Sorenson’s Ranch School

Here at SRS we are here to help students with all sorts of problems. We have experienced and educated therapists. Our therapists have one on one sessions help students with whatever issues are present. Also, students participate in group therapy in which a group of kids with the same problems sit together with the group therapists and have a session about overcoming anger, depression, and adoption issues. Students also learn life skills, along with values and integrity. Our group therapists usually have the students watch a movie about someone who went through similar things they are going through or how they overcame problems. SRS only accepts students between the ages of 12 and 17 years old. There is a boy’s side of the campus and a girl’s side of the campus. When possible, we try to let the boys and girls here interact with one another but only under supervision. We put kids of the same age into the same cabins and also put kids who need staff monitoring into a cabin called MPR. For school we have a 5-day school week all year long. During school we have the boys and girls separated and put into different classes and different lunch times. The boys and girls get to have co-ed breakfast and passing periods to talk for a bit. If a student is really behind in invited school, we can put them on ACP. After applying to go into the ACP program, students are able to work on any class and have extra time. They may go as fast as they want to in those stay afterschool during incomplete time. This allows students to catch up or get ahead. ACP is usually for students who are in 7 to 12 grade who are very behind and need to graduate quickly. There are seven periods at school. Here we have a level system. There are four levels of behavior and each level allows you to do different things and have more pr. 1. Level one is the level for kids who don’t follow guidelines, don’t get along with staff and peers, argue, etc. They work on project that give them the chance to improve their levels and behavior skills. They may do service projects also. Point wise for level ones are below 1000 points or in the negatives. 2. Level 2’s are kids who just got off level one or are new here will be. Being a level 2 means the kids are doing good, trying to do their 2’s will be able to watch documentaries only, ride horses, and won’t have to work all day. Point wise for level 2’s are anything below 4000 points and above 1000 points. 3. Level 3’s are kids who follow rules, do their work, do their program, are respectful to staff, and want to do better. They get to watch movies, go to the pool, go on campouts, workout in the weight room, ride horses, and can make money (5$ an hour). Point wise for level threes are anything above 4000 points or below 9000 points. 4. Level 4’s are kids who follow directions, rules, expectations, get along with others, are respectful to staff, focus on their program, focus on school, and do more than they should when helping out staff when cleaning an activity or whatever activity they are on. They get to watch movies, go on campouts, go to the pool, work out in weight room, ride horses, and can work at the Red Clover Café (7.25 $ an hour). Point wise for level fours are anything above 9000 points and below 9500 points. Some of the activities are crafts, softball or soccer, water activities, watch movies or documentaries, cook lunch or dinner. We sometimes go to the gym and play basketball or work out in the weight room, ride horses, go on campouts or horse campouts, go to the pool, movies, go off campus and go fishing or just to hangout. Sometimes we have are co-ed activities. On holidays like Christmas, we have co-ed activities and we get the kids some gifts and give them the gifts sent from their parents. On birthdays students get to have their own cake. They get their gifts no matter what level they are. During Halloween students sometimes go trick-or-treating or have a Halloween party. Students can have visits with their family which can be on-campus visits, off-campus visits (in town), and home visits for 1 week or 2 weeks. Students are allowed to order stuff from Amazon if they have earned the money. They can buy: • Legos • Clothing • Shoes

Students need Financial Literacy skills

Recently in a discussion with a student about his future beyond high school, he commented about the Personal Finances/ Financial Literacy class. The student indicated of all the classes he had taken at Sorenson’s Ranch School, he believed Financial Literacy was the most beneficial. Research has indicated that students who have access to quality financial education will have better financial outcomes as an adult. Students learn how to spend and save wisely, showing them a way to living with less debt and a higher quality of life. Our Financial Literacy class at Sorenson’s Ranch School can help our students understand the concepts of how they can reach their individual goals. Students learn about making career decisions, money management, and financial security. Students also learn about credit, resource management, risk management and insurance. When students move forward in life, they may reflect on how the Financial Literacy concepts can help them understand compound interest, the cost of borrowing money and the way to grow savings or investments. It may help them identify and then reach financial goals. I believe Financial Literacy has been taken for granted in the past, but now more states are starting to see the importance of financial skills and are passing legislation that requires students to have Financial Literacy as part of graduation requirements. Financial Literacy only makes sense since money affects every aspect of an individual’s life. If we don’t teach our students about money and the economy, how can we expect them to manage their own money as they become adults? In my opinion, it is dangerous to our youth to take the next steps in life without understanding the function of money and how to manage credit and risk. At Sorenson’s Ranch School we have a class that helps our students understand these concepts so much better. It helps them transition into independent living which is coming quickly in their future.

