Life Cycle of A Willow Wind Class
 

Classes and workshops offered at Willow Wind are designed to best serve students' educational needs, interests, and assist students in achieving the academic standards of the school district and the state. Classes and workshops can be suggested and initiated by parents, students, and staff.

How can families help propose classes and teachers?
 
Participate in discussions with your Willow Wind friends to brainstorm ideas.
 
Come and propose the idea at the planning meeting. The planning meeting is a brainstorming session where we all share ideas and dream up new programming. Planning meetings are also an opportunity to hear what other people are thinking and to stimulate new ideas. Preparing a little prior to the meetings can be especially productive. Talk with your students about their interests.  Teachers will turn many of the ideas discussed at this meeting into proposals.
 
Write your idea down in the "Class Idea Book." This book is located in Debbie's office and is available April 1.
 
Suggest teachers for new classes. Our families are the best resource for identifying new resources in our community that would benefit our students. If you know teachers, artists, scientists, musicians, dancers, naturalists, etc. who are interested in sharing their knowledge with students, please encourage them to apply at Willow Wind. Teaching applications are available in the front office. Potential teachers can contact Debbie at debra.schaefferpew@ashland.k12.or.us with questions.
 
What happens after the ideas are discussed?
 
After the planning meeting, the ideas are published and distributed to existing teachers. The ideas written down in the "Class Idea Book" will also be included. Teachers then look through the ideas and decide which ones they are interested in offering.
 
Families can go out and find teachers to offer the classes proposed at the meeting. These teachers must apply, be interviewed and accepted before they submit a proposal. Therefore, new teachers must be identified at least 2 weeks before the proposal deadline. 
 
Families can approach current teachers and ask them to offer one of the classes suggested at a meeting. Most teachers are happy to be approached with class suggestions. After all, they want to propose classes that meet the desires of the community.
 
Then, teachers complete Course Proposal Forms with a description of the class to be offered.
 
How are classes chosen?
 
All of the proposals submitted by the deadline are put out for families to read. Each family expresses interest in classes by signing their child's name on the back of the proposal. Families can "vote" for 10 classes for each student. (Check in at the office for the Proposal deadline.)
 
The Course Selection Committee considers the results of this survey. This committee is comprised of parents representing all age groups at Willow Wind. They make the final choices considering level of community interest, variety of offerings and teacher's schedules.