Differentiated Instruction
Nova Classical Academy is a public charter school and welcomes any student who has a desire to learn. Every student learns differently. All students take in information visually, aurally, and kinesthetically, and each student has an easier time at one or two of these. Rather than adjusting the curriculum to each student’s learning style, Nova teachers can make major adjustments to the lesson, employing an extensive repertoire of instructional strategies, to help each student develop all three learning modalities further. Teachers differentiate lessons to meet student learning needs, but always with the purpose of raising students to the curriculum, not lowering the curriculum to any student.
A classical education is appropriate for any student and certainly for academically gifted students. It can provide the depth and challenge that gifted students crave. It guards against too narrow a focus too early on and helps gifted students become intellectually well rounded. It can give gifted students the confidence to get through the challenging middle years when many succumb either to peer pressure not to be smart, or to the under-challenging “Straight A” syndrome. As with most curricula, modifications for moderately to highly gifted students have to do primarily with pace in the earlier years and depth in the later years.
Clustering and ability grouping in mathematics and Latin will be key to making sure that students are being instructed at the appropriate level. But it is also important to make sure that gifted students have the foundational knowledge and emotional maturity necessary to move on to higher level thinking. Gifted students often have an intuitive but not a conscious grasp of a concept (the child who taught herself to read has a knack for writing or a head for numbers) and it is sometimes assumed that they either already know the rules, or have no need to know them. No one would ever suggest that a gifted musician with an “ear” for music be excused from learning the language, structure, and rules of music. Quite the opposite. It is understood that she could never achieve true musical literacy or become an accomplished performer, conductor, composer, or teacher without those very basic skills. So, should the natural-born speller be forced to copy pages of words she already knows how to spell? No, but she should be able to articulate the spelling rules and give examples. Should the gifted mathematician be tortured by having to show his work on a page full of problems he can do in his head in a minute? Of course not, but he should be able to show his work on select problems and explain to someone else how he arrived at his answers.
High Ability Students
Nova Classical Academy also recognizes that the educational needs of high-ability students are often not met in the traditional classroom. In addition to providing an accelerated core curriculum, we will employ best practices for these students within the framework of our classical curriculum, and school staff will work closely with parents to ensure that these needs are successfully addressed.
Special Education Students
Nova Classical Academy also recognizes that the educational needs of students who learn differently are often not met in the classroom. To meet the challenge of Nova’s accelerated core curriculum, we will employ best practices for these students within the framework of our classical curriculum, and school staff will work closely with parents and Special Education teachers to ensure that these needs are successfully addressed. Nova also has a SEAC (Special Education Advisory Council) group comprised of parents to serve as a support.
