Week 1 Reading Reflection

In the book "Rethinking High School" the specific concept that stuck in my mind was the idea of creating smaller schools. In many of today's mega high schools, it is very easy for students to slip through the cracks and go unnoticed. In the environment of a smaller school, even if it is within a larger school, it is much harder for a student to continously slide by. Hopefully smaller schools would mean smaller class sizes, but lets be realistic. Smaller class sizes are ideal, however smaller schools will foster more communication between the teachers, and create a close knit community for the students. This feeling of community is huge for a student in need.

Last semester I taught at a mega high school, and I attended a mega high school. This semester I am student teaching at a small school and definetly see a tighter sense of community. However, I do feel that the students are missing out on interacting with a larger and more diverse student body. The students are in the same small area of the school all day, interacting with the same students. So, I feel that some diversity and social activities are needed to get the students ready for the "general population." Following along on this general theme, I would like to see a study that forecasts if some of these Charter school models that have been very successful, such as High Tech High and the Best Practices School, can be implemented successfully into the mainstream. Would it be possible with budget constrataints, larger class sizes, etc.? I don't know......