She hand-picked a dynamic team of talented, experienced staff and enthusiastic new recruits. We must create new ways to teach children if we're all in agreement they have changed. So what we did here was take away all labeling of children, teachers, and spaces. Instead we have, simply, ALC educators, and each gets to work with a range of children, from challenged to gifted. We put the teachers and three assistants in one big room, with their six desks jammed together in the middle, where everyone can talk, plan, and collaborate.
Portable walls divide the room into activity areas.
At the request of a classroom teacher, or as indicated by test scores, any Trail Wind student can receive individualized remediation or enrichment. My special-ed teacher said she feels she's died and gone to heaven. She's never felt so loved. The ALC team also serves the collective needs of Trail Wind. Last year the team analyzed schoolwide test scores and targeted first-grade reading as an area of concern.