Inspiration is... where you find it...
Learning How to Learn: I learned consciously, anyway late in life, that learning is an ongoing process. It is infinite, with no set starting point, and no fixed ending point. Learning is growth. Learning is life. Most of us, in fact, need to learn how to learn, in order that our journey is a successful one.
"That's all well and good, Mike," you might say, " but my child came to SOAR because we were in crisis of sorts. We really don't have any time to waste. As a matter of fact, as entertaining as you are Mike, I really don't have time to be reading this, and... and... don't you have some preparations to make for my child?"
We are a world that feeds on results. In schools we feed on grades, and evaluations, and progress shown. Outside of school, as Americans, as humans we have become accustomed to instant gratification, and getting what we want ( or what we think we want it), when we want it, or sooner.
When you are away from your kids for an extended period of time, you need to know now, and rightfully so, how your child is doing, and what progress your child is making. You want news, and you want it now. You want it to be great news. Hey, I am a parent too, as are the other teachers. We want the best for our kids as well, and nothing less will do.
"But Mike," you say, " We're paying bucks to send our child to SOAR. The results should be different than the traditional school that didn't 'cut the mustard' for my kid."
Sometimes I sit back at the end of a long day where I and the other teachers have finished pouring our heart and souls into your kids, and I want to say, to anyone who would question or criticize our process or results, "Whaddya want from me?" though I know the answer.
So I felt it was time I laid it on the line, and was frank with you. But you can still call me Mike. :)
We're good but we ain't miracle workers... or are we? (I've actually seen Gene and Aaron perform some magic in the classroom with your kids. ) So, I guess it just depends on your definition of a miracle, and your definition of learning for that matter.
What You Can Expect When You're Expecting (results) from The Academy at SOAR
1) No one child is defined by a fixed set of standards. We differentiate instruction for your child, so you can expect the strategies may look different for each child in the program, as might the results.
2) Initially, you may not see polished product like you might expect at a traditional school. Polished work products, along with test scores, are often the measures of success in a traditional school. We are not traditional. There are days, when "total success" for your child might simply be persevering through a task that they ordinarily wouldn't have. We realize that all you know is what you see and hear. So we'll continue to strive to let you see and allow you to hear all that is possible from across the miles. You can expect that if what you see " isn't polished" that we know that it isn't polished, and we are working at successive approximations toward a finished product. You can expect that the finished product might actually be within your child and may not be evident in a traditional school sense.
3) You can expect that no one can "make" your child do anything. As Joe Geier says, " We can guide and we can influence," but ultimately you can expect that your child will still make their own choices. You can expect that whatever they are, they are informed decisions, if not always the best decisions.
4) You can expect that staff and instructors at The Academy at SOAR are trained, experienced professionals with the ability, the desire, and the passion to make certain that we are working in your best interests, for your child.
5) You can expect, as I have learned to expect, that, as mentioned in #2 success, learning, and growth initially, may not be measurable and observable in traditional ways, such as work products and grades. Sometimes the true measure of success is internal for your child, in how they are beginning to feel about school, and about themselves, that they have never felt before.
sidebar: I overheard feedback from the latest round of parent phone calls. The overwhelming theme was that students loved school, and enjoyed their teachers. That is something that perhaps your child has never experienced before. It's not measurable but it is significant. Something as simple as this could be the difference between a graduate and a drop-out.
(disclaimer: He is an actor, not an Actual SOAR Student)
6) You can expect that we, as an academic staff, are open to your communication always, as well as your thoughts, feelings and opinions. If there is an instance in which we disagree as to the best course of action for a given academic situation you can expect we will discuss it, and we can either come to a compromise, or we can agree to disagree. You can expect though, that we, as instructors who have many years of experience working with children, with students, as well as advanced training and education, will always do our very best to make the decision(s) that are in the best interest of your child, our student.
7) You can expect that your child will gain at SOAR & the Academy at SOAR skills and tools that they may not necessarily gain elsewhere, because our focus is, as well as academics, teaching the life skills necessary to become and to be life- long successful learners.
8) That being said, you can expect that we will take nothing for granted. If "focusing" on the teacher requires practice, we will practice that. If discussing the processes required for the successful completion of homework is the issue, we will practice that, until it becomes habit. Successful adults have formed successful consistent habits and life skills.
9) You can expect that we understand that the reason students come to SOAR is that for one reason or an other, they have been unsuccessful in the traditional academic environment.
10) You can expect that if we, as educators, do anything less than preparing students with the skills and tools they need to be successful once they leave SOAR and go elsewhere, we feel we have failed.
11) You can expect that "WE" will not fail.
"Wait just a minute, Mike. That's a pretty bold statement, " you say. "You will not fail. Does that come with a money back guarantee?"
Unfortunately the powers vested in me do not include issuing refunds. That being said, we will pursue success for your child, "by any means necessary," and for as long as it takes. We will persevere.
All that said, you can expect that your child will experience both successes and failures while at SOAR. As Joe tells the kids, " We expect you to make mistakes, just not the SAME mistakes." Finally, each student will get to where they need to be in their own time, as is true for every one of us.
So you can expect that the staff at SOAR and the Academy at SOAR will guide you along the way when we feel your child would benefit from more time at SOAR in order to get to where they need to be, or whether it is time, and they are ready to move on to the next step in their journeys.
No comments:
Post a Comment