The New Village Leadership Academy continually researches best educational practices and consults with the top educational thinkers of the day so that our program is the best, the most current, the most educationally sound and the most foundationally relevant for our preschool and elementary school children in this day and age. It is our philosophy that students need to understand why they are learning and what they are learning. What is the relevance of algebra, phonics or recycling to everyday life? How will these concepts be used and why are they important? What is the purpose and application of this knowledge? We make sure that children are given the opportunity to make connections, opening minds to using their full intelligences to make ever widening, “spiraling” connections to the complex world.
What students learn and how they act has an impact on their classmates, their school, and as they get older, on the world. We stress that NVLA students act as leaders and realize how their choices affect others around them. We make connections as to how small purposeful actions can have great effects. For example, we recycle plastic bottles at ten cents per bottle. Once we have $100 dollars (1,000 bottles) we have enough money to buy a goat for a village in Africa, which can ensure the survival of this village. We strive to make associations such as this throughout the day knowing that our children are the ones who will need the mindset and intelligence to solve ever-expanding global problems while not losing sight of the local problems that need urgent attention as well.
The New Village Leadership Academy takes a unique approach to educating the total child. For example, we require 100% mastery of the core subjects at each level and give students the tools to attain this in terms of individualized programs, low student-teacher ratio and remediated or accelerated programs. There are several ways we make sure children fully understand concepts and thus move them to complete mastery of them. First, we make sure that the way we teach is with the most concrete, hands-on experiences possible. For example, if a student is learning how to make a robot, he or she needs to see or touch the materials and computer right in front of him or her rather than just imagining how to make it.
Secondly, teachers are taught to teach sequentially, checking for prior understanding. When a student is required to perform a sequence of steps and he comes to a point where he doesn’t understand, the learning curve is too steep. If a teacher is showing a student how to make the robot and the student suddenly is confused, the teacher makes sure to go back to the place the student stopped understanding and re-teach that point. We teach older students to do this on their own – when studying learn to go back with no prompting to restudy their prior steps and the concepts they may not have grasped the first time around.
In addition, NVLA teachers make sure children understand the meanings of all of the words related to each lesson whether in math or in music, or as in the robot example – all of the words related to making the robot. What do the words, electro-mechanic, gears, and system mean? Often students (and adults as well) lose interest and stop paying attention when they get lost in explanations filled with words they do not understand. So many students think they are terrible in math; has the teacher ever defined words such as factor, geometry or exponent? Teachers therefore are trained to make sure they monitor the children for lack of understanding. Similarly, if the student is learning how to program the robot and comes across a word that he is unfamiliar with, the student must look it up in the dictionary or have the word explained by a teacher. Once the student understands the words related to a concept, there is greater understanding of the entire subject.
At the New Village Leadership Academy we look at each student as a unique individual with his or her own set of strengths, talents, skills, intelligences, challenges, likes and dislikes. For this reason, students each have an individualized learning program in core curricular areas that are tailored to their learning abilities. Students learn at their own pace and ability level in language arts and mathematics, and if a preschool or pre-kindergarten student is reading at age three or four, they are not “held back.” Students are encouraged to learn about and research their areas of interest. Inquiry-based and project-based learning is used in Science and Social Studies, and in our technology and arts programs. Creativity, questioning and debate are encouraged throughout the day.
Because of our small class sizes and interdisciplinary approach, NVLA children have unlimited opportunities to discover their innate “genius” – some are wonderful public speakers and leaders, others have a passion for literature; some are artists, actors, singers, dancers, chess players, scientists or athletes. Some are really exceptional at playing! All are encouraged to shine through their own creativity and self-expression, while encouraged to remain focused and self-determined in all academic areas.
NVLA students move upward, outward, continue to add prior knowledge, reach for the sky, grow, explore, discover. In other words, NVLA students…. spiral up!
SPIRAL UP, NVLA!
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