Advisory

"Advisors must be willing to develop a relationship with students different from the one they experience as a regular classroom teacher" This We Believe in Action pg. 68

I have gone back and forth with how I feel about advisory at my school all year long. We have it everyday for 25 minutes. So, with a 180 school day calendar we spent 2000 minutes (33.33 days) in advisory. Two days a week we either walk around the block or exercise in the school and one day a week we SSR. As the year has gone on, I have found myself defending the program more and more. The connection that I able to make with my students is very different than the one I make in class. My students have me as their advisor for all 4 years they are at our school. Each group has ~12 students and has an equal distribution of boys and girls and students from each grade. With the small consistent group, students work together and the older students are able to develop leadership qualities. Another great asset is that if the academic teachers are noticing something is a little off with a student, they can consult that student's advisor and see if they have noticed a change/ have information to provide the academic team. We do not have anytime that we indivdiually meet with our advisees like the reading recommends. I would like to try and implement something similar to that at least once a month for all students.