Initial plan for our program

The Students
The Afterschool program - This is a 4 hour after school day.  Keep this in mind:  This is NOT set in stone...one of the things that we are trying to teach is that these subjects are NOT independent of each other...often, these subjects will be taught simultaneously.  It just helps people to see what we are trying to get across.

• 30 minutes - Problem solving, conflict resolution, and thinking skills.
• 30 minutes - Creative thinking...What does this entail?
• 45 minutes - Reading skills
• 45 minutes - Math skills
• 45 minutes - Creative learning (Sciences, Music, Art, World Religions, Engineering, etc..)
• 45 minutes - Research skills, Musicianship, Leadership, Etc...

Now, the key here is Triads.  The students would be matched up in Triads so that they learned to help each other.  On top of that, the ideal situation would be 3 teaching positions at once...1 teacher and 2 aides.  The 1st hour of class would be kind of an open session.  All 3 teachers interacting with the students to:

1.      Decompress from the actual school day
2.      Teach the students how to interact with one another
3.      Allow 3 POV on any one situation that can be presented to them

This also allows the class size to increase.  Because of how we are going to set this up, the idea of student to teacher ratio is something that would actually benefit from a bigger class.  Part of what we are teaching is how to lead.  Large groups of kids sounds daunting but we are teaching these kids how to be leaders; If they cannot work amongst themselves then we will have failed.


The Parents
In order for their children to be enrolled in this afterschool program, Parents will be required to attend classes 2 nights a week.  These classes will initially contain:

•      16 week parent program course - 1 of the nights per week:  The premise of this class is that parents simply need to be more involved in their children's lives.  This class is actually taught as part of a program usually for at risk teens.  However, there are things in this program that will help every parent who is willing to listen.  These things will lay the groundwork for everything else we will do. 

•      Lessons in the classes their children will be learning the following week.  This will allow the parents to see what their children will be studying coming up.  They will know what projects their children are going to be working on as well as brush up on these skills so that they do not become lost when the time comes to help their children.  This helps with a couple of things:

1.      Parents are empowered to assist their children whenever they have questions about their homework.  
2.      Parents cannot help but stay involved with their children's activity because they have to know what is going on so that they can stay a part of the class.

     Part of the classes for parents will be things like cooking for the home and teaching how to make meals as a family, group outings to museums and points of interest.  The idea is that these parents become friends to one another and a community spawns from this.  On top of that, things like Financial Planning, Organizational skills, and anything that parents would be willing to teach one another that would help everyone else would be put on the table.  On top of that, the leadership aspect of their children's learning would be taught to the parents.


Teachers and Administration
Teachers and Administration will be one and the same.  No administration will be just administrators and no teachers will just teach.  They are to be interchangeable...The resources are such that everyone is on equal footing.  All programs and curriculum will be worked out among the teachers that are teaching in the same classroom.  Teachers and Administrators don't have to agree with the core values of the program, but those values must resonate with them.  The noble cause is something that they must be in alignment with.  Authenticity and transparency are of utmost importance.


We are trying to do more than teach students how to be better students or parents how to be better parents or teachers to teach a better way.  We are creating a movement...we want the future to be a place where people are more concerned about those around them than they are for themselves.  The world is in the state that it is in right now because people are too self-centered to worry about those around them.  We want to teach people to lead so that they can teach others to lead.  People will be better towards one another when they realize that they are responsible for and accountable to others.




Some notes:  Triads are key everywhere.  3 students per small group, 3 teachers per class (both students and parents), the initial triad of student - parents - teacher.  We will not fail each other if we have to hold each other up.