Reading Reflection 2-BPHS

I think the internships, the integrated units, and the strong support with student choice and leadership have a great impact at this school. Creating curricular paths to success are essential to the student’s experience in a high school like BPHS. Individual and small group conferencing, while hearing and respecting students ideas are greatly needed. Although these are not new to the education community, they are not used nearly enough in our large secondary schools. Students are not being recognized and are therefore struggling to succeed in a large institution.

One of the practices that I saw at El Camino High that connected to Second to None was that there was a ‘quality curriculum and support provided for Language-minority students.’ This was evident from the numerous programs offered such as; Structured English Immersion Program, Bridge Program, and Spanish Language Instructional Program. There was also a large support team with a head English Language Development coordinator. These students are counseled and I believe they tried to involve the parents in decisions in regards to which program their child was ready for. Another practice I saw was the community involvement and student support through “Empowering Parents Workshops.” These are a themed parent workshop series focusing on topics such as, “How to successfully navigate the educational system and closing the Achievement Gap in your household.” There also was additional tutoring, learning center classes, and counselors to aid in their educational experience. This would be connected to providing comprehensive support for all students. Students enjoyed the number and different times of tutoring at this school.

Population continues to grow, so I believe that ‘small schools’ will not be possible in the future without more funding, space, and teachers. The personalized teaching and special assistance will slowly diminish because of the growing needs of each community. The sense of belonging and connectedness that is essential to their academic success could be changed. The schools will continue to have the need for restructuring with the increase in the student population.

Reading Reflection 1 - Rethinking High School

While reading the book one thing that resonated with me was the eleven key issues when looking to improve secondary education. I liked how they looked at three different areas to draw up the list including; national curriculum standards, educational research, and firsthand experience. All three of these aspects are pertinent to reshaping the educational experience for students in today’s society. I liked how they studied other high schools that are modeling successful school reform.

Something that seems like it would be difficult to reform would be to have a period devoted to internships outside the school. Logistically it seems hard to organize these with local institutions/companies. Transportation and the large amount of students participating would be challenging to coordinate. Especially with the school system today, I would think this would be a tough aspect to integrate into high schools. I like the idea behind the movement, but I just can not see how this could be done effectively all across the nation.

References that I found were that education needs to be connected to students lives and that groups of educators need to work together in planning and communicating. The school experience needs to be authentic along with collaboration are key concepts seen in both materials. A connection was also made to have students work on problem solving, inquiry, and acquiring a deeper understanding of the content material through innovative ideas.

Something that I want to look further into is the notion that high schools can be made to feel smaller and more personalized. The “houses” model with intensive teacher teaming, curriculum integration, student choice, and daily advisory are very novel ideas. Many times students are seen as numbers lost in a system that doesn’t understand them. There needs to be change so that every student can have a voice in today’s education system and personal learning experience.