Gamification to Increase Student Motivation

I love games, perhaps maybe even a little too much. Not only did competition take place every day with my siblings growing up, but some of my best memories of games include those that took place during school. I will never forget winning one event in particular—the Utah Bee. It was an exciting competition throughout fourth grade between different classes in my area. It tested our knowledge of everything about Utah. So I guess when I started teaching English and Spanish at Sorenson’s Ranch School, I naturally looked to see ways I could add healthy competition into the activities. I have tried many different things in hopes of improving engagement. It can be hard to find the perfect activity that matches the content with something that interests the learner. In addition, some students may feel left out or bored if they do not know a lot about a specific topic. Admittedly, for various reasons, I have not done as well as I had hoped in creating a classroom that regularly uses student gameplay. In any regard, I believe that when I can effectively weave components of games into learning, students increase their participation, motivation, and social skills. a One aspect of class where I have tried to include games is during our daily starter. In English, our “Gotcha Grammar” accompanies a challenge to see who can be the first to complete the corrections needed. It adds a bit of excitement, and it helps kids into their seats to do schoolwork at the beginning of class. It also helps captivate students who maybe would not usually do the starter or be a disruption. Ultimately, I found these little grammar games are most effective when there is something to win. A small treat has done wonders in helping students give their absolute best effort. It naturally creates an environment where students look to work together to find an answer. Another occasion I have tried to add movement and fun activities is near the end of class. Researchers analyzing the average teenager's attention span, do not appear to be unanimous in their research. But, I believe that if a student can achieve roughly thirty-five minutes of studying, they deserve to have some fun. I have tried to include fun activities that have a Language Arts twist. One game is where we take a ball and play hot potato, but in this version, each student has to come up with a part of speech and not repeat what has already been said. If we are playing with verbs, one student may catch the ball and yell "to run," and the next student may catch the ball and yell "to fly" until a new verb is not thought of or repeats itself. In that case, the student leaves the game. Most students like playing these games at the end of the class, as it is a relief from studying and other stressors. It also creates a sense of community among the students and builds relationships. Teaching Spanish at Sorenson’s Ranch School has also brought many opportunities to engage students in fun activities. One lesson which I thought did well to motivate students was “Simon Says” or “Simon dice”. In this classic game, students follow the orders but with the newly learned Spanish vocabulary. Again, it has some goal resulting in a prize, like the last one standing gets a sucker. A game like this is great because it is familiar to everyone and can bridge the gap between languages. It also requires a lot of physical movement, which works as a great brain break and engages the kinesthetic learners in the room. Overall, gamification is a tool that creates a vibrant class culture and suits my teaching style. Classroom instruction should include a variety of methods to engage all types of learners. One of my challenges now is to find ways to motivate those students who perhaps are not as excited about competing over school topics. The question is if I am doing everything possible to get as many students participating and motivated as possible. It is a never-ending quest, but the more I connect school topics with the love of the game, the more motivation learners can find to succeed.

March Happenings

The middle school is starting new classes for the second half of the school year here at Sorenson’s Ranch. We finished Modern History and are moving into Geography. We also finished Our Nation/Utah History and are moving into the Careers class. We are continuing with PE and Math that are full year classes. Geography is the first and second class of the day. The students are curious about what to expect from the class. We did a pretest to see how familiar the students are with Geography. Some of the students know a lot about it and some need to learn more. We will be discussing the different areas of Geography here at Sorenson’s Ranch throughout the next 6 months. The students will be designing maps to show countries, cities, topographical and political maps. The other new class that we are starting at Sorenson’s Ranch is Careers. The students will learn all of the different aspects of finding a career. We started the class with an interest survey to help them decide what career they will do well in. Students will learn about what the job entails, salary, availability by area, and other details about different careers that may be of interest to them. They will learn how to present themselves during the interviewing process. During Math class we have been working on several different concepts. Some of the students have been learning about graphing, others have been working with solving inequalities. We will also incorporate worksheets that are based around St. Patrick’s Day. At Sorenson’s Ranch there are different ways that Math can be approached. Each student has individual ways of learning and the concepts are adapted to real world situations when possible in order to make them more understandable. Here at Sorenson’s Ranch we use a lot of adaptive learning approaches in order to help each student become successful. Peer tutoring, one on one tutoring, group learning among other approaches are being used on a daily basis.

