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Dr. Walter Cooper Academy, Recovering from the Pandemic
The School Year is well underway. Of the current 367 students enrolled at Dr. Walter Cooper Academy (DWCA), fifteen are in the English Language Proficiency (ELP) program; learning to use English as their new language. Spanning all six grade levels, these new-to-America students come from homes where five different, non-English/Spanish languages are spoken. They are learning English quickly.
In an effort to increase “Student Engagement”, the Cooper Faculty has begun asking uppergrade students (4th, 5th & 6th Grades) to participate in (and often lead) weekly “Cooper Circle” events. These are weekly in-school “pep rallies” at which students are called out and recognized for the “good citizenship decisions” they make in class, during breakfast/lunch times, and at other school events.
Our School #10 Principal, Eva Thomas, has recently received notification that she has successfully completed all the requirements for her Doctoral Degree in Education. We congratulate Dr. Thomas on this career milestone achievement!
The RCSD has recently approved the appointment of Teacher/Coach Michele White, as our new Community Site Coordinator. Michele has been working with the DWCA Faculty and with the Community Engagement Team, toward helping our School to exit its “Receivership” classification.
The DWCA Faculty has recently completed its assessment of student academic needs, so they can develop “catch-up” lessons for this year and determine which students will need the extra attention that could be provided by an RES Tutor. We have begun a survey of our veteran RES Tutors to ask of their interest in, and their willingness to be, returning to their in-school work with our Cooper Scholars. We will be scheduling a meeting (virtually) between the Faculty and the RES Tutoring Team to discuss integrating the RES Tutors into a return to “normal” at DWCA.
Meanwhile, we are beginning to assemble our Tutoring Team for the 2021-22 school year. The protocol includes classroom teachers providing each of our Tutors with a lesson plan for each of the students with whom they are working. Tutors could be supporting teacherconducted classroom lesson activities, working with small groups, or (more likely) working with just one student at a time, on a prescribed learning exercise.
Even just two hours a week of your time can make a big difference in the life of a Dr. Walter Cooper Academy Scholar…
Questions??? Reach out to RES Past President Lee Loomis and the RES Tutoring Team at…Rochester Engineering Society (585) 254-2350, or via website: www.roceng.org, or via email: leeloomis46@gmail.com, (585) 738-3079 (mobile & text).
Lee M. Loomis
