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| True learning:
the fun-fast way |
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Fifteen years ago their
children's futures were bleak. Their school had one of the worst scholastic records in all
the United States. Today a great deal has changed. Guggenheim School is now regarded as a
model on how school disasters can be turned into success.
When Michael Alexander first arrived there as principal
in 1984, the school was a failure and in danger of being shut down by the local Board of
Education. Alexander's first decision was to upgrade the morale and skills of a
demoralized staff. Using some State Title 1 funds, for schools with special needs, he
offered all staff members a 30-hour retraining course with Peter Kline, the man he now
describes as "the genial dynamo of integrative learning". Half the teachers went
at one time, while substitutes filled their places; then the other half.
"To put it mildly," Alexander recalls,
"they were sceptical at first. We agreed there would be no pressure on them to use
the principles and techniques of integrative accelerated learning. It was up to them to
apply what they found valuable."25 The rest, he says, is pleasant
history.
Walk into one class, and you'll find 11-year-olds
learning Spanish - at their own request - by taking part in puppet shows and singing to
music. Walk into another and 13-year-olds will be learning American history by actually
taking over the roles of Abraham Lincoln or Thomas Jefferson. Walk into the computer room
and parents and students will be learning together. Go into another and a happy bunch of
young African-Americans are learning about hygiene through a "rap session". The
corridors are a blaze of colorful posters. Photos of black achievers adorn the walls of
many classrooms.
Ask Alexander what's so unusual about the school, and
his reply is direct: "This school is a fun place to be - and it's a place where
people throw aside all the roles that are generally germane to education - where teachers
act one way and students act another. Everybody is now focused on creating an atmosphere
of joy and learning for children - and people move in any role that's necessary in order
to facilitate that."26
That change doesn't end in the classroom. The school
runs its own breakfast and lunch program - with meals high in nutrition. At its simplest,
you can't learn if you're hungry.
"Students walk through the hall now, very polite,
very respectful," says Alexander. "Overhearing children on the playground, they
talk about their school becoming the school of the future. 'We use accelerated learning.
We're gonna be the most sophisticated school in the city with
Contents Page Preface
Introduction
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