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The School Day

The weekly schedule above is only an approximation of what will happen during each school day. As the WLCS/LACS methodology is highly individualized, students may spend more or less time in varying activities. As an example, a student will not likely be involved in an internship during the whole year in which case the student will be with his/her advisory or at work elsewhere in the school building. The items in the weekly schedule are described below.

1. Before school informal gathering – Students may enter the building at 7:30 AM. This is time to have breakfast, chat, read, sleep, study, or work on projects. Advisors and administrators will hold their morning meeting at 8:15 am. Here, advisors can brainstorm with and get support from other educators and otherwise prepare themselves for the day.
2. Morning exercises – Research has shown that the development of coordination also results in the strengthening of language. Students and teachers will engage in stretching, Yoga, Tai-Chi, Karate, Ballroom Dancing or other non-competitive exercise to prepare the mind for the work of the day.
3. Advisory – Students check in with each other and with their advisors. Advisory allows students to brainstorm together, look at each other’s work, plan their schedule for the day or the week with the assistance of their advisor or discuss a topic introduced as part of their social/life skills education.
4. Reading, Debate, Journaling, Discussion – So as to improve English language skills, student may join one of several book-centric study and discussion groups meeting around the school during this period of the day. Four to six books will be studied each year by each student at the school as new book groups will be formed on a periodic basis.
5. Projects – A 2 - 2 1/4 hour block devoted to student projects, impromptu classes, advisor suggested study, computer based coursework or meetings with teachers and other resources. This daily work period allows students and their advisors to truly individualze each students learning.
6. Novanet – With the addition of their advisors guidance, students will use the self-paced Pearson Learning System to prepare for and improve their scores on standardized tests like the PSSA’s and SAT’s, study science, social studies or progress through one of the many courses available on the system.
7. Internship – Students will have an internship for a minimum of six weeks outside the school with a mentor involved in an area of interest to the student. Internships offer learners the opportunity to obtain real-world experience so as to better understand the realities of working in it. In this way, students will be able to experiment in fields of interest and see if they are occupations that they might wish to pursue. Students will not merely take from their mentors. It is the student's responsibility to create something of value as part of the agreement to occupy a mentors time. A student might; design a brochure, fix a car, write a computer application, or prepare a report all from the research done as part of the mentorship and the student's project.
8. All school meeting – Coming at the tail-end of the week, the all school meeting offers students an opportunity to build school culture, make project presentations for peer review, meet students they might not have met, or involve themselves in events necessary to sustain the life of the school.