No Child Left Awake*

Darling Child went back to school yesterday and came home with a sheaf of papers for me to sign. The below letter was on one of them. I read it to Darling Spouse in my perkiest early-childhood-educator voice; he threatened to fwow up.

Dear Parent or Guardian:
This year we will be getting to know your son or daughter as a learner and as an individual with special interests and learning needs. This school year you will see or hear about the teaching ideas we are using to better the needs of all of our students. Students will be learning in a variety of ways. Sometimes we'll all be working together; at other times, students will be working in small groups, with a partner, or on their own. For group work, they will sometimes choose who to work with and what project they want to tackle. Other times, we will form groups and assign projects based on what students know, what they need to learn, or how they prefer to learn. All students will be offered challenging learning experiences and all will be actively involved in their learning.

Our goal is to provide opportunities for all students to be successful and to enjoy learning. Students of all levels love both variety in learning and taking on new challenges. They learn at different paces. And they all have preferences about how they like to learn and how they like to show what they have learned. We will be doing our professional best this year to attend to differences among students, trying to ensure that each student is a successful, confident learner.

Now guess what class this is for...

Ready?

Advanced high school Chemistry lab, with something like 25 students age 16 and up.

Gosh, I can't WAIT to go to "Back to School Night"!

*phrase coined by marvelous YA author Chris Crutcher