At TNS Academy, we believe in educating the whole child. Learning in the classroom does not take place in a vacuum. As teachers, we consider the child's previous instruction, developmental stage, learning style, as well as emotional and physical well being each day. Many facets of this list must come together each day to ensure that there is a positive learning experience taking place. Our teachers aim to both build on a student's challenges as well as emphasize his/her strengths.
We maintain high academic expectations for our students in order to ensure that each student is living up to his/her highest potential. You may wonder what "high expectations" actually look like in a classroom environment. For TNS, it means starting with outstanding curriculum that creates a strong base of learning. Next, we layer this base with significant projects, investigations, field trips, speakers and hands-on learning demonstrations that allows a student to further delve individually into a topic. We are unique in our ability to create motivating activities that encourage both a love of learning and sophisticated understanding of a topic. We also allow for flexible grouping in which students who are motivated and prepared to work above grade level have consistent and frequent opportunities to do just that.
We also maintain high expectations for social interactions and study skills. However, we also recognize the need to help children develop these skills as they are not always innate. Many educational institutions now offer an emotional intelligence and study skills class, but by teaching these skills without real life applications, the student does not have the opportunity to practice and apply these budding skills. We teach communication skills throughout our day. This means that our teachers take the time to recognize and guide students through conflicts that are bound to occur in a group situation. We integrate organization and study skills into our curriculum by scaffolding such skills as setting up a binder, practicing different test taking strategies, and learning the steps to researching.
To learn more about our curriculum or environment, please click on the link at the top of the page.