Social skills training, in a therapeutic boarding school.

Sorensons ranch has recently undergone a change in the program that encourages positive reinforcement, teaches social skills, and gives responsibility to students to acknowledge how to improve behavior. Where points were mostly used as a negative consequence to correct behavior, the emphasis on the new program is recognizing positive behavior and awarding points accordingly, when negative behaviors must be addressed, students are given the option of recognizing how they could improve and minimizing point loss. This makes every staff and teacher a partner of the therapist, and encourages all interaction to tie back to the therapy. Positive reinforcement increases an individual’s tendency to adopt a new practice over time. This conditioning method has gained popularity over other operant conditionings, because it creates a positive learning environment preferred by therapists, staff, and teachers in the classroom. Students are also encouraged to do behavioral role play, which involves practicing new skills during therapy in simulated situations. Social skills training is not a specific curriculum, but rather a collection of practices that use a behavioral approach for teaching age-appropriate social skills and competencies, including communication, problem solving, decision making, self-management, and peer relations. As staff and students readjust to a different way of helping clients the effectiveness of the program will continue to improve.

Introduction to Business and Financial Literacy

Often Sorenson’s Ranch School (SRS) students complain that business and financial literacy classes are hard and not required in their home state, but taking the classes in high school can give students a competitive advantage in the college admission process. If college is not in the student’s futures, at least business and financial literacy classes give them an understanding of the function of commerce in society and a basis for becoming better employees and citizens of their communities. In Addition to expanding students’ knowledge about business, entrepreneurship, and personal finance, these classes teach students many crucial life skills, including leadership and time management. Using this foundation to build on, SRS students begin to understand how personal financial responsibility will touch all aspects of their lives. Business classes introduce students to what it takes to make it in the business world. We are introducing information students can use to help them decide what they are going to do with their future. With changing regulations in society, children today are not given the opportunity to work and learn with hands on experience as did past generations. Today’s children have been immersed in technology and crave interaction in a different manner than past generations. As our society and business adapts to an ever-changing world, these students will become the new business leaders. Business and finance classes at SRS give students those first steps, and insights about what to do next in life. If students decide continuing education is not for them, SRS can still give them the basics necessary for everyday life, no matter what path they choose to take. High schoolers’ hardly know what direction to go, or what skills to build on when they are getting ready to go to college. If we start teaching them skills in high school, they will have a better understanding of the path they can take for the future. By teaching SRS students solid life skills, we are helping all of our futures.

Sorenson’s Ranch Student Motivation

At Sorenson’s Ranch, teachers try to keep students active and engaged. Active students learn more and do better in the classroom. We recognize the importance of motivation, and we work hard to celebrate student progress. ​Teachers choose assignments that allow students to use their creativity. When possible, we allow students to pick their own genre—such as reports, poems, creative writing stories, or plays—when assigning a topic. Students are able to choose their own theme when creating computer programs. Many CTE classes allow students to create their own topics for projects. We want them to take pride in their work and this helps them buy-in to assignments stay more motivated. Teachers pride themselves on being open-minded rather than judgmental. We try to make it clear that we are here to help students succeed, respecting student efforts. Teachers try to share an observation or ask questions without criticizing. Teachers provide feedback geared toward student success. Student are more engaged and learn better when they exercise choice, feel important, receive accurate and timely feedback, and know that they can be successful. Feedback, not pressures of low grades, leads to better performance. After relearning material, students have the opportunity to redo assignments to get to mastery level. This creates a feeling of success which helps with motivation. Students come to us with different abilities. Teachers create lessons for everyone—taking into consideration the different ability levels. Teachers try to provide feedback to students promptly, frequently, and efficiently. Accommodations, like more time or reduced workload are implemented for students where needed. Students need to see a direct connection between their effort, a response from their teacher, and work completion. We work with students individually to get students to graduation or to grade completion.