Built for Learning:
Are schools built for learning? How can we change the system?
It is my personal belief that classroom learning should be more specialized to accomadate weaknesses as well as expand the overall skills which students possess. Individuals do not learn in the same way, but specific groups of students share various criteria requirements which must be met in order for them to thrive in a classroom setting. The system should consist of grouping children together who have the same learning styles and/or educational needs based on their grade level and educate them accoordingly. This would allow students to thrive in a classroom environment. In order to follow through on this principle, schools should begin each school year with personality, learning style, and previous knowledge based assessments to test where each childs' needs reside. From the results, the teachers in each grade level should group students with similar assessment results together in order to effectively teach accoordingly.
I believe that the most important subjects which should be required universally in the school system are Reading, Writing, History, Math, and science-in that order. Similar to the way in which Writing and Reading are paired together, Science and math should be combined as well because they are such similar subjects in the sense that a majority of scientific subjects involve at least one principle of Arithmatic. History should be paired with a geography class so that instead of Simply studying events, students can gain a greater globally related knowledge about the world as a whole as well as where certain aspects of history occurred. I believe that rather than being required to participate in Fine Arts classes and an Athletic Related classes, students should be able to choose which they would rather be in because some gravitate towards Athletics and others gravitate towards Fine arts. At least two options should be available for both Athletics and Fine Arts. This would give children the opportunity to explore more of the areas of their own interest as well as keeping them engaged in a classroom environment. If a student discovers that they dislike the arts after a certain number of weeks in school, they can switch to a class with a more Athletic based curriculum. Rather than focusing heavily on standardized materials designed for a uniform environment, educators should provide materials which best allow groups struggling with a certain subject to stay on track and progress smoothly. Homework should be given sparsely based on improving the various struggles within each particular group and should be specifically designed to meet the learning styles as well as thought processes of individuals within the group. Standards should be set by the school boards each year regarding what students should learn, but in depth details and requirements should not be Present to the point at which Teachers can not teach the information in a 9 month period. Allowing teachers to teach their desired materials partaining to their specialty to an equivalent degree to that of required materials would inspire passion within the learning environment from both teacher as well as student.
A typical school day should begin at 9:00am and the school day should end at 4:00pm. There should be Different days which include intense focus on certain subjects both required and chosen by the students. School days should consist of 3 classes per day, with each class being two hours long- Class 1 from 9:00am-11:00am, Class 2 from 11:30am- 1:30pm, and Class 3 from 2:00pm-4:00pm. Between each class will be a half an hour break. The first break will act as a mental break in which the students can do as they please with their free time, and the second break is to provide students with time to eat lunch. The 3 class, 2 hour system with breaks will allow students to retain more of the information in each class due to the extended time to study materials and the fewer classes per day to worry about. The 30 minute brain breaks between classes will allow students to recharge between each two hour class to ensure that overuse of cognitive functions does not occurr. Days will consist of odd and even days- Odd days (Monday, Wednesday, and Friday) will consist of at least 2 academic classes and one choice class. Even days (Tuesday and Thursday) will consist of 2 choice classes and one academic class. Which academic class)es a student attends on each day will be determined weekly with councilors by what subjects they are struggling most with individually. There will be multiple teachers per classroom to assess and assist each group. The first hour in class each day will cover the required material, and the second hour is, specifically, group time.
Files will be kept by teachers, councilors, and administrators containing information on a students neccessities regarding learning style, progression/status regarding academics, and information regarding personality type/personal educational history/ general personal information in order to best configure to a student's needs. Classrooms should consist of 30 people, and groups should be determined on a weekly basis based on progression. Although students will be categorized into groups, students will have the opportunity to work alone if desired. The groups are present to encourage peer assistance based individuals needs partaining to common criteria regarding necessary progression in certain subjects, Advanced Academics, and/or learning styles/preferences. Small tables rather than desks will be present to uphold the group aspect of the education system. Chairs will be mobile, so if a student would like to move to a designated area in the room to study, they can. At the end of the year, each group should end up at the same level to meet the mandated requirements set by the state. This will be determined by an assessment of the whether the academic information portions of the individual files for the students in each class all meet the desired level and requirements to move on to the next grade.
