A Look Inside Rocketship
May 6, 2011 | 12:30 PM | By Tina Barseghian
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- The mural captures the energy of the campus.
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- Astroturf on the playground provides a spot for kids to play and congregate.
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- Though it boasts a high-tech learning program, the Rocketship Mateo Sheedy campus looks like many other grade schools.
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- University flags line the perimeter of the school lunchroom. Every class is assigned to a college team.
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- Signs hung around the Rocketship Mateo Sheedy campus encourage students to think about how they’ll beat their 925 API score.
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- More motivating signs around classrooms emphasizing the school’s core values.
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- All the students in this classroom are ready to learn, as the clothespins indicate.
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- The school cafeteria is the heart of the Rocketship Mateo Sheedy campus. The computer Learning Lab is just on the other side of the dividers at the far end of the room.
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- Students from K-5 rotate through the Learning Lab throughout the day, working on computer programs that progress them at their own levels. The setup is by no means fancy. Computers and students are separated by cardboard dividers.
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- Students have time to read on their own at the Reading Center.
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- Another view of the Reading Center, where students sit criss-cross and dive into their books. The lunch room is on the other side of the dividers.
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- Rocketship students show respect and empathy as part of the school’s core values.
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- Sintia Marquez, a fifth grader at Rocketship, lives in this one-bedroom guesthouse with her mother, sister, and brother.
Read more about Rocketship:
- PART I: How Can An Advanced Student Move Ahead in Public School?
- PART II: Hybrid Learning Comes to Life at Rocketship
- PART III: Rocketship’s Culture – Respectful, Empathetic and College-Bound
- PART IV: How to Keep Good Teachers in the Game
- PART V: Focus on Assessments Fuels Rocketship’s Goals
- PART VI: A Look Inside Rocketship
- PART VII: Five Lessons Learned from a New Charter School
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