Chapter 12- Teaching Advisories

I remember very clearly advisor period in my high school. Most kids didn’t do anything; they just sat there talking with their friends for half an hour each morning. The main purpose of that time period was for us to organize and assemble our graduating portfolio that was required in order to graduate. I enjoyed working on mine, but most hated doing theirs because it was required and they felt it was stupid. I feel like my school advisory program did provide guidance during that time, but I do not feel that it did not create “activities to promote citizenship”. Attempts were made to explore personal interests by taking the multiple intelligence tests, but that was all on paper, I love how in this chapter advisory time is outside of the school, out in the “real world”. I think that this is the perfect opportunity for students to be learning about different types of work in their community that could apply to their future. Even if students won’t ever work in a mill, it could be great to go and see how one works. Students would be thinking in new ways and exploring their community at the same time. I love this idea, I agree that I think it would help students bond to their classmates in new ways, and like the story in the book, you never know what could happen and what experiences students will take from these adventures. They could really impact the rest of the student’s lives. I remember in Practicum a chapter in our textbook mentioned moving our school system to a more community based system where students get out and work a few day a week in the community being an apprentice. The idea in MMM wasn’t quite that far, but I think that by going out and doing hands on things in advisory period, school are closer to that community model than before.