Peabloggy

I am by no means an expert on charter schools, so I hesitate to post on this topic. But, as I look for teaching jobs for next year, I’ve been thinking about unconventional approaches to education and the possibilities they hold. I spent eight weeks in a comprehensive high school student teaching with 12th graders, and I learned firsthand about many of the limitations involved with teaching 130+ students in 55 minute class periods every day. So, when I heard about Big Picture High School, I was intrigued.

The Big Picture Company, based on a school model based on The Met Center in Rhode Island. The Met model, which is being replicated at Big Picture Schools around the country - including one here in Nashville - focuses on tailored curricula with a vastly smaller number of students than typical students. Teachers are assigned 14-15 students, and they work with those students over the course of four years to develop projects and secure internships that address each student’s unique interests. Teachers have time and opportunity to invest in students’ lives - “one student at a time” - and students see a direct correlation between school and the things that are truly important to them in life.

I’m sure there are drawbacks to the approach Big Picture schools take, but I am intrigued enough to find out more. Eliot Levine’s book, One Kid at a Time, catalogues the Big Picture model as it originated at the Met School, and is worth a read.

- Rachel Bowers