Class Procedures:

How do we do it?

All classes are governed by the same essential expectations and procedures regardless of grade.

The universal rule of respect governs all behavioral expectations regarding the class. Safety and respect take priority above content instruction in all classes. The rationale assuming that the latter cannot take place without the former components established. The essential, overriding motive is to create an environment in which the student is focused on their creative process intentionally, making deliberate choices and fair critical evaluations of the work being conducted or the material being discussed.

Presentations and conversations play an important part in the conduct of the class, particularly after the fourth grade. Dialogue among students and instructor is greatly encouraged. The intention is to nurture the understanding that creativity is a synthesis of ideas generated by the creator, the creator's awareness of the world around them, and their interpretations of both.

In the creation of the vast majority of major work produced in the class, themes are intentionally open-ended to foster independent communicative and creative identity as well as enhancing the value of both product and process for the student. Instruction, particularly in the K throught 3rd grade levels, emphasizes methods of executing work in a variety of common mediums and therefore demands attention upon certain fundamental practices or skills. Increasingly, and explicitly in the 4th through 6th grades, the instruction becomes conceptual, dealing with themes which govern the development and the employment of creative methods.

Major projects can extend over weeks of activity and may involve multiple tasks of varying sophistication to complete. Technical concerns are often addressed through demonstrative exercises of limited duration and expressive potential designed to present a method and its potentials as opposed to the generation of complete pieces.

Homework is almost never assigned, though practice of methods and the development of skills outside the class is always encouraged. The curriculum has been designed to employ and build upon the material gained at previous levels of instruction. The ultimate goal: to create a whole of demonstrated relevance to creativity and life.

Assessment takes place according to the seriousness, independence and depth with which students engage their creative processes, the employment of the technical or conceptual material being presented in the lesson, and, very intentionally, not the resemblance of the product to preconceived models. Respectful critical feedback is employed within classes by instructor and peers to help students better attain their personal creative goals. This more immediate feedback, which can then be acted upon by the learner, is identified as the most meaningful mode of assessment offered by the class and essential to the experience of students within it.

The report card, (click here for an example) which appears quarterly exists as an abstract record of student performance and a tool for parental communication. In addition to number scores which represent the general level of stuent performance in a variety of areas, every report card offeres a synopsis of the activity of the quarter. During the quarters in which parent-teacher conferences do not take place, brief comments are written for each student to indicate with some greater subtlety the level of performance the student exhibited over the greatest portion of the quarter, the areas in which the student requires the greatest further development, and the area of individual performance that will be focused upon in the coming quarter. Dialogue regarding commentary or any other issues is encouraged either during the parent teacher conferences or via email. Meetings may also be scheduled as necessary through the main office.