This is my school. Chances are, it is not quite like your school. Research Triangle High School is a very unique (if somewhat experimental) 9-12 school focused on Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics. Our fancy-dancy-because-it's-latin motto is In Scientia Opportunis. Our mission statement (straight off the website, which you would know if you clicked the hyperlink above) is "to increase access to globally competitive Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) education for students and teachers across North Carolina, by incubating, proving and scaling innovative models of teaching and learning." But that's not what I'm here to tell you about. Let's learn about what it's really like to go to RTHS.
I usually get up around 6:30, or 5:45 if I'm going to the YMCA to swim. My morning routine is pretty much like every high school kid's morning routine: face, clothes, breakfast, claritin, teeth, hair, backpack, and out the door. Lately I've been having oatmeal or semolina porridge every morning, as I prefer a hot breakfast but can't be bothered to fry anything. Plus it helps reduce cholesterol! Oh, and this is all done through a cacophony of sneezing, to different degrees depending upon the season and what's in bloom.
This is my lunchbox. It has dinosaurs on it. That is all.
Father and I try to get out the door by 7:30. Father says that his drive to work is 47 minutes, which I suppose must be accurate because his building is about 5 minutes away from mine and I get to school between 8:15 and 8:23 most mornings. That's another thing. RTHS is in the middle of RTP, which is a research and science center in North Carolina. So we're surrounded by huge science and engineering hubs, like Cisco, IBM, Syngenta, and the EPA. Strategic placing for a STEM school, no?
Since school starts at 9:00, we get a free period from the time we get to school 'til classes start. You can either hang out in the Gallery (our common room/library/dining hall/auditorium, etc.), go to Silent Study Hall, or meet with a teacher. It's also a great time to work on projects, which I'll talk about later. These are some of the cool kids I hang out with in the morning. This bunch of girls is super supportive, intelligent, and kind. We love to celebrate birthdays and holidays, as you can see above, we made cupcakes and cards for someone who was celebrating her birthday! That's just the kind of population my school is made of. More pics of morning time below.
My first period is French, which is an NCVPS course. That means it's online, and my teacher lives three states away! We get 5 to 6 assignments each week, usually one writing assignment, one speaking (we record ourselves reading either something we're given or something we write and submit it), one quiz, one discussion board item, and one repeat of one of those. We also have to go to a "live classroom" once a unit, which is basically a conference where the teacher shows us a powerpoint and then we all practice stuff like conjugations and the passe compose and reflexive verbs and things.
Right now, we have "Education Pods," AKA, the Research Triangle (trailer) Park. So I have a short walk to the bungalows for my 2nd period, World Lit.
Right now in World Lit we're doing a project, so this is the perfect time to talk about project based learning. I'll talk later about flipping, but what you need to know now is that it gives us lots of class time. So what's PBL? Well, Edutopia calls it "a dynamic classroom approach in which students actively explore real-world problems and challenges and acquire a deeper knowledge." I think that's a pretty good definition. We get an intro document which basically gives us a real world situation, and we have to create a "product" based on it. This could be anything from a board game to an advertisement video. This particular product involved making a narrative based on Joseph Campbell's monomyth, but with a modern twist. To prepare, we read the Epic of Gilgamesh, Sundjata, and Dante's Inferno.
And now it is time for Seminar! Having a 3rd period seminar isn't great, but it'll do. Seminar is basically a study hall. I use it to do readings for history, study, or The Famous World Changing Movement of Flipping. Flipping involves watching a video made by your teacher or Sal Khan and taking notes to learn the course material, so that we do what might normally be homework in class. This way we get the teacher can actually help us, and we get to work with our peers a lot. And it's not just worksheets, we also do group projects, have discussions, and other valuable activities. Activities that I honestly believe will serve us well in the workforce. So, that's flipping. Here's a great infographic on it.
Next is lunch. I like to eat outside if the weather is nice, but otherwise I'm in the gallery (or more often in a club meeting). Unfortunately, outside means crazy lighting. Sorry bout that.
I have math 4th period, which starts with a warm up on Moodle. Then we usually do either a math-y experiment, a worksheet in pairs, or work problems together as a class. Math homework is usually a flip video or a digital PLATO activity.
Mr. Lasseter's APWH class is almost always a lecture, but we occasionally have a group discussion, or as you see here, a jigsaw. For homework, we usually get a textbook reading. Lasseter is probably the teacher who neglects Moodle the most. For WH, we only use Moodle to access the online textbook and the syllabus.
6th period is Drama, which I failed to document. All you need to know is that Drama is great fun. My 7th period is Chemistry, which is incredible. We usually do at least 1 or 2 labs per week, sometimes utilising really neat technology. We have thermometers, scales, motion sensors, and other devices, all of which we can plug into our computers to record data! We also use Moodle in Chem to access our lab info, which we read the night before and copy into our notebooks. Ms. Pedersen is an incredible flipper, she really gets it.
I often have a club meeting after school, everything from Community Service to Student Government to Radio Club to Speech and Debate to Health Services to Crossfire to Literature club. Okay, I just listed all the activities I'm involved in. They last from 4:00 to 5:00, as school gets out at 3:45. Plus, having clubs that last until 5:00 allows parents who work in RTP to come pick up their kids right after work.
When I get home I do homework, which lasts about 90 minutes. Then I get some free time to watch TV or videos, or maybe practice piano if I'm up to it. Right now, I'm really into PBS's modern adaptation of Frankenstein. It's two 6 minute episodes a week, which is perfect for people without the time for TV serials like me. Check it out! These Emma and Pride and Prejudice adaptations are great too. Then it's goodnight! Oh, I usually have dinner and bathe too. Then it's goodnight!