Intro to Education

Hamline University
Jim Ivory
4/6/2014
School Tour Reflection
After touring seven Metro area schools I realized my own K-12 education, spent
in one public school district, had given me only a glimpse into other options and styles
of schools out there. I entered this process skeptical but with open eyes at our first stop
at Valley Middle School. I left our last stop at City Academy feeling astonished by the
variety of curriculum, styles of learning, building layouts, diversity of students and
educators, and overall themes that were offered for our reflection. I have been thinking
how interesting it would be, had I done a pre-flection prior to going because it would
have shown just how narrow my scope was on the different ways education can be
offered in our institutions across America. I would not have guessed things could be so
different from one school to the next. The proverb, there is more than one way to skin a
cat would fit nicely here.
I saw many things new to me on the tours, but three common themes stood out
to make these schools effective: strong leadership, clear vision, and high expectations.
A solid example encapsulating all three of these traits was Valley Middle School. It was
a pleasure to listen to their leader, Principal Dave McKeag, who clearly found his niche
working with sixth through eighth graders. He took pride in establishing a middle school

atmosphere he felt worked well within the frame work of a typical middle school
students brain and physical development. Dave discussed how the atmosphere needed
a clear sense of order, to be nurturing, and to create a feeling of affiliation for building
relationships. He uses these elements to focus his leadership in the form of inquiry and
exploring. By doing this he mentioned the school suspension rates were way down and
staff morale appeared to be up. The majority of his time is spent with his teachers, not
reprimanding or micromanaging, but observing classrooms and collaborating to make
things more efficient. He has a positive disposition and seems down to earth which
makes him very approachable for advice or just vent about a student or lesson gone
wrong.
The principal isnt the only aspect of a school that makes it effective. The schools
vision and the staff that helps facilitate the vision are also extremely important. Valley
Middle School adopted the STEM approach, which builds relevance through real world
experience and an end result of an engaged student population. You can see this in
action as you walk the wide hallways created by the open style architectural design.
They use the design to their benefit with many rooms having tables with chairs on all
sides to promote collaborative learning. Teachers appear to act more as facilitators; they
were walking around checking in with groups of students in one classroom and leading
a mini group participation style lecture in another. There are also several large framed
photos on the walls depicting, and highlighting, students and staff engaged in real life
experiences in and outside of school grounds. It appears they are staying true to their
mission of Rigor, Relevance, and Relationships. This all promotes an effective
educational environment.

Another school that stood out as effective for a certain age and type of student
was the School of Environmental Studies (SES). Upon exiting my car I could see bee
hives, garden trellises, a green house, and a windmill on my short walk to the entrance.
This was only one side of the building and was in the middle of winter. I wondered how
the grounds would look sans snow. Would I have seen more students in impromptu
classes outside, or working on projects based on the grounds themselves? What makes
this an effective school for the students who choose to attend is an adapted philosophy
that caters to a specific type of student looking for more in-depth study involving
interdisciplinary learning and experimentation. The students I spoke with clearly made
the right choice to finish their high school education there. They were well spoken and
reflective. They did not sound like juniors and seniors in high school. The students
stressed the longer class blocks and the collaborative style of learning as major reasons
they felt more prepared for post-secondary success than their friends attending other
regular public schools. I agree with them. What I saw in the forms of learning and group
work resembled a lot of the class time I had in my undergrad, and am now experiencing
in graduate school. If I had the opportunity to learn in this fashion during my junior and
senior year in high school, I would have performed better during my first couple years in
college. I would have been ahead of the curve. The catch being I would have had to
choose to attend this school and therefore been ready to switch to learning that way at a
time in my life I was not keen on my studies. For me it would have been an effective
school environment, and I might be further along in my career at this point in my life as
a result.

Something I wondered about at SES was if the program didnt work out for a
student, how would it work transferring back to a home school for their senior year?
Would there be credit issues or does SES take typical junior level coursework into
consideration when developing curriculum?
We had the opportunity to see the elementary angle at Como Elementary and
Community of Peace Academy. These two schools, one public, and one charter, had
many similarities in the early learning K-3 classrooms I visited. A common theme was a
community space, free of chairs, where I saw story time, song and dance, and a group
of students spread out working on art projects. This is very different from when I went to
school where every room had rows of desks and group work was something I hardly
recall happening. One class at Community of Peace Academy had a student telling the
story of his day while the teacher wrote the sentences on an oversized sticky note. The
whole class then practiced saying the words and sentences clearly. The post-it was
hung in the hallway for display after class under a banner reading Todays Featured
Story. It was neat to see how teaching styles have changed at this level and how
engaged the students were.
I currently work in a Special Education setting and have a son with special
needs, so it was no surprise I was thinking along those lines while touring these
buildings. I wondered how children with autism or sensory processing disorders could
handle the openness of Valley Middle School or the Environmental School. Where were
all the lower functioning cognitively disabled students in the public schools? Would a
private school like Blake add Special Education support staff for a high functioning child
with autism who may benefit from an educational setting of high rigor and independent

learning if the family was willing to pay the steep price for private school education?
Would or does a school like City Academy accommodate a special needs student who
fell through the cracks and was never diagnosed due to poor past attendance or
negligent parents? I could see City Academy being a fantastic opportunity for someone
like that.
I will admit I wasnt overly excited about taking time off of work at a school to tour
other schools. I didnt think I was going to see anything shockingly new aside from the
elementary setting which I wasnt familiar with. What I discovered in the first ten minutes
at Valley Middle was there are many ways to skin the cat of education. It was eye
opening and inspiring to watch and speak with many different professionals about their
passions and goals in education. It was clear there are different types of effectiveness in
the schools we visited, but it would be hard to say which were better than others. The
fact there are different approaches and people continuing to try new things means our
field of education is not stagnant, but one actively trying to engage our children in new
and exciting ways. This gives me great hope for our future as educators.
Thorough, detailed explanations of what you believed to be important. You captured the
essence of each school really well. It is evident that the tours had an impact on you. Thats
terrific! So very well-written. You are a good writer. Enjoyed reading it!