The Open Classroom (often referred to as "the O.C.") is a K-8 charter school in Salt Lake City, Utah, with a long history. It enrolled 377 students in 2009-2010.
Video Open Classroom Charter School of Salt Lake City
History
Open Classroom started in 1971 as a private Thoreau School. It became an optional K-6 program from the Salt Lake City School District in 1977. In 2007, the school became a district charter school and expanded to include high school and pre-K programs. School was not part of the open class education movement of the 1970s.
Open Classroom Charter School is a parent cooperative learning community where teachers and parents collaborate to educate all children and empower lifelong learners. The founders named the "Open Class" program because they wanted the program to stand for a flexible approach to education, where the needs of each child were considered individually.
The O.C. located in the former Lowell Elementary building, located in the Lower Avenues neighborhood at the intersection of E Street and 3rd Avenue.
The O.C. is one of the few schools depicted as following the model of the "whole child" described at the end of the August to June movie documentary, released in 2013.
Maps Open Classroom Charter School of Salt Lake City
Philosophy
Public Utah Superintendent for Public Instruction Larry Shumway highlights the unique "Open Education philosophy" of Education in its 2013 Educational Administration Address. The school philosophy centers on the ideology that everyone is a learner; teachers, parents, and of course students. The O.C. do not include tables or other more strict teaching methods, and instead class members meet in the "circle", where literally all students sit in a circle. The curriculum centers on choice-oriented learning, with students choosing what they want to learn for some, but not all, classes.
Co-oping
One of the key aspects of the philosophy of O.C. is "co-oping". Co-oping is a system where parents have to "work together", or help teach in their student's classroom, at least three hours a week per child they have registered. This is the center of O.C., since it is largely based on small group learning, where instead of learning as a class, students go to different centers and learn different concepts in each.
"Helping in my son's classroom... making the Most of the Open Space become like a big family to me, my husband, and my children." - Open Class Parents.
Famous Alumni
American actor Patrick Fugit, best known for his leading role in the movie Cameron Crowe Almost Famous , is a student at O.C.
References
External links
- Classroom Web Sites
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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