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TJS Home
What We Do
Goals
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Goals
1.
To provide remedial academic instruction in order to
provide students with the
opportunity to improve their performance such that their
test scores more closely match their expected grade
level.
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Most students make
dramatic, significant gains in standardized test
scores within the first year of attendance at The
Joy School. Often times, gains are reflected as one
to two years growth in specific academic areas.
2.
To allow all students to be successful in order to
promote higher self-esteem.
- At The Joy School,
we believe that SUCCESS BREEDS SUCCESS. We
understand that all children need to feel successful
before being asked to face challenging tasks.
Therefore, we work to discover the level at which a
child can be independently successful and work
systematically to move them forward from that
point.
3.
To guide students in the discovery and acceptance of
their strengths, weaknesses, and learning styles.
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Our Brain Based
Learning Program engages students in the study of
basic educational psychology, specifically the
workings of the human brain. By studying how the
average brain learns, students are able to identify
their own personal learning profile in terms of
strengths, weaknesses and preferential style. This
allows them to recognize that children, in the words
of Mel Levine, are born with “All Kinds of Minds”.
Ultimately, they learn to embrace and accept their
own “kind of mind”.
4.
To create opportunities to practice positive pragmatic
skills, including self-advocacy, in a variety of
settings.
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All Joy School
teachers are trained to recognize the need for
pragmatic skills instruction in students.
Conversational turn taking, eye contact, appropriate
social distance and code switching are all important
for social success. Self advocacy is one of the
highest levels of social competence, as it is a
skill that indicates a student’s level of awareness
and acceptance of any learning challenges that may
exist, and most importantly shows the student’s
personal responsibility for those challenges.
5.
To support students and their parents in finding
appropriate schools for placement following attendance
at The Joy School.
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As part of our
commitment to ensuring that students are successful
even after their years at The Joy School, when it
comes time for a student to choose his or her next
school, we consider it our obligation to visit
schools with parents and serve as advocates for our
students. This may involve arranging and attending
ARD meetings in public schools, or meeting with
Heads and Admissions Directors at private schools.
6.
To promote a professional environment which values
creative thought, qualitative judgment and decision
making, and in which professional growth and
collaboration are supported and respected.
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At The Joy School,
we recognize that teachers are our most valuable
asset. In that regard, teachers are treated with
the utmost respect and professional courtesy.
Teachers are encouraged and financially supported in
professional growth pursuits. This includes
graduate work, seminars, workshops, and national
level conferences. We believe that teachers are
most effective when they feel safe in taking risks
and advocating for students and insist that all
teachers participate in educational planning for all
students.
7.
To provide consultation services, training, and resource
information for parents, professionals, and other
schools not directly involved with The Joy School in
order to increase community awareness regarding the
needs of students with learning differences.
- The Joy School
strives to provide several community awareness
opportunities each year. One such event is our
yearly six week Parent Education series, which
involves guest speakers from a variety of
disciplines. Our annual Spring Luncheon also
enables us to invite nationally known speakers to
speak on educationally related topics. Past
speakers have included Dr. Edward Hallowell, Dr.
JoAnn Deak, Rick Lavoie, Eric Jensen and Samantha
Abeel. Finally, many of our teachers and
administrators offer teacher education courses in a
variety of subject areas including Spatial Awareness
Skills and Orton-Gillingham.
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