Hands-on projects and active teamwork to generate ideas and find solutions are the hallmarks of Bertschi instruction both in and out of the classroom. Learn more about our continually evolving teaching practices.
Bertschi School believes that students learn best when they are:
Over time, we guide students to develop a broadminded outlook that is supported by both skills and confidence. They are encouraged and encourage others. They feel positively about themselves and model good citizenship in a global community. They do their part as good stewards of our planet and inspire others to do their part. They each know that every individual can make a difference.
We are dedicated to meeting our students where they are; we teach each child at their just right level. We believe all people learn best in a diverse environment, and diversity includes having a wide range of academic strengths, challenges, and ways of thinking.
The cornerstone to our just right level approach is flexible grouping within every grade level. In our classrooms we often create small groups based on the individual needs of the students. A third grader might work with a group one week to understand fractions and then work with a different group the following week on the real world applications of geometry. A kindergartener might work in one group to practice decoding multisyllabic words and later work in another group to practice forming lower case letters. Teachers understand that while some students excel in a certain area, they may need more scaffolding in another. We carefully construct a classroom community where faster is not necessarily better, and believe all students have areas of strength and areas that are not strengths yet.
We never put kids in boxes. Who you are today might not be who you are tomorrow. The just right level allows for growth and gives students permission to have areas that they are not good at yet.