Wow! I just read a great post at Practical Theory . It has nothing to do with blogging in the classroom, but it ignited my fire today. Carol's is one of my favorite blogs to visit because she is truly an administrator who is involved everyday with students. Carol is discussing the real problem of kids who just aren't in a mental place where they can learn in a traditional setting. This post hit close to home even though Hilton is not an urban school . We may be the quintessential suburban district, but we have those students whose home life is unimaginable for most of us. I think we try and reach these students in a number of ways. AIS is one of the tools we have. In AIS we tend to see the kids who are struggling in other places in their lives.
What we do in AIS is so different than what happens in most any other area of the HS. It's not that we are better at reaching kids, it's just that we have the luxury of being able to meet them one on one where they are at any given moment. We can use that every day to find a way to reach a student and help them learn the core content we are responsible for. We call it the social emotional piece of AIS. That's the real secret to our success.
Unfortunately, the very thing that makes us special also sets us up as an easy target. We see less students during the day than most other teachers. This is often perceived as unfair. Though I think if you asked a classroom teacher if they would want to spend every class with a group of angry, mostly undermotivated, reluctant learners they would say no. Our FTE's are constantly on the chopping block because people who have no experience with our program think it can be replicated by a classroom teacher in a study hall setting. This may be true for the academic support we give, but we are so much more. I admit I am overly invested in what we do. I was part of the team that designed AIS in the HS and I believe in it's effectiveness. It infuriates me when people think that all we should do is teach study skills and help with homework. Hilton has the 1% that is talked about in the article. We need to keep in place any tools we have which allow us to reach them.
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I completely agree with what you posted. I am new to the district, but it is different than most suburban schools. The population is extremely diverse in student needs. AIS is a great program to help those students that slip through the cracks and need small group attention. Studyhalls with academic focus are not enough for these students. On top of academics, it is the social and emotional support that helps the students. AIS provides this package to students who need it most.
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