Study Hall procedures

So at SAA we had 2 hours of study every night. There was 3 places where we were able to study. If you were in Grade 10, you either could study in the study hall or the library. Grade 11 - 12 you were either to study in the study hall or if you were an honors student you were able to study in your room (which was the biggest achievement for myself). The bonus side to studying in your room is that you could essentially do anything you wanted to. I was only able to study in my room for my Grade 12 year but that for me was the biggest achievement ever. When I entered SAA in Grade 10 I started school with an average of 58%. When I graduated I left with honors.

So now back as an university student I see the benefits of having study period every night. I  myself have to have a very strict set of "rules" when I study. My friends think I'm crazy to always be doing homework but that is a life of a student. I have to work 10 times harder than the average student because it takes me longer to process and retain the information

There has been a lot of things that I have benefited from the Academy still to this day. Not one day goes by where I don't think SAA was the best thing for me as a person. The person that I have become today is because of SAA. Without it, I'm not sure I would be able to sit in this university class because if I went to a regular school I don't think I would of made it through high school.

2 HOURS OF STUDY EVERY DAY? ARE YOU KIDDING ME????

Those were the first words out of my mouth when I realized that is how I would be spending my evenings at St. Angela's Academy. At first, it was hard to get used to it. We were shoved into this room in the basement of the school (which was a slightly creepy part of the school) and we were to do homework from 7:15-9:20 every single night. Well, now when I think about it, it was and is a great study tool to learn. Back then I thought it was absolute torture. The funny thing about the whole study time is, is that 10 years later, I'm back to being a student, and still following study times. It is funny how things from the Academy are going to haunt me for the rest of my life!

Is inclusive education really going to benefit anyone in the long run?

One on hand I say yes and the other hand says no. I think it would completely depend on the range of disabilities in the classroom. I asked a close friend of mine her opinion on this situation as she is a teacher at an all girls school (ironically enough we attended St. Angela's Academy together). She said that she has had a classroom with Tourette's and Down Syndrome. Yes it was disruptive to the entire class but it did work. Are classrooms going to stay inclusive from now on? She says probably not and I would have to agree with her. This is a controversial topic that has some parents up in arms about it. The parents of "normal" kids are questioning whether it is taking away from their own child's education by having them in the class. The parents of the disabled child are questioning if their child is getting enough funding. The funding in Alberta works by a coded system. The more kids that are coded in the school the more money they get from the Alberta Government. So if they want to move about from this coding system, how are they going to distribute the money accordingly? That would be the question that will be answered in a few years. So for now, teachers need to make the best situation of their jumbled together classroom and teach to the best of their abilities ALL the students in that classroom. Just one more thing that makes teaching a job of passion. If you don't have passion for educating then you are in the wrong career path.

K 

How in my own life and school career, have I observed education and diversity done?

Like I have previously mentioned before, I did attend an all girls boarding school in the middle of nowhere in Saskatchewan. The reasons for me attending St. Angela's was primarily to be an independent person and take control of my own education. Social diversity was never an issue at St. Angela's because we were all the same. Didn't matter if your family that this and that, we were all the same. It was cultural diversity that affected all of us girls. SAA was essentially a place where 80 different cultures can alive. We had students from not only all across Canada but across the world and we were all there to obtain one common goal: to get an education. Yes some of us were "sent" there by our mean mean parents (which is what we all thought at that time :-) ) but essentially still to receive an education. One thing that really stands out for myself as reducing barriers is that we had to wear a god awful uniform. Still to this day I will never wear blue slacks and a white collared dress shirt separately let alone together. But it was this awful uniform that made us equal, made all 75 of us the same. I personally didn't mind wearing the uniform as it was a morning routine to ask myself "Which pair of blue pants do I want to wear today. At the time of being at St. Angela's I hated it, I think everyone did. I have gone back and worked at the school as a residential dean and now don't feel like that anymore. So I think that I have seen education and diversity done and done in a positive way that made us realize that everyone is the same and taught us how to reduce barriers.