A Day in the Life of an AMPed Learner

AMPed Hybrid Academy is a school, yes.  But it’s not like most schools.  Take a look at what a typical day looks like at AHA.  Spoiler alert, it’s anything but typical!

Arrive at AMPed and connect.  We spend 5-10 minutes catching up with peers and teachers.  What cool thing did you discover in your research yesterday while you were at home?  What questions do you have for your project-mates that you know they’ll be able to help you with?  Can we find a way to support a classmate that’s struggling?  This is when our younger students have “circle time” with a story and exercises in mindfulness, communication skill building, and other SEL topics.

Teacher check in.  How did your independent work go yesterday at home?  What questions do you have?  Can you help a classmate with something you have already conquered?  Spend time working, asking, helping, and remembering what you worked on yesterday from your Personalized Education Plan.Your teacher will move around the room helping you decide what you should work on next.

Movement break.  If weather permits, we head out to our outdoor classroom for some yoga, a dance break, an active game, or anything else to get our bodies moving and our brains working.  Even indoors, we make sure to get lots of active time. 

Snack and group project time.  Thanks to Plan, Do, Review, we all have a good idea of what we need to accomplish and how.  We might be preparing for our business fair, working on a presentation for younger students about the environment, building a website about how tornados work, or practicing a one act play we wrote about the digestive system.  Find a spot to work under a tree, curl up in your favorite spot in the library, or plan to meet on the giant bean bag in the sensory room.  Wherever you and your project group work best.  Your teacher will be moving around to each group, helping guide them, plan next steps, locate resources, and of course answer questions. 

Review time.  How did your work session go?  Did you get everything done you planned for?  What are the next steps?  Self assessment helps teach students to monitor and advocate for their own learning.  Together with your group, your other classmates, and your teacher, make sure you have a record of what happened today, and get some information in your planner about what to focus on tomorrow at home, and the next day in school. 

Lunch.  Healthy, fresh made food is provided and students eat family style.  Thanks to the large kitchen on our campus, students often get to help plan and prepare meals together as well.  We also have ample time for recess to get those bodies moving.

Independent reading.  Regardless of the format you use to read books, you’ll spend time getting lost in one that you and your teacher chose to match your interests and ability level.  Audio to accompany printed words, iPad apps with the option to help you sound out tricky words or look up definitions, graphic novels based on literary classics.  The sky is the limit at AMPed. 

PEP learning time.  Your teacher will give you the list of things to focus on next in your individual learning journey.  They will move around the room ensuring everyone knows what to do and how to do it.  You’ll spend time working on these new tasks independently while your teacher provides 1:1 instruction to each student as needed.  If your teacher needs an extra set of hands, our teaching assistants and special education director are ready to help.

Passion Projects.  You, just like adults, have multiple projects going at once!  Such a great way to practice balancing different tasks.  You’ll spend the remainder of the day working either alone or with a small group, on a project that is important to you.  Finding ways to raise money for the local animal rescue, educating others about the importance of hand washing, figuring out why the tomato plants in our school garden keep dying.  On Fridays, we have specials instead.  Art, yoga, coding, foreign language, and many other topics.  Every month, our school newspaper editors compile information and pictures about what each group is working on to share with families and the community.

Wrap up.  Wow, we did so much learning, collaborating, and thinking today!  To make sure we don’t lose any of it, we’ll make sure you have it all recorded somewhere.  A journal, a planner, a voice memo or selfie video on your iPad, a collection of photos you took today, whatever helps YOU remember what you learned and plan for tomorrow.  Your teacher will be there to help come up with ideas on what works best for you.