School News From Reaching Heights

What’s your major?

Early childhood education.

How about your dream job after graduation?

I’d love to be a kindergarten teacher. It’s important for kids to have positive influences as early as possible, while they’re still young and impressionable.

Do you have a favorite memory or two from Gearity Elementary? Making friends. I went to Heights schools all the way from kindergarten through twelfth grade. Many of the kids I met at Gearity stayed my friends all those years. 

What’s your major?

Psychology.

How about your dream job after graduation?

I want to be a therapist or counselor, or work with a non-profit on behalf of animal welfare.

Do you have a favorite memory from Noble Elementary?

I loved my kindergarten and second grade teachers. I enjoyed show ‘n’ tell, because we could bring in pets, and art and music.

What’s your major? Business management, with minors in political science and economics.

What’s your dream job after graduation? I want to go to law school and start a private practice. I’d also enjoy working in international marketing.

Do you have a favorite memory from Oxford Elementary? Many teachers really helped me. Playing soccer with Mr. Sullivan, my third grade teacher, got me interested in sports. My fourth and fifth grade teachers helped get me ready for middle school. Mr. Wells showed us many cool ways of approaching math.

What’s your major?

I have a double major in urban studies and economics, with a minor in Spanish.

What’s your dream job after graduation?

I’d like to help run a non-profit, maybe a food bank or shelter for battered women, and consult with large corporations on community outreach. I’m thinking about law school or a degree in public administration.

One size does not fit all in Angela Hoang’s first grade class at Gearity Professional Development School. She frequently assesses students’ knowledge and differentiates the lessons they receive. Hers is a classroom full of active learners, experiencing many targeted levels of instruction, each with its own richness and rigor.

At the beginning of a recent double block period, students find their names on a chart directing them to one of six work centers containing a range of math, reading and writing assignments. Some students work at the computer, others read independently or help a classmate.

Teresa Taylor-Ware, a second grade teacher at Canterbury, tells her students, “I’m going to give you a ‘tiny test’ of four to ten questions that will take five minutes and will tell me how to teach you better.”

Students know that the “tiny tests” don’t count for a grade, so they aren’t nervous about the outcome. Unlike a test that comes after completing a unit, these assessments are timed to help Taylor-Ware see more clearly how much of the material each student has mastered. The information allows her to target lessons to specific groups, either re-teaching or introducing new material where appropriate.