Schooled

On Monday night the Man and I attended an Open House at the Girl's Middle School.  It was arranged as a condensed school day, so that parents could meet all the relevant teachers in their classrooms in the order in which our kids see them each day.

Each school day is basically the same.  For the Girl it's Homeroom (video announcements and video-led pledge of allegiance), English, [Academic and Technology Management], Science, Gym, French, Social Studies, Math.  The square brackets indicate a subject taught in "quarters", and over the course of the year that period will cover Computer Studies, Music and Art. ATM started with a "packet" (handout) and a test on "flag etiquette" (i.e. you mustn't burn it etc...). In each subject the class is a completely different group of kids, so there's a constant change in company throughout the day.  And each classroom is about as far from the last one as possible, so there's a lot of opportunity for stair-walking and leg-stretching in the 3 minutes between lessons.

Somewhere in the timetable (bizarrely, around 10:30am) there's lunch and recess.  And there's also a period called Homebase when you get to do your homework or go and find a teacher for specific help with something, or practise with the choir or band.

We liked the teachers we met - they all seem genuinely enthusiastic about their subjects, about their students and about teaching in general.  There's a very strong emphasis on attaining grades and meeting prescribed NYS standards, and we weren't sure if that was something that was meant to appeal to us as parents - it doesn't particularly in our case, and we hope it doesn't get in the way of learning for learning's sake.  But overall we had a good impression of the school. We hope the Girl will get a lot out of being there.