Summertime Skill Building At LVJUSD

From LVJUSD:June 18th marked the first day of the Livermore Valley Joint Unified School District’s (LVJUSD) 2018 Summer School Program. In recent years, the program has sought to implement more science, technology, engineering, arts and math (STEAM) into its lessons. “Our curriculum has become more STEAM-focused to better engage our students over the summer,” said Tammy Rankin, Summer School Coordinator at LVJUSD. Four campuses at LVJUSD are hosting summer school programs - Croce Elementary, Marylin Avenue Elementary, Junction Avenue K-8, and Granada High.

Depending on their grade level, students may attend summer school for remediation, intervention, or credit recovery. Students enrolled in the program benefit from support from teachers as well as additional high school student aides, who can share skills and techniques with younger students to help them excel. The additional instructors and smaller class sizes serve to create more opportunities for personal engagement with students and enhance lessons, as well as providing work experience for teenagers eager to share their knowledge. Classroom teachers gain partners while modelling the lessons and techniques for effective and engaging instruction.

In the elementary program hosted at Junction Avenue K-8, students benefit from the dedication of high school aides partnered with teachers to learn the alphabet in binary, which they then used to spell their initials with beads to string along a bracelet. The activity - one of several STEAM activities the students will enjoy over the summer - gives students an insight into computer science while illustrating the creativity and application that often gets overlooked in typical science or technology instruction. Many lessons and activities in the summer school program incorporate multiple aspects of STEAM, and cover a wide swath of skills. The STEAM emphasis allows for creative and diverse lessons, playing off the natural synergy between math and art, or research and English Language Arts.

The middle school program in particular has benefitted from a revamp of its curriculum. Principal Ravi Prabhala has led his teachers to implement an inquiry focus, using project-based STEAM lessons that allow students to actively explore and interact with content. “Students will also be building capacity in skills that are usually unmeasured during the course of the school year - guts, resilience, integrity, and tenacity,” said Prabhala. “Teachers and students are using a G.R.I.T. rubric to assess and grow with respect to these skills.”

On a typical day, students can be found in groups with Chromebooks open to various online pages, researching their inquiry topics such as pollution or the health effects of vaping, reading grade-appropriate, relevant news articles and inquiry-based videos. Another middle school class could enjoy the sunshine outside while studying mathematical patterns, connecting to the arts by drawing shapes. The classes reflect the active learning and content engagement that make up the keystone of the new curriculum. “These are the skills students need to succeed in their learning next year, and throughout their education,” said Prabhala.

LVJUSD’s High School Summer Program meets the needs of all students wherever they are in their education. “Granada High School is home to three summer school programs this year,” said Clark Conover, the high school principal. “The high school credit recovery program, Del Valle’s intervention program, and the extended school year for Special Education students are all offered at this campus.”

The variety of programs, smaller class sizes, and the emphasis on student agency in the LVJUSD Summer School Program provide students a new educational atmosphere to master skills, and opportunities to approach subjects in novel ways. Each student may approach the path to learning differently, and all have the potential to succeed and thrive. The LVJUSD Summer School Program ensures students recognize this potential, and have the space and time to engage in their learning successfully.

Images Via LVJUSD