The advisory program at Eastern High School has been a means for delivering lessons focusing on academic improvement, social/emotional learning, and career and college readiness for the past seven years. Broadly defined, advisory programs are configurations in which an adult advisor meets regularly during the school day with a group of students to provide academic and social-emotional mentorship and support, to create personalization within the school, and to facilitate a small peer community of learners (Cushman, 1990; Galassi et al., 2004; Galassi et al., 1997; Juvonen et al., 2004; National Association of Secondary School Principals, 2006; Stevenson, 1998). Lessons are grade specific and tailored to meet the needs of students in many aspects of their journey in becoming a lifelong learner. In order to improve the academic and behavior success of our students, we aimed at creating a program to support connectedness to school and better understanding of self.
In order to meet the needs of our students, advisory will be restructured by the 17-18 school year with a redefined focus/purpose and including student voice and teacher choice. By utilizing technology, we as a staff and a student body can collaborate on issues and themes that matter and communicate on specific needs in order to provide the best possible advisory lessons. An Advisory Council of administrators, teachers, and students will lead the development of the advising program, constantly updating themes and lessons based on current, ever-changing needs. This January we had 19 alumni come back to Eastern to serve as guest speakers. These speakers and Eastern grads were all currently in college and led an advisory that explored what college life was truly like. Better yet, they also helped to guide the 11th graders on what they should do now to prepare for this transition.
In order to meet the needs of our students, advisory will be restructured by the 17-18 school year with a redefined focus/purpose and including student voice and teacher choice. By utilizing technology, we as a staff and a student body can collaborate on issues and themes that matter and communicate on specific needs in order to provide the best possible advisory lessons. An Advisory Council of administrators, teachers, and students will lead the development of the advising program, constantly updating themes and lessons based on current, ever-changing needs. This January we had 19 alumni come back to Eastern to serve as guest speakers. These speakers and Eastern grads were all currently in college and led an advisory that explored what college life was truly like. Better yet, they also helped to guide the 11th graders on what they should do now to prepare for this transition.
Our gracious and fabulous alumni.
As with any educational initiative, this is a work in progress. We invite our parents and community to get involved in this wonderful program. From our Senior Water Walk Relay to our Freshman Field Trip, amazing things can happen when we take the time to learn life lessons not directly connected to grades.