Middle School Q & A with lisa Klus

The adolescent years are a complicated and confusing time, and most traditional schools are not equipped to provide the level of social and emotional support that adolescents need to thrive.  Alcuin Montessori incorporates traditional Montessori philosophy and current best practices, while placing a strong emphasis on independent, project-based, and student-driven work. Alcuin's middle school  provides a safe learning environment; key elements in the classroom that create this type of environment are the daily community meeting and low student to teacher ratio. 

Students apply high-level critical thinking across all areas of the curriculum. Classes consist of formal lectures, interactive presentations, student-led research, group projects, and more. Students manage daily and weekly homework, take formal assessments and receive quarterly grades in preparation for high school. With our individualized support, they cultivate the executive functioning skills needed for future success.

Alcuin’s Director of Admissions, Alejandra Valera, recently sat with Alcuin Middle School Director, Lisa Klus, to share more information and what makes the Alcuin program so special...

AV: Let’s get started by talking about remote learning since it’s at the forefront of everyone’s mind.  Can you tell us the plan for your middle school students, if we had to revert back to remote learning?

LK:  Our plan is to keep our remote learning schedule as close to their in-person schedule as possible.  We send our students a schedule for the week on Monday morning. The schedule outlines our day, just as it would be if we were together at school. The schedule is color-coded with lessons in different areas, has links to our work or lesson meetings, and all information is duplicated on their Google Classroom, so the students can organize their time.  

We will begin our day with a community meeting and then break off into various lessons.  Our lessons are live or prerecorded, and students are given a follow up activity to the lesson, usually due the next day.  The prerecorded lesson gives teachers time to plan individual or small group meetings as needed.  If students have presentations or small group discussions, we have the flexibility on Zoom to create breakout rooms.  The teacher can circulate in between those rooms. 

We will also continue to give percentages for student work and the option to retake quizzes or tests for higher grades.  Additionally, just like our regular school days, students are invited to "stay after school" to get extra help or meet with a teacher during an open work time during the day.  
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At the end of each week, we will send home a short progress note and checklist to communicate with students and parents about how the week went. Our hope is that this consistent weekly communication will help our students be the most successful at home. 

Last spring, many of our students shared that they liked that the remote learning schedule was organized like a normal day.  Some expressed that it helped them stay organized, some said that it was good to see their friends.  

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