43
Warren’s new school chief boosts alternative education program
By Ed Runyan
WARREN
Raymond, the character played by Dustin Hoffman in the 1988 movie “Rain Main,” gives some insight into the approach Warren city schools are taking this year to help some kids learn.
“Rain Man” was based partly on the true story of Kim Peek of Utah, who was born with a brain abnormality that left him with a below-average IQ but allowed him to memorize the content of 12,000 books.
In the theories put forth by Harvard professor Howard Gardner — known as multiple intelligences — “Rain Man” is an extreme example of a person whose brain is strongest at logical and mathematical intelligence.
Gardner says there are seven or so types of intelligence — two of which are tested to gauge success in most schools — verbal and mathematical.
Everyone has some measure of all of the intelligences, Gardner’s theories say. But those whose brains are most in sync with the other intelligences — body, musical, visual, interpersonal and intrapersonal — are what some call alternative learners.
Such people will succeed in life most if they understand their alternative style and make it work for them, said Lynn Nagy, director of Warren’s new alternative school.
Nagy described how a student who is strongest in body intelligence and not so strong in mathematical intelligence could be taught basic math by creating for him a large piece of cardboard drawn to look like the keys on a calculator.
To calculate a simple math problem such as 2 times 3, the child is taught to jump with both feet up and down on the 2 and 3 keys.
“Two times three equals six. If the kid actually jumps from that spot ... they’re going to remember that because they put their body through that,” Nagy said.
Similarly, there are kids who learn best visually or using music or whose intelligence operates through person-to-person relationships or through self-reflection.
Warren has had alternative education for many years, but Bruce Thomas, Warren’s new superintendent, gave it new life when he arrived Aug. 1.
One of the first things he and Associate Superintendent Loree Richardson did was to relocate the program into the former school administration building on Monroe Street downtown.
Then he recruited Nagy, who was teaching education courses at Ashland University. Nagy, who had spent eight years operating the alternative education program at Lakewood city schools until four years ago, began her new duties in Warren in mid-September.
Warren’s program, which is for seventh- and eighth-graders, has 27 students, but there’s room in the Monroe Street building to accommodate many more, and Thomas hopes to expand the program to include high school students next year.
Those who think alternative education is just for kids who get in trouble are wrong, Thomas said.
The truth is many do get into trouble, but what best describes these students is that they learn differently, Thomas said.
“We have a number of kids who learn less traditionally, and we can lead them in a traditional setting and they could continue to be unsuccessful, or we could design a program that speaks to their need to be in a less-traditional environment.”
“Some of these kids may have some behavioral issues,” Thomas said. So resources are provided in the alternative school for anger-management counseling, individual counseling and group counseling. The previous alternative schools provided some of those things, but not as well, Thomas said.
“It was traditional,” Thomas said of the district’s former alternative school. “The kids sat at desks. [The teachers] lectured. The kids were quizzed and tested. That’s only one method of delivering instruction. And for these kids, it’s probably the least effective.”
When you walk into the alternative school, it’s easy to see that things are different. Classrooms are laid out more like meeting rooms. There is a room for yoga. And the kids spend close to two hours each day at the YMCA, which is a short distance away.
Nagy says the time the students and staff spend at the YMCA provides more than just exercise.
“The Y works on their behavioral components,” Nagy said. “They see people who come to the Y to work out, normal people having conversations. The social appropriateness piece is very, very important.”
Brendon Mazzola, 14, a seventh-grader, says the time he spends at the YMCA gives him reason to come to school every day, and the smaller class sizes help him learn better.
“There’s not as many people talking at the same time,” he said. “There’s seven to 10, not 20. There’s not a lot of people talking over everyone. This school is better to get an A. You can think more.”
Last year at Warren’s alternative school at the McGuffey K-8, Brendon got mostly Cs and Ds, but his scores this year seem to be mostly As and Bs.
Nagy said many of the kids in the alternative school have had disciplinary problems in the past and are experiencing something rare for them — success.
Recently, she called the home of two of her newest students.
“I called home to the parents to say I really enjoyed meeting their child, and he’s off to a really great start. And the parent just stopped to take a breath because most of these parents, they only got bad calls,” Nagy said.
“These are the kids who if they were in their own schools, they would be suspended or expelled by now.”
A first step at the alternative school is an assessment that determines what type of learner the child is. Then goals are established.
A determination of how to best teach the student is then used “to improve their other intelligences ... in whatever they’re learning,” Nagy said.
These strategies also can help the child work on “lots of other problems the child deals with every day — problems at home or changing a tire or getting the best cellphone plan,” Nagy said.
“The whole learning, multiple-intelligences thing is just that we are so very different. We take in information differently, and how do we identify those strengths and help each student.”