The Greenwood School
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The Greenwood School, established in 1978 by educators in the field of dyslexia, is situated on a 100-acre (0.40 km²) campus outside Putney, Vermont, 12 miles (19 km) north of Brattleboro in the south eastern part of the state. The Greenwood School is an ungraded junior boarding and day school for boys ages 9 to 14 at time of admission. There are 44 boarders, 5 day students, and 25 teachers. Students typically enter ninth or tenth grade after leaving Greenwood. The Greenwood School is accredited by the New England Association of Schools and Colleges and is approved by the state of Vermont and the New England Association of Independent Schools.
The Greenwood School's objective is to remediate the language deficits of boys who have dyslexia and related language-based learning disabilities, while encouraging them to develop their strengths in many areas including art, drama, music, sports, crafts, and leadership capabilities.
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[edit] History
The Greenwood School was founded in May 1978 by a group of parents, educators and other professionals in the field of dyslexia, to continue and develop the philosophy of education of the dyslexic as carried out by the Linden Hill School in Northfield, Massachusetts. During the term from 1974-78, Linden Hill established itself as a bona fide school where the dyslexic student could receive help for his academic and personal challenges. The graduates were accepted to leading preparatory schools or returned in good standing to their local schools. Enrollments were always to capacity, and the Headmaster had been cited by the Board of Trustees on several occasional for sound financial management. In March 1977, the Headmaster of Linden Hill, Thomas Scheidler was asked for his immediate resignation by the founding Headmaster and President of the Board. At that time the faculty indicated they would resign immediately if the Headmaster was removed; parents phoned the trustees to tell them they did not favor the Headmaster’s removal. These attempts were in vain and a special meeting was called in Atlanta for parents and referral sources to discuss the possibility of founding a new school and the results were overwhelming in support of a new school. Tom and Andrea Scheidler became co-directors of this school, incorporated as The Greenwood School. Incorporation was established and the movement was on to find a campus. After incorporation, a search for a campus was begun first in Massachusetts; several places looked promising, but none that could be made ready in time for a September 1978 opening. Quite by chance, the school discovered its current site, then owned by the Experiment in International Living (now the School for International Training), and obtained a five-year lease. In 1980, negotiations to purchase the site from the Experiment were settled. By 1982, original campus building and renovation projects were completed. In November 1986, The Greenwood School was granted accreditation by The New England Association of Schools and Colleges. The approval was reappointed in 1996, and in 2005.
[edit] Philosophy and Academics
The Greenwood School's official mission statement reads, "It is the mission of the Greenwood School to research, design, and provide the best academic program and learning environment possible for the comprehensive education of students who have dyslexia and related language difficulties."
All Greenwood faculty members receive an intensive internship in linguistic principles as required for reading and spelling development taught by Bruce Rosow, based on the research of Dr. Louisa Moats, who serves as an Academic Program Advisor to Greenwood’s Board of Trustees. A resident master and several regularly scheduled consultants provide ongoing supervision. Each student’s tutor also acts as an adviser who coordinates all aspects of the academic and social programs. The Assistant Director and the Head of School serve as formal advisers for students preparing to leave Greenwood for a secondary school.
With a 2:1 Student to teacher ratio, classes are small at the Greenwood School, ranging from 2 to 10 students. Greenwood’s remedial language program uses a diagnostic-prescriptive approach, including the Lindamood-Bell and Orton Gillingham methods. The program targets all aspects of literacy, including phonology, phonics, morphology, and orthography. Students spend one hour a day in a language tutorial to study and practice reading, spelling, comprehension, handwriting, and writing from dictation. All instruction is multisensory, structured, sequential, and sensitive to students’ individual learning styles. Because written work is such a difficult process for most students with a language-based learning disability, Greenwood students spend an additional period in writing instruction. Assistive technology programs such as Write Out Loud, Cowriter, Inspiration and Kurzweil are used to aid students in the writing process. The language remediation described above is combined with a preprepatory academic curriculum that includes science, history, literature, art, crafts, and athletics. A nightly study hall provides students with an opportunity to apply skills independently. For some students speech and language therapy, social pragmatics and occupational therapy are also part of Greenwood’s academic program.
[edit] Facilities
Boarding students live in Founders Hall, which has twenty student rooms, two faculty apartments, and two common rooms. The remainder of the resident teachers live in Himmel House and in the Director’s and Assistant Director’s houses. A gym is used for physical education and large gatherings. A wood shop and administrative building complete the list of buildings on campus. A recent partnership with the Yellow Barn Music School and Festival will result in the construction of eight eco-friendly, cabin-like classroom buildings that Yellow Barn will use as rehearsal spaces during the summer and Greenwood will use as supplemental classrooms during the school year.
[edit] Sports and Recreation
A physical education instructor and four coaches head a variety of seasonal sports and outdoor activities, including interscholastic soccer, basketball, baseball, wrestling and intramural track as well as rugby, cricket, rock climbing, volleyball, bowling, archery, outdoor leadership, fencing, and cross-country and downhill skiing. A network of trails that wind through the 100-acre (0.40 km²) campus are used for hiking, mountain biking, and cross-country skiing. A two-acre pond is available for science classes, fishing, and boating; and the campus has a skate/bike park and dirt jump area. The winter sports program includes a weekly trip to the student’s choice between a downhill ski area and a cross-country ski area.
[edit] Summer Program
The Greenwood School’s summer program is called Connect. The Connect Program's mission is to "provide dynamic, challenging and fun summer community service-learning programs individualized for middle school-age boys and girls eith learning differences that foster self-reflection, mutual responsibility, and a commitment to community." Connect is a three-week summer program based from the Buxton School campus in northwestern Massachusetts. The first phase is a three-day orientation and pre-education at Buxton; the second phase is the two-week service-learning trip in various locations around the U.S. and abroad; and the third phase is a three day reflection, debriefing and presentation back at Buxton.
[edit] National Recognition
The Greenwood School was recently featured on PBS’s National Education Report. PBS National Education Report
[edit] Notable Faculty
Derrik Jordan, Music teacher. Recording artist, award-winning singer-songwriter, composer, producer, and multi-instrumentalist (electric violin, percussion, guitar, piano and voice). Derrik Jordan Website
Annie Quest, Social Pragmatics and Drama teacher. Singer-Songwriter, recording artist, puppeteer. Her two-woman group [[The Annies]] was recognized with a 2008 Parent's Choice Approved Award for their Crazy Stew CD.
Bruce Rosow – Academic Dean. Co-Author of Spellogrophy: A Student Road Map to Better Spelling. Was recently recognized by the National Council on Teacher Quality as one of only three teacher-trainers in America named as "leaders in the field who provide excellent models of what future teachers should know about reading."
