A Week at PSCS

Student life at PSCS is very different from at most schools.  Our students are granted much liberty and freedom in determining their activities, but that doesn’t mean that the school is lacking in structure.  PSCS uses a multi-approach structure in which a huge variety of activities are presented, and the students and staff work as co-operators and creators of this structure.  What follows is how this structure looks in practice from the perspective of as close to a typical week as we have at PSCS.

MONDAY
It’s easy to tell, even from the first moment on a Monday morning, that a week at PSCS isn’t like a week at any other school. This one is starting with a day of service learning, the students and staff arriving at school in raincoats and boots. The day’s project, rain or shine, is to remove invasive plants in a local park.

On campus, after some brief announcements, the group walks to the park to meet a volunteer coordinator from the parks department.  Some students have brought their own gardening gloves; others borrow a pair.  Students and staff spend the next couple of hours hacking and pulling English ivy and blackberries, talking and joking informally as they work.

Some students arranged in advance to work independently outside of school and don’t participate in the service activity.  One student has an apprenticeship with a glassblower, another develops photos in her home darkroom.  After making a proposal and having it signed by parents and accepted by the staff, these independent study activities actually count as being “in school” at PSCS.

Back at the park, the sun has come out just in time for lunch. Some students relax in small groups, while others join a couple of staff members in a game of soccer.  They know from experience to bring a ball, a Frisbee, and other gear for lunchtime fun.

After lunch the whole group gathers back together – still at the park – to reflect on the morning’s work.  With help from the volunteer, a staff member leads a discussion about native species, invasive species, and biodiversity.  When is “wild” a bad thing?

After the reflection, the group walks back to campus and concludes the day with a brief “check-out” meeting. Students and staff share their favorite parts of the day and other appreciations, and make announcements specific to the rest of the school week.

TUESDAY
Prior to 9:00, most of the students and staff have gathered in the main meeting space, chatting, reading the paper, or wiping the sleep from their eyes.  As happens every day, at 9:00 a student says, “Check-in is starting!  Are there any announcements?”  The rest of the room gets quiet and a few hands go up.  The student who started check-in facilitates the meeting, calling on people who then announce upcoming events, field trips, or other items of interest to the whole community.

Today a staff member has announced a field trip to the art museum that will take place on Friday – eight students sign up.  A student announces that her band will be playing their first club gig this coming weekend (there is scattered applause!), and she invites the PSCS community to come.  The school director reminds everyone that the monthly meeting of the school’s board of trustees is scheduled for Thursday night.  Other announcements follow.

Check-in, like the check-out that takes place at the end of each day, concludes with a time for community members to share their appreciations – to whom or for what are they grateful?

Tuesday, like Wednesday and Thursday, is a day of regularly scheduled activities, something like the class periods of most schools.  After check-in concludes, students move throughout the day to various activities they have prioritized and voluntarily decided to attend or they work independently. Among the dozen or so classes “on the board” today are Speech & Leadership, Spanish, Music, Creative Writing, Irish Penny Whistle, and “Break a Sweat.”

Another item on today’s schedule is a mandatory meeting for students who intend to graduate at the end of the school year. The entire teaching staff also attends and facilitates the meeting. In their final year at PSCS, “seniors” complete a large-scale project as well as prepare and deliver a statement of personal beliefs and values, a credo.  These meetings combine progress reports, troubleshooting sessions, and conversation about school leadership.

One senior mentions that she’s finally secured a gallery that will display the dozen oil paintings she’s producing for her senior project.  Another asks for help in finding texts that he can research to help him formulate his credo.

There is very little talk about more traditional academics.  PSCS does not require its students to pursue a Washington state high school diploma.  Students can, however, earn a state diploma if they choose.  They must complete the state’s high school credit requirements in addition to the PSCS graduation requirements.

WEDNESDAY
A different student starts check-in today.  Nobody is assigned to the job; any student who wants to lead check-in simply takes on that role.  Like on Tuesday, after check-in, most students take part in some of the many classes offered.

PSCS students call the activities “classes,” but they don’t often look like what most people would expect from a high school class.  Many classes are facilitated by staff members, but a number are taught by volunteers, including parents, and some are even led by students.  The majority of classes meet only once a week.

