South Alberta High School tailoring to the needs of students

While enrollment with South Alberta High School (SAHS) is in constant fluctuation, the number of students accessing the online school continues to climb. Some choose to take all their high school courses through SAHS while the majority take one or two courses at a time. Sherry Craven has been involved with SAHS since its creation two years ago. Changes this year include bringing on Corey Steeves as principal along with hiring a math/sciences teacher so all marking can be done in-house.

“Our school is tailored to the individual and every student is unique. There was a student last year who realized in the second semester he needed CHEM 30 to get into an education program,” explained Craven. “He didn’t have it, wasn’t registered for it, and couldn’t have completed the course by the registration deadline. He decided to enrol in our school, took CHEM 30 and completed the course in about 90 days. Each student can go through courses as fast or as slow as they want.”

The benefit for this student was his post-secondary education wasn’t delayed by having to wait another year to complete the CHEM 30 course at an in-person school. SAHS is also ideal for students who are involved in extra-curricular activities that consume much of their time.

“Rodeo, dance, ballet or hockey, they are totally invested in that, and they need everything else to fit around what is essentially a full-time job. Instead of having to take all the option classes and attend school with required attendance, they are able to choose what they want to take, and the program is individually tailored to what fits them with interest levels, profile, extracurricular, and future plans/goals,” stated Craven.

For each student who is enrolled, Craven starts a text thread with them as that works better than emails. Each student has access to her phone number and, on initially contacting her, only has to give their name and what class(es) they are enrolled in. As many of the students don’t work on their schoolwork during regular hours, it is expected texts will come in during evenings and weekends.

As Craven explained, “one student is in ballet five days a week, it’s a huge commitment. We have to expect that sometimes students will text at 10:30 p.m. because that’s when they are doing schoolwork and when they have facilitation or logistical questions, such as how to book a test, or accessing different booklets, links, or grades.”

In a regular school, if a student misses a class, they never get that back. With SAHS, all lessons are pre-recorded and have a slide deck with a teacher in the corner of the screen going through the lesson.

“Another type of student we get are those who struggle in a physical school setting and find it difficult sitting in a classroom but will thrive online. One student took several classes and at the end provided a testimonial that said when he’s sitting in a normal class and zones out, he never gets that back. In a class of 30 students, if he doesn’t understand something, he’s not going to ask a question because the teacher doesn’t have time to slow down, and he feels stupid asking. The next day it builds and builds, and he would get frustrated along with having increased anxiety.”

With the online lessons, students can do as much or as little as they want. Additionally, they can listen to lessons more than once and complete extra practice problems depending on their needs. The formative work isn’t as heavily weighted as the tests for online courses, so students must do the work to pass the tests.

Craven was teaching high school social studies at Eagle Butte when she got involved with creating online courses during the pandemic, learning from others how to use the platform and create instructional videos. “After teaching for 20 years, I thought it would be a fresh and exciting thing to try something different. For myself, being on the other side of education now, instead of being concerned about improving a student’s writing or get my planning and prep done, or marking essays, now my train of thought is completely different. Now, I’m trying to think of ways to grow and expand and what other opportunities we can create, what else can we provide that students would want to take to better themselves.”

SAHS is continuously developing courses and Craven’s favourite part about teaching is the creating part, either new lessons or new learning. “I was always reading books on pedagogy along with all the latest trends and styles in teaching and now I still find myself excited about that, but it’s different. It’s finding a niche for what students need and trying to make that work.”

Being a SAHS teacher and course creator is only part of Craven’s job. She is also the Student Experience Designer for the School of Trades as well as secondee for CAREERS The Next Generation. Going into her role with SAHS, Craven was concerned it would be like teaching during the pandemic, where students were disengaged.

“It was painful, and most teachers would agree it wasn’t a good teaching environment. It was forced upon us and a situation nobody wanted to be in,” stated Craven. “This is completely voluntary, the students who choose to take these courses want to be online and they want to do it this way. I would say the biggest thing that has impressed me is how polite and respectful the students are, how considerate they are of my time and how dedicated and driven, and grateful they are. They know exactly what they want, and they are good at asking for what they want and that has been impressive.”

Learn more about South Alberta High School online: southalbertahighschool.com

By Samantha Johnson, Prairie Rose Public Schools Content Writer