Avalon School

Avalon School is a project-based charter high school in St. Paul, Minnesota. The website calls it a "small, democratic liberal arts high school."

Advisors

At Avalon, there are teachers. They are usually referred to by their first names;

• Art Iverson (Special Education)

• Andrea Martin (Program Coordinator)

• Amy Wernecke (Spanish)

• Carrie Bakken (Social Studies)

• Dean Walczak (Finance Manager, Science)

• Geri Connelly (Art)

• Gretchen Sage-Martinson (English)

• Jackie Powell (Office Manager)

• Jo Sullivan (Biology)

• Kevin Ward (English)

• Maggie Bruecken (Educational Assistant)

• Nora Whalen (Social Studies)

• Paul Carlson (Math)

Some of these teachers are also advisors, brave leaders of a homeroom-like group of students. These 'advisories' are housed in small sections of a large room created by cubicle style walls. Advisories are where students work on projects, homework, and math, when they don't have a seminar.

Math

The Avalon math program, called Accelerated Math, is based on a computer program. This allows students to proceed at their own pace, instead of following a traditional class structure.

A student recives assignments in the form of exercises, practices, or tests (both normal and diagnostic). The assignment is then completed, and a scan card is filled out with the form number or the assingment, and the answers. This is similar to a standardized test. The scan card is then run through a small machine, and scored by a computer. The student then recives a paper with their results. Depending on whether they passed or failed, they can request a test (pass) or a exercise (fail). A new practice assignment is then printed out.

Projects

Avalon is project-based, meaning the focus of the student's work is independent projects. If a student has an idea for a project, he or she must fill out a proposal form and rubric, get parent approval, and present their idea to their advisor. When the project has been completed, the student must do a reflection, a tedious process of answering questions about the development of your project, what you learned, and how this helps the world/community. It is then taken back to the advisor, who asks you questions you wish they'd asked when you showed them your final product, and then it is signed off as 'done'.

Seminars

Seminars are, simply put, classes. These classes are specifically tailored to Minnesota graduation standards. There is usually a small class size.

External Links

• _avalonians_ LiveJournal community.
• Avalon School Website