Classes are formed when a group of students and a facilitator agree on a subject or set of material to study, and last as long as all parties agree.  The schedule of classes and other activities is written on magnetic strips, stuck to a metal board at the front of the main meeting space.  This makes it easy to add new classes (which happens often) and remove old ones (as they come to an end).  Students refer frequently to “the board” to find out what’s happening on any given day.

Some classes have as few as one or two students; most have four or five. A class with ten students is an unusually large class at PSCS!

In the first class slot today, four different activities are meeting: a literature class about the works of Kurt Vonnegut facilitated by the school director; an improvisational theater class facilitated by a volunteer from the community; a comparative anatomy class co-facilitated by a staff member and a volunteer; and an algebra “resource” class in which a staff member helps students who are working at their own pace through an algebra curriculum.

Some of these classes require a high level of commitment from the students.  In the literature and anatomy classes, students are expected to complete homework to prepare for class and to attend all sessions.  The improv class, on the other hand, is a “drop-in” class.  Students are free to attend or not each session depending on the other things competing for their time.

Some students won’t attend any class at all in the first slot, choosing instead to work on projects of their own, or even reading a book quietly or playing a game.  Just as with the high school diploma, PSCS does not require its students to engage in any particular activities or classes at any given time.

THURSDAY
Each class day at PSCS is an eclectic menu of options, some traditional, others cross-disciplinary and unique.  A selection of classes on the board today include Spanish (meeting for the third time this week), Music Theory, Precalculus, Cooking, Storytelling, and Classic Literature.  These all seem straightforward enough, but what about Food Production, Kindness of Children, Hunting and Gathering, Johnny’s Petri Dish, and Getting the Most?  Students sometimes complain about having so many choices: “I want to take both ‘Force and Motion’ and ‘Dystopias,’ but they’re scheduled at the same time!”

Partly to help navigate the unique PSCS environment, each student has a staff advisor.  Beyond a traditional school guidance counselor, a PSCS advisor helps students choose classes, create and propose independent study projects, meet academic requirements (for those students that choose to pursue a state diploma), and generally participate in the school community.

The school community at PSCS extends not just to the students and staff, parents and volunteers and alumni, but even to the neighborhood surrounding the campus.  Today, a group of students is leaving campus to go have lunch in a local Thai restaurant.  And even though they’re off campus, not under staff supervision, they’re still considered “in school.”

Just as PSCS students have the freedom to choose whether or not to attend class, they also have the freedom to leave campus to participate in the broader community.  One of the few requirements of a PSCS student is that they do spend a certain amount of time on campus, in the presence of other students and staff.  In order for a community to function, there have to be people present.  But they are free to use the rest of their time however they see fit: going out to lunch, taking an day off to go snowboarding, or simply walking to the park with a friend.

FRIDAY
In response to student requests, Fridays are set aside for longer field trips and one-time events.  No recurring classes are scheduled for Fridays.  This hasn’t always been the case and could change in the future.  if students as a group decide they want more regular classes and are willing to trade the flexibility of Fridays, the schedule might shift.

On this day, the group that signed up for the art museum field trip leaves campus after check-in to take the bus to the museum.  They spend the entire day exploring the museum, all together and in small groups, with a break for lunch at the Pike Place Market.  They bus back to campus in time for check-out, when they share their experience with others, making special mention of anything that stood out as a highlight for them.

Not having to compete with classes, certain activities are better scheduled on Fridays.  Scheduled next week is a “brown bag” speaker, a person who comes in over lunch to share something of interest.  A local musician is coming to tell about how he got involved in the music industry and will likely tell stories about his high school experience or even his life philosophy.  Several students are excited to meet him in person, having attended one or more of his concerts.

Two students have set up their “independent study” projects for Fridays.  Interested in learning more about pre-school aged children, they have worked with their advisors to have an off-campus, independent study project count as being “in school.”  They spend the day at a nearby daycare assisting in classrooms with young children.  When they’ve made previous reports to the students and staff about this work, a requirement of independent study, they comment they most like working in the “baby room.”

Friday closes like every other day, with a check-out time focusing on highlights and appreciations.  Quite common is to hear someone say how much she/he appreciates PSCS.  Indeed.