Upper Division Program

Our upper division program includes grades seven through twelve. All classes are taught using the NC Standard Course of Study. Teachers use accommodations and modifications where appropriate to ensure that the curriculum is accessible to all students. Small class sizes and multisensory learning help make the environment conducive to learning. We use this safe, supportive environment to our advantage, as it helps our students learn better.

Other key features of our junior high school are skill building, the advisor/advisee relationship, organization, and online learning and grading through Haiku LMS.

Skill Building
Skill Building is a mini-class first thing in the morning that incorporates movement and academic skills to get our students’ brains ready for the day. Students participate in a variety of games and drills that review math, language arts skills as well as life skills and team building. Students are grouped by advisee groups and some of the classes meet together larger group activities and discussions. Periodically, the counselor joins the  advisee groups to provide lessons from the counseling curriculum. Skill building content is directed towards strategies and skills that will help the student at their particular grade.

Advisor/Advisee
All students are placed into an advisee group for the year. Students are arranged into advisee groups by grade. In most cases, the advisor teaches his/her advisees in at least one other class. Students report to their advisor for the first 15 minutes before school starts to ensure readiness for the day. Advisors check for planners to be signed off, pencils to be sharpened, and help take care of any other “business”. Students also return to their advisor at the end of the day for checkpoint. Since advisors see their students so many times during the day, they get to know them very well and can often identify and address global emotional and organizational needs. Advisors usually act as advocates for their advisees and are also often the teacher who is in closest contact with the family.

Organization
Since disorganization often goes hand in hand with ADHD and other learning disabilities, we have many strategies to address this problem. Junior high school students carry the “Perfect Notebook” to all of their classes. The Perfect Notebook is a strategy that is enforced across the board, as all teachers make sure that all handouts are hole-punched, and they leave time at the end of class for students to file their papers before leaving class. Another key part of the Perfect Notebook is the assignment book. At the end of each class, students are responsible for writing down their assignment. Teachers come around to each student and initial that the assignment is written down correctly. At the end of the day, all students attend checkpoint, a seven minute period with their advisor. The advisor’s job at checkpoint is to make sure that students have been signed off in each of their classes and that they have all the materials packed that they need to get their homework done. Students who do not complete their homework stay 20 minutes after school for detention.

Academic Plan
Each student at Noble Academy has an Academic Plan. The Academic Plan includes a list of accommodations and modifications that we use at Noble Academy, the Steps to Academic Success that the team is focusing on for the year, and the student’s most recent MAP score. Parent-teacher conferences are held twice per school year to review the Academic Plan, receive the updated MAP scores, and discuss the student’s progress in each class.

Haiku LMS   
In an effort to facilitate student responsibility for completion of classwork, homework, assignments and make up work, involve parents and keep them informed in real-time of student assignments, and to effectively prepare Noble Academy students for the world of e-learning they will face in their educational and professional pursuits, all Upper Division classes are supplemented by an by a Haiku LMS online class page and gradebook. Depending on the class and teacher expectations, upper division students may be asked to access their online classes on a regular/daily basis for assignments, supplemental resources, posting, discussions and other such e-learning activities. Haiku and access to the resources offered is viewed as a compliment to student instruction and as important as an opened notebook or textbook.  As such, parents are asked to facilitate their child’s access to Haiku as students may need to access the site on a regular basis for assignments, supplemental resources, posting, discussions and other such e-learning activities.