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| "Start by starting." Meryl Streep. |
| WHAT ARE THE STUDENTS SAYING |
"I like GLA because there is lots of fun things to do. Like Art and games in Math."
Why you should go to GLA (Green Learning Academy) is because:
| WHAT ARE THE PARENTS SAYING |
"I strongly believe that Green Learning Academy offers an exceptional educational program, one that is vastly superior to that offered by the public system."
| STAFF MEMBERS GIVE YOU THEIR VIEWPOINT |
"Teaching at Green Learning Academy has taught me so much about the importance of allowing students to learn in a way that is meaningful to them."
"What continually astonishes me about GLA is the look in the parents’ eyes when they come to pick their children up at the end of the day."
"Green Learning Academy empowers students to develop their own understanding of the curriculum."
"Green Learning Academy has answered a lot of questions for me. Before arriving here, just over a year ago, I knew that I had lost faith in the traditional classroom but I wasn’t sure what the solution was."
"There is a huge difference in the atmosphere here. There is a sense of safety and belonging. Students and teachers fell as if they are part of a group and are supported. This is not a place of competition but of camaraderie."
NH 2007
"In “An Inconvenient Truth”, Al Gore recalls an instance from his grade school days where he and his classmates were introduced to the Earth’s continents. The continents were displayed on a large roller map at the front of the classroom. One of Mr. Gore’s classmates made an astute observation; the continents fit together. When the classmate presented his observations to the teacher, the teacher’s reaction was negative. According to Mr. Gore, the teacher indicated that the notion of the continents fitting together was silly. Currently, in our post-pangaeal world, students in grade school now learn about continental drift.
What strikes me most about this story is the lack of investigation. Learning is about understanding and understanding is the direct result of investigation. Imagine the experience that could have occurred in Mr. Gore’s little classroom if the students had been guided on an investigation. Perhaps the trail would have gone cold or an impassible obstacle reached, but the journey would have armed those students with experience, skills, and the taste for inquiry.
As a student, some of my own questions were pushed aside as inconsequential, and, in extreme cases, genuine curiosity was stifled. Professionally, I have been flabbergasted and amused by the lengths which some individuals go to maintain control of student learning (plans have been made you know). Too often have I seen situations where the students are expected to ingest all that the teacher has to offer without the benefit of seasoning the material to their own taste.
At Green Learning Academy students are expected to ask questions. Questions to the teacher, to their peers, and, most importantly, to themselves. And even more importantly, they are expected, nay, it is demanded, that they answer those questions they ask. Students are given the skills needed to ask, investigate, and evaluate the questions that arise both in academic and everyday life. I believe, both personally and professionally, that the learning environment maintained at Green Learning Academy fosters inquiry at the highest possible level."
Wade M. Stovel
"I moved to Calgary in September, hoping to find a teaching job in the public school system and finally get my foot in the door of the teaching profession in Canada."
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