Overall Approach
At Porter Academy, we believe that it’s vital to help our students develop skills from the bottom-up. A student cannot be fully successful with reading and spelling if they’re unable to visually perceive the difference between a "d" and a "b," or hear the difference between "ch" and "sh." Understanding the steps involved in learning allows us to assess each student at each of these steps and determine from where their higher-level difficulties stem. Based on this understanding of each child, we develop goals and utilize techniques that will most benefit that specific child. Additionally, we strongly value the importance of using techniques and programs that are supported by research so we can be confident that our techniques are going to be effective in developing the skills each child needs.
The wide range of expertise available at Porter Academy allows us to develop a comprehensive understanding of each student. The more comprehensive our understanding, the better we’re able to help remediate the root of the difficulties they’re experiencing. Remediating the root of the difficulties leads to lasting and wide-spread benefits in every area of that child's life, leading them to feel success and pride in themselves.
Program Structure
Many students with developmental differences rely heavily on routine and structure. Our program is structured in the sense that students know what to expect throughout each day in regard to schedules, teacher expectations, and consequences. In other ways, our program is highly flexible in order to accommodate the different learning styles and meet the physical, academic, social, and emotional needs of each of our students. We group our students into classes based on developmental level rather than age. Within each class, we break students into smaller academic groups specific to each subject; this allows us to provide a "just right challenge" in every subject for every student. These academic groups also overlap between classrooms; this allows us to place a child in a classroom that is appropriate academically, socially, and emotionally.
Motivational Techniques
We understand the importance of student engagement and intrinsic motivation in the learning process. Research has demonstrated that people better process and retain information from an experience if they’re emotionally engaged with the activity. Also, developing an enjoyment of learning will lead to a life-long internal drive to seek out new information and take responsibility for one's own cognitive and developmental growth.
Our program includes techniques developed by Claudia Porter that have proven highly effective in building both self-esteem and intrinsic motivation. Teachers present challenges in a fun way and provide immediate positive feedback to students to encourage hard work and confidence. Additionally, we develop academic skills through engaging games and activities so as to more fully engage the students in the learning process. We encourage teamwork rather than competition, a sense of personal responsibility, and pride in excellence. We expect our students to work hard and achieve in accordance with their abilities.
Safari Bucks
At Porter Academy, we have implemented an awards program that rewards our students for doing activities at home that are beneficial for their learning and development. This program is called Safari Bucks and has proven to be very successful. Students record all the time they spend reading, doing math, or other beneficial activities which are counted as Academic Minutes. At the end of each month, students add up what they logged, receive a star on their certificate (color of the star reflects the number of minutes logged), and are awarded one Safari Buck for every one hundred minutes logged. The parents' job is to replace those Safari Bucks with real money. Many students save up their Safari Bucks for something they'd really like. This acts as a great incentive as well as developing the important emotional skill of delaying gratification.
An extension of the Safari Bucks Program is the Gold Star Luncheon. Students who log 1,500 or more minutes in a month earn a gold star and an invitation to our Gold Star Luncheon held at the school. They also receive a free ice cream coupon from Moe’s Southwestern Grill (located at 660 West Crossville Road in Roswell). Students who earn five gold stars during the school year are invited to join the Five Star Achievers Club, receive an off-campus luncheon, and a commemorative t-shirt at the end of the year.
What can be counted towards Academic Minutes?
School Store
While at school, students earn pennies for making good choices within the classroom: being kind to others, following directions, working hard, etc. Every other Friday, students count the money they have earned/saved and get to go to the school store to see what they are able to purchase. Students also have the option of saving their money for a toy they can’t afford yet. This program serves as a consistent way to provide positive reinforcement to students for good choices, develop the important skill of delaying gratification, and develop an understanding of money (values, adding, more/less, and saving).
