Veteran teacher Steve Forrett describes lives that have changed thanks to Primavera’s unique online classroom setting
[/fusion_text][/fusion_builder_column][/fusion_builder_row][/fusion_builder_container][fusion_builder_container hundred_percent=”no” hundred_percent_height=”no” hundred_percent_height_scroll=”no” hundred_percent_height_center_content=”yes” equal_height_columns=”no” menu_anchor=”” hide_on_mobile=”small-visibility,medium-visibility,large-visibility” status=”published” publish_date=”” class=”” id=”” background_color=”” background_image=”” background_position=”center center” background_repeat=”no-repeat” fade=”no” background_parallax=”none” enable_mobile=”no” parallax_speed=”0.3″ video_mp4=”” video_webm=”” video_ogv=”” video_url=”” video_aspect_ratio=”16:9″ video_loop=”yes” video_mute=”yes” video_preview_image=”” border_size=”” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” margin_top=”” margin_bottom=”” padding_top=”” padding_right=”” padding_bottom=”” padding_left=””][fusion_builder_row][fusion_builder_column type=”2_5″ layout=”2_5″ spacing=”” center_content=”no” link=”” target=”_self” min_height=”” hide_on_mobile=”small-visibility,medium-visibility,large-visibility” class=”” id=”” background_color=”” background_image=”” background_position=”left top” background_repeat=”no-repeat” hover_type=”none” border_size=”0″ border_color=”” border_style=”solid” border_position=”all” padding_top=”” padding_right=”” padding_bottom=”” padding_left=”” margin_top=”” margin_bottom=”” animation_type=”” animation_direction=”left” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_offset=”” last=”no”][fusion_imageframe image_id=”655″ max_width=”” style_type=”” blur=”” stylecolor=”” hover_type=”none” bordersize=”” bordercolor=”” borderradius=”” align=”none” lightbox=”no” gallery_id=”” lightbox_image=”” alt=”” link=”” linktarget=”_self” hide_on_mobile=”small-visibility,medium-visibility,large-visibility” class=”” id=”” animation_type=”” animation_direction=”left” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_offset=””]https://primaverafacts.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/SteveForrett.jpg[/fusion_imageframe][/fusion_builder_column][fusion_builder_column type=”3_5″ layout=”3_5″ spacing=”” center_content=”no” link=”” target=”_self” min_height=”” hide_on_mobile=”small-visibility,medium-visibility,large-visibility” class=”” id=”” background_color=”” background_image=”” background_position=”left top” background_repeat=”no-repeat” hover_type=”none” border_size=”0″ border_color=”” border_style=”solid” border_position=”all” padding_top=”” padding_right=”” padding_bottom=”” padding_left=”” margin_top=”” margin_bottom=”” animation_type=”” animation_direction=”left” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_offset=”” last=”no”][fusion_text columns=”” column_min_width=”” column_spacing=”” rule_style=”default” rule_size=”” rule_color=”” hide_on_mobile=”small-visibility,medium-visibility,large-visibility” class=”” id=””]When your school reaches at-risk students across an entire state, you need teachers who care deeply and find new ways to connect with their classes one on one. You need teachers who see beyond a student’s struggles to find their deeper potential and who bring a higher level of passion and dedication to their work in order to impact and sometimes even change lives.
Primavera Online High School’s staff is full of teachers like this; just ask Steve Forrett. Steve has taught at Primavera for almost ten years, and he has seen firsthand how Primavera empowers its teachers using state-of-the-art curriculum. He has personally seen how the teachers and technology have been the turning point for thousands of students.
“The bottom line is, we’re here to help kids,” Forrett said when asked to describe what motivates Primavera teachers. “For a lot of kids who enroll here, this is their last chance.”
Steve would know. He estimates he has taught at least 500 single mothers during his time with Primavera, giving them the chance to gain the critical skills they’ll need to succeed in life, while earning a high school diploma. This also is true for the nearly 1 in 5 Primavera students are between the ages of 18 and 22 and most of whom are working. Most of these adult students have dropped out of high school and have found a path to earning their diploma at Primavera.
