Education Week - October 24, 2012 - Special Report - S13

lege and the workplace. On a Tuesday morning in late September, science teacher Jessica B. Keybl led her advisory class in a discussion about what to look for when visiting potential colleges. She went through a list of such questions as “What percentage of students live on campus?” and “What kind of meal plans are available?” with a group of 11th graders. Ms. Keybl came to Silicon Valley Flex Academy when it opened in 2011-12, she said. “I really loved the small class-size situation,” she said, “and the ability to really extend student learning with projects and critical-thinking activities.” She teaches biology, chemistry, and 8th grade physical science. The flex model encourages and empowers students to take control of their own learning, even at a young age, according to Ms. Keybl. “One of the things that I’ve seen with our students here, especially with our middle school students, is they have to take so much responsibility for what they’re doing and keeping themselves organized and on task … that once they get the hang of it, they’re really set,” she said. “I’m excited to see when they make that transition to college. They’ll already be their own personal time managers.”

Kristina Andreyeva, 18, works in her cubicle at San Francisco Flex Academy. Students work on courses independently online and must take responsibility for organizing their own school day to get all of their work done.
Sarah Rice for Education Week

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Gurroop Khasla, a senior at Silicon Valley Flex, said having faceto-face teachers to support her work in the online curriculum is essential to her success. “[There are] times when I’ll do a lesson, and I don’t quite understand what they’re saying, but then when I go to breakout … they’ll teach and I’ll understand what they’re saying … because someone actually told me,” she said. “And it’s different when someone tells you rather than just reading it.” Junior Camille DeRome agreed with Ms. Khasla and added that having the opportunity to collaborate with other classmates helps her learn. “Sometimes I will learn better if I explain it to someone else, or if they explain it to me,” she said. Ms. Southland, the head of school, added: “As the administrator watching, it’s great to go and see, because you see that kids are talking, but when you get close you realize they’re actually having academic conversations, which is really powerful. At their age, that peer-to-peer interaction, we know that so much more learning happens in that kind of environment.” Joseph Davey and Gurbhej Khasla, both seniors at Silicon Valley Flex, agreed. “We’ll have conversations about current events and stuff going on in the news,” said Mr. Khasla, the twin brother of Gurroop Khasla. “The other day, Joey and I were having a conversation about history and how the political scheme has changed over time and the four different stages of federalism.” “We had a pretty good debate going on,” Mr. Davey said. n

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OCTOBER 24, 2012

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Education Week - October 24, 2012 - Special Report

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