I loved it from the first day. Everybody is really welcoming. Engaging each student in class each day is another way teachers make kids feel visible and valuable. First names are used exclusively at Meridian, where the signs outside the modular classrooms read Room 5 Bob, or Room 12 Larry. The basic curriculum at Meridian Academy is nearly identical to the curriculum of other local schools.
Textbooks are the same.
Nothing is watered down. But that's about where the similarities between Meridian and regular high schools stop. Drop in on any class, any time, and you'll observe students discussing a magazine article, rehearsing a play, building a science exhibit, cooking a meal. What you won't see are teachers lecturing at the front of the room while students listen passively. They all have different learning styles, and I teach to all of them the verbal learners, the hands-on learners, the auditory learners, the visual learners.