A New Model of Leadership and Learning

Flyer Times in middle school are continually evolving, finding their niche in building student relationships, reinforcing learning, and integrating character education.  This year, Flyer Time moved from two days to daily, allowing for student reading choice and reinforcing the importance of reading comprehension.  

At Truman, the elective alternating day class known as Flight Crew moved to a daily Flyer Time where student leaders design the learning for all Flyer Times to use for character education.  

Students should be comfortable when they read.

Silent sustained reading in isolation doesn't demonstrate significant reading gains, but when you add conferencing with students to ensure accountability, conversations to reinforce comprehension, and personal connections, you enhance learning and relationships.

Reading conferences in the hall allow teachers to keep an eye on class engagement and talk one on one without distracting the classroom of readers.

Students read books of their choice and engage with the books in the way that works best for them.  This student is so excited to share her learning with a friend.

Building a reading culture includes modeling reading and highlighting the amount.  It's not included here, but this Flyer Time has completed 11 books already.

Flight Crew works together to develop presentations for character education instruction.

Students will then lead learning within the traditional Flyer Time classes.