I could not let this final issue go out to our friends and followers without commenting on the historic first year at Veritas Varsity. 

 

This year has been especially gratifying to me, a 30+ year veteran in education who had a number of untried and unproven theories about how to make learning truly relevant for teens.  Frankly, although I sincerely believed I could pull off the various experiences I had planned for our 1st-year students, I did not know I could so within budget!  But we did.  All our innovations looked good to me, at least in print, but putting them into practice could have been another matter.  Well, the year is over and I couldn't be more pleased with the results.

 

Let me review a few of our innovations -- things we do that NO ONE else does, not locally, nor even regionally  First, our schedule.  We began our school day at 9:30 a.m.  I did not expect any complaints about that, but the trade-off meant finishing at 4:30, an hour after every other high school student in the area was home watching TV and snacking out before supper!  But our kids did great.  If they complained at home I never heard about it; they seemed to understand that coming in late meant staying late, and they were willing to pay that price.  Incidentally, coming in late was in response to every survey ever done and all the research completed about when teens function best.  They are, almost without exception, NOT morning creatures.  Teachers across the state dread teaching 1st period classes because of this.  That was never an issue for us; our kids came ready and willing to dive in and work.

 

Another major innovation was having only one teacher instead of seven or eight.  Our mentor approach to teaching is unique in secondary school settings.  Instead of breaking every 50 minutes and changing classes, our students were in the same learning center all day long (when we weren't out in the field, that is!).  Besides a traditional 30 minute lunch break, our kids got perhaps 1 five minute break in the a.m. and another one in the p.m.  Of course, they could leave at will for restroom breaks throughout the day.  They adjusted admirably to this major difference in routine, and from my perspective as their teacher, I loved it.  Virtually ALL wasted time was eliminated.  Because students had access to all their texts (most of which were online) all day long, as soon as they completed one area of study they could move on to another.  Homework was not eliminated by this routine, but it was seriously curtailed. Another huge advantage was the complete flexibility to adjust each and every day according to its unique agenda.  If I needed 2 hours for history I could take it.  If that day's math lesson was particularly complex, I could devote additional time to its presentation.  If we finished our health assignments by Wednesday it was not necessary to come back to that subject until the next week. Also, if we were going to be off campus for a field trip it was relatively easy to adjust the schedule before and after the trip to get everything done that needed doing.  Finally, because of this particular innovation and the almost total lack of wasted time throughout the day we were able to complete 7.5 credits during the year, with more possible in subsequent years.  In other words, we are on track for our goal to graduate our students in three years instead of four.

 

Other schools talk a lot about computers, but Veritas lives it daily.  Our kids are joined to their laptops at the hip!  From our opening exercises with the College Board's SAT Question of the Day and Waco Trib online news stories, to the end of the day's work with their online science curriculum, our students are on the Web or using their computers all day long.  And these laptops are theirs upon graduation from our program.

 

One final comment about scheduling.  I knew it was important to communicate to our students that learning experiences are available all around us and certainly NOT restricted to the confines of the classroom.  The best way to do this was to get them off campus and into their world to actually experience this first hand.  We did this on numerous occasions throughout the year.  On several days we began at 1 p.m. instead of the normal 9:30 a.m. in order to stay late and attend a local concert or theatrical production.  We met a couple of Sunday afternoons for special events, trading off time during the week, perhaps with an early dismissal on a Friday.  In order to participate in the Texas Book Festival (on Saturday) we traded Friday for Saturday.  Then of course we had our various overnight trips where we kept our students for an extended period of time filled with all kinds of meaningful, once-in-a-lifetime experiences. 

 

Last year this was all just theory.  I could understand people's hesitation to get involved.  But now we have a completed year of practice to back up our theory.  I couldn't be happier.  But we have a long road ahead of us as we continue to educate our community about this program's viability and potential.  You can help spread the word by passing along this newsletter to your friends and acquaintenances.  Let me thank you in advance for doing so!