why I went to Denver. :-)