This week, I got just a tiny taste of what it's like to be a Freshman again. Of course, I wasn't your traditional freshman, since my Jr. High was a 7-9 school and High school was 10-12. But that's beside the point....
Tuesday night, I headed over to the High School for the annual Open House. I walked through each of Taylor's classes and sat through 10 minutes of teachers trying to cram in every bit of information they think the parents need to know in 10 minutes or less. In less than 10 minutes time with each teacher, I could read whether or not they were a great teacher. Most were. One or two, however... well, let's just say that they didn't impress me with their presentation that lasted less than half of their allotted time. Then we all just sat there and stared at the ceiling for 5 minutes. It's not like the parents of most Freshman, know what the good questions are to ask. And if they can't think of 10 minutes worth of important material for the parents, how on earth are they keeping 30 14 year olds interested? But, most of the teachers were FANTASTIC and he even has 2 full time teachers in his math and English classes. How do they manage that with the current budget crisis?
There were some interesting things that have changed in high school in the last 20 years.
Like, the absence of lockers. There isn't a single locker in the hallways. Your backpack is now your locker. You get textbooks to bring home and keep at home and the teachers keep one set in the classroom for students to use and that's it. You have to carry everything around with you all day long! It seems weird to me, and just a touch unfair. Having a locker in high school seems like an important right of passage. I guess, lockers can also breed trouble, too. It's sad that a few must ruin it for everyone.
And the cafeteria. Holy Cow! The top left photo gives you a peek into the cafeteria. It's like a mini food court at a mall. The food is good and you have TONS of options. Probably a good thing since it's a closed campus. No running down the road to grab Taco Bell on your lunch break. And since there are 3,000 kids in this school, there are 3 lunches. A, B and C... Taylor has A lunch, which means he eats at 10:15 a.m. Crazy, huh?
And the schedule. They have this thing they call the "block" schedule. Remember two times a year, during Finals week for each semester, you would have a extended schedule. One day would be 1, 3, 5 periods, 2 hours each. The next day would be 2, 4, 6, 2 hours each. Well, these guys get that every week on Thursday and Friday. It's probably really great for science labs, but I could see it getting really boring in history and other lecture based classes.
Another thing I'm loving about our schools is how technology has made it easy to contact the teachers and check grades. Each of my kids has a student id and a password that I can use to check grades on a website called STI anytime I want... day or night. I can even click on each class and see exactly what scores my child got on any given assignment. How freakin' cool is that? And I love email and websites. A lot of the teachers have their own websites where you can go to check homework assingments and project info. The newer textbooks also have online resources you can use to study, get extra explanations and even play games to practice concepts. And any time I have question, the teacher is just an email away. LOVE it!
Maybe I'm the exception the rule, but I don't ever remember having after school detention in high school. Here ASD seems to be a normal way of life. Maybe it's just the teachers trying to scare the you-know-what out of the kids and their parents, but you should see the list of infractions that will send you to ASD. I don't know how any normal kid will make it through unscathed. It just seems impossible.
Another unique thing to us Californians is Release-Time Seminary. Our church provides a religion class that's offered to all high school students, each year as they advance through high school. Each year, the curriculum focuses on a different book of scripture. This year, the focus is on the Book of Mormon. By the time Taylor graduates from High School, he'll study the Book of Mormon, the Old Testament, the New Testament and the Doctrine and Covenants. In areas where the LDS population is less dense (pretty much anywhere outside of UT, ID or AZ) Seminary Students go to "early morning" seminary at the local church building. Parents get up and drive them over to the church, and then parents and teens carpool or walk to the high school just in time to start their first class. Here, in AZ, we have release-time. There is a dedicated building across the street from the high school and the kids walk across the street to their seminary class just as they would walk across campus to go to PE or Woodshop or whatever. The only problem with this, is that the district doesn't count release-time religion classes as an elective, so the kids usually have to make up extra classes to get enough credits to graduate. Thus, the best and most convenient option is to take a zero hour elective.
One unique thing our school does that I'm really excited about is "The Academies". It's a sports program that integrates their sports training into their every day class schedule. Several sports have academies in our school, including swimming, golf, tennis, softball, volleyball and soccer. Anyone in school can sign up for the academies, and it's like having a double long PE class in the beginning or middle of the day. Taylor is doing the Swim Academy this year. So, he goes to 1st and 2nd period with the swim coach. They do various workouts, including swimming, technique work, weight training and running. You can do the swim academy even if you aren't planning to join the swim team.
Taylor however, has joined the swim team, so his day is incredibly long and tiring. He gets dropped off for school at 6:20 a.m. just in time for zero hour at 6:30. Then he goes to swim academy for two periods. Then, he completes the rest of his school day, getting done at 3:10. Swim team practice starts at 3:30 and goes until 5:30. When I pick that boy up at the end of the day, he's exhausted and starving. One night this week, he ate 3 different dinners in two hours. But, he has had no time for facebook, video games or goofing off... so that's a good thing, right?
On the whole, however, I must say I was impressed. The school is huge, well equipped and easy to navigate. I didn't even need a map to get around. And, if I did get lost, there were about 200 student volunteers hanging out in the hallways helping people find where they needed to go. I even had 2-3 teachers offer assistance. Everyone was friendly and helpful and it made me feel a whole lot better about sending my baby off to this place for 11 hours every single day!
