At Thomas Haney High School, students study
their courses through learning guides prepared by their teachers.
Each of the guides -- there are usually 20 of them for a course
-- states the outcomes to be achieved, outlines the activities
that the student will enact to achieve the outcomes, lists the
resources required, and describes the evaluation procedures they
are required to follow.
Students submit a schedule of work for the day and
then go to work on the activities outlined in the guides for their
courses. They move freely and choose from a number of locations,
including study areas, computer rooms, library, labs, classrooms,
and field sites. The emphasis is on responsible self-management
(see About SDL), but teachers support students with many learning
services, including regular consultation, seminars, workshops,
videos and CDs.
A Compressed Learning Guide
[Guides are usually at least three pages long and may be much
longer if they contain teaching and learning materials. One course
was one learning guide 10 pages long with descriptions of the
20 activities required, each of them an ingenious fulfillment
of a course outcome. What follows is only a taste of the real
thing.]
Physics 12: Kinematics
- This is a problem-solving course. By the end
of this activity you will know the fundamentals of kinematics.
- Design and solve a problem using a projectile;
include the following qualities: range, maximum height, time
of flight, displacement, velocity at several points in the trajectory,
and acceleration.
- Resources. Readings, Problems and Rocketry lab:
Design, predict, build, and test a rocket.
- Assessment. Written test.
Several features enable students to pursue alternatives.
If anyone wants to extend their work on a particular learning
guide, for example, they can apply for credit in more than one
subject. If Anne, working on a history unit on the war in Viet
Nam, decides to interview several veterans and comment on their
views, she can apply for credit in English as well as in Social
Studies. Students are also invited to propose learning activities
in any subject area. Some senior students create learning guides
for themselves that are offered to students who follow them.
The school is organized around a Teacher Advisor
System in which each teacher takes responsibility for guiding
20 students. The groups are multi-aged and stay with the same
advisor throughout their high school years. Advisors are the main
advocates of their students, teach them the basic skills of independent
learning and keep home adults involved. Advisory groups meet for
3 hours per week. During this time students set their goals, formulate
their plans, and report on their progress.
Thomas Haney is a regular district high school (grades 8 to 12)
that enrolls about 1000 students. It is a member of The Canadian
Coalition of Self-Directed Learning centered at Bishop Carroll
High School in Calgary, Alberta.
"I enjoy keeping in touch with the staff even
though I'm retired. It's a dynamic place and exciting because
the program is continuing to develop, performance is high, and
students seem up and energized. I take their warm greetings --
even though I'm a stranger ‹as a temperature-check on the
climate of the school."
- Dave Estergaard, founding principal.
In 1992, a new faculty was brought together for
the first time in a new building with one year to prepare a completely
new approach to high school. Students unused to self-direction
and teachers unfamiliar with guiding students in independent learning
faced a great struggle in the first year, but persevered. From
despair at their difficulties, the faculty worked through the
storm using team building, changes in the program and school organization,
problem solving, and the development of new skills and attitudes
by both teachers and students. Today they are a faculty proud
of what they accomplished and proud of both their students' accomplishments
at school and their success in higher education. "University
is easy to handle," their students say, "because that's
how we learned for four years before we got here."
"If you are going to launch a self-managed
program," Thomas Haney teachers warn, "secure time to
prepare, give your students lots of help to adjust to the new
demands, and be ready to fix the breakdowns on the wayto smooth
running."
Note: You can see an example of a Learning Guide
on the Articles page; also, for further information see Chapter
3 of The Self-Directed Learning Handbook.
