by David Safier Yesterday I slammed the Star's front page. Today I praise it. Go figure. ("A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds," Emerson once said.)
Rhonda Bodfield wrote a wonderful story about Ochoa Elementary, and Jill Torrance deserves an award for the cutest photo of the year in any publication anywhere in the world. (Probably a bit of an exaggeration, but you have to admit, it's pretty darn cute.) And unlike yesterday's headline, this one is right on the mark.
The story deserves a read by anyone interested in different approaches to education.
With plans to take the model through fifth grade within four years, this year's kindergartners are the first ones to be taught under what amounts to a quiet revolution, given that the school had for three years been using such a structured reading program that it literally dictated what, when and how teachers taught on a daily basis.
I don't know much about the Reggio Emilia approach, but what I've heard is good. Whether it will bear fruit at Ochoa, I don't know. But it's a bold tactic which could, with serious commitment from the staff — and the staff sounds very committed — transform the school and possibly make it a magnet for parents in different parts of the city. Ochoa deserves strong moral support from the district and even a few extra dollars, because transformations always take extra funding.
NOTE: Do we have anyone connected with Ochoa in our BfA readership? If so, please contact me, either by leaving a comment or, better, by emailing me at safier@schooltales.net.
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We can check their reading scores after a couple of years and see if touchy feely works better than “a structured reading program.”