Student teaching at SAS has been quite the experience! The curriculum is academically challenging, and often I have been surprised at how much my third graders know and can do. The entire school is huge, with a student body larger than that of Hope. As third grade teachers, my cooperating teacher and I work alongside twelve other grade three teachers to plan curriculum, assess data, explore teaching methods, and engage in professional development. Teachers consistently use new technology and research-based strategies to teach. We write as many lessons as possible so they are inquiry-based, which essentially means that lessons include many questions for students to explore, with the object of students creating their own understanding and knowledge.
To give you a little taste of what education looks like at SAS, watch the video
below of all the third grade classes participating in a “task party.” This task party was organized and led by a team of third grade teachers. A task party is essentially a huge group of people who receive tasks to work together on, in a room full of various materials. This task party focused on inventions, so student received tasks such as “create a new school uniform that incorporates new technology.” I was impressed with the creativity and innovation that many of the students demonstrated as they participated in this fun lessons!