I came back from France with a new idea on how to structure Mondays in the fall at PSCS. The idea is to have small groups meet to study one subject all day long (almost) with a facilitator who is excited by the subject. It’s a great concept, one that allows students to really dig deep into something in which they have an interest. The long period of time helps them know they won’t have to put this interest away and move on to something else.

Here is a picture of Ella from this morning. She signed up to study “Anatomical Drawing.” With her is the facilitator, Bev, one of the moms in the school. Bev is an incredibly gifted artist who has been kind enough to donate her time at various points at PSCS. There are just three other students participating in this project, meaning each student can get some focused one-on-one time with Bev. Pretty sweet.

I mentioned that the students get “almost” the whole day. That’s right, I stop the groups at 2:30 and have them join me in our community room for a whole group activity lead by me. Today I asked each group to imagine that they were a pizza. The idea was to help the groups learn what the others were doing, but guide it through the same perspective. In this case, it was the metaphor of being a pizza.

Just what kind of school is this??