Have you ever heard of the Ron Clark Academy? If not, go here and check it out.
My mom and I were fortunate enough to go to the VIP Chautauqua Benefit last Saturday night. And boy am I so glad we went!
One of my teachers has a goddaughter who attends the school. She told us so many great stories in class so I was really excited to be able to see it in person.
When we got there, we walked down a red carpet with students lining the sides. They were singing and dancing and greeting everyone. Once we walked inside, we saw students everywhere. They would come up to you, shake your hand, introduce themselves, and offer to be your tour guide. Our little boy was in 6th grade (the students here are in 5th-8th grade). He was so polite and so mature. He led us around the building and told us about every aspect of the school.
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This was a real car turned reading center inside a language arts class.
The inside was full of bean bags. |
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| Language Arts Classroom |
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| Math Classroom |
After about an hour, the teachers went to their rooms and started teaching. We sat in on a sixth grade science classroom where they were finding the stoma on a piece of a plant. I don't know about you, but we sure didn't do that in sixth grade.
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| 55 Essentials (School Rules) |
We then went to Ron Clark's class. Oh.my.word. He is an INCREDIBLE teacher. I so wish I had him when I was in school. He was teaching a fifth grade math class. The students were so excited to learn and he was so interactive with them. He would jump on top of the table, sing songs, use hand motions, and the kids would just follow his lead. At one point, a majority of the students got a question correct so Ron hit a big red button on the wall. The lights went out, black lights and strobe lights came on, and the students jumped on top of the tables and danced to "All I Do is Win." Seriously?! Can I go here?!
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The secret door to Ron Clark's classroom.
You have to speak the magic word or turn the lantern to enter. |
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Ron Clark teaching a 5th grade problem.
{Sorry for the dark picture!} |
I was amazed at how smart these children are at such a young age. The problems they were doing were so difficult. If you look at the picture above, you'll notice how hard the math problems were. At one point, he asked the students to list six countries in order of population size. These kids all had the answer within 15 seconds.
If you -ever- have the chance to go, I highly recommend it. Especially if you work with children. It was such an inspiring night. I plan on going to one of his conferences once I have my own classroom.
If you're still reading, I'm impressed! I just realized how long this post has become. But seriously. I cannot say enough good things about Ron Clark.
In case you want to see a class in action, here is his fifth grade math class from last year. Ron Clark is the man speaking towards the end.