[/fusion_text][/fusion_builder_column][/fusion_builder_row][/fusion_builder_container][fusion_builder_container hundred_percent=”no” hundred_percent_height=”no” hundred_percent_height_scroll=”no” hundred_percent_height_center_content=”yes” equal_height_columns=”no” menu_anchor=”” hide_on_mobile=”small-visibility,medium-visibility,large-visibility” status=”published” publish_date=”” class=”” id=”” background_color=”” background_image=”” background_position=”center center” background_repeat=”no-repeat” fade=”no” background_parallax=”none” enable_mobile=”no” parallax_speed=”0.3″ video_mp4=”” video_webm=”” video_ogv=”” video_url=”” video_aspect_ratio=”16:9″ video_loop=”yes” video_mute=”yes” video_preview_image=”” border_size=”” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” margin_top=”” margin_bottom=”” padding_top=”” padding_right=”” padding_bottom=”” padding_left=””][fusion_builder_row][fusion_builder_column type=”1_1″ layout=”1_1″ spacing=”” center_content=”no” link=”” target=”_self” min_height=”” hide_on_mobile=”small-visibility,medium-visibility,large-visibility” class=”” id=”” background_color=”” background_image=”” background_position=”left top” background_repeat=”no-repeat” hover_type=”none” border_size=”0″ border_color=”” border_style=”solid” border_position=”all” padding_top=”” padding_right=”” padding_bottom=”” padding_left=”” margin_top=”” margin_bottom=”” animation_type=”” animation_direction=”left” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_offset=”” last=”no”][fusion_text columns=”” column_min_width=”” column_spacing=”” rule_style=”default” rule_size=”” rule_color=”” hide_on_mobile=”small-visibility,medium-visibility,large-visibility” class=”” id=””]We asked Steve a few questions about what it’s like to teach in such a unique environment and some of the lives he has seen changed as a result. Here’s what he had to say:
Q: What do you teach at Primavera?
A: I teach senior English and I have taught Dual Enrollment English 12A and 12B Honors English for the past seven years. Dual enrollment courses are taught in conjunction with Rio Salado Community College (English 101 and 102) and allow our students to earn college credit while working toward their high school diploma.
My previous experience was mostly in California where I taught from 2000 to 2008. During that time, I mentored and prepared our first out-of-state valedictorian to give her graduation speech in Bishop, CA.
Q: What is it like to teach at Primavera? How is it different than a brick-and-mortar school?
A: Teaching at Primavera is unique in and of itself. You reach students from all over the state, and unlike other programs that help all categories of “at-risk” students, we are not distracted by physical property and security concerns. The beautiful part of online learning is that we can reach and help kids everywhere in the state — we simply aren’t limited in who we can help like brick- and-mortar schools. Our students are free to contact their teachers outside of the “classroom” environment. This is important, because so often within a traditional classroom setting, peers can intimidate or otherwise keep the most vulnerable or bullied kids from asking for help. Our online environment removes those peer-based barriers.
Providing access to part-time and online summer school classes also is an important part of how Primavera empowers at-risk students to get back on track, keep up with their peers and in so many cases, graduate on time. Primavera even provides these services free of charge to its students. Without these options, at-risk kids in under-privileged communities would be hurt the most, as so many of them would have no other option to make up classes or attend summer school without payment or travel. All they need is online access.
Q: Can you recall any experiences that stand out from your time working there?
A: I have had students who are mothers. One story involves a young woman who was about to deliver her first child as she approached the beginning of the six-week term. She decided to go ahead and take the English 12 class and during that six weeks her child was born. She finished the class with an A because the online environment did not deter a determined young woman from achieving her goal in passing the class with a high mark.
Another way that Primavera differentiates itself from other schools is that we travel all over the state to administer the AzMERIT. Other schools give the test only to the students it already serves within their brick-and-mortar. Primavera puts the effort and infrastructure in place to provide AzMERIT testing no matter the distance, making such a difference in the lives of those students living in distant corners of Arizona.
For example, I had a Native American student living in a remote area of the state ready to give up on school because of the challenge she faced attending and testing. She came to Primavera just in time, and I so clearly recall a conversation we had where I implored her to give online learning a try, both for her future and what her education will mean to her community and heritage. That conversation led to a change in attitude and a dedication to finishing high school. She embraced the learning and would soon embrace new and exciting challenges.
Stories like this are just an example of similar conversations we often have with our students over the phone, time and time again. As Primavera teachers, we have the unique opportunity to share the greatest gifts in human interaction, far beyond anything I ever witnessed in my previous classroom days.
Q: In your mind, how does Primavera make the Arizona community a better place?
A: According to what I know, our founder, Damian Creamer, from the earliest days of Primavera has been very proactive in trying to engage students who are struggling or have fallen out of the traditional school system. His goals then and now were to engage with students and offer them a chance to go to school, earn a diploma and better their future. And he most often did this in under-privileged communities and poor neighborhoods where traditional schools were failing kids the most. It is this heart and natural inclination to do good in the world by serving at-risk students that lives at the core of our school today.
Students also find that access to part-time and online summer school classes are a much-needed lifeline.
Today at Primavera we have an extensive group of dedicated individuals from highly caring administrators to those in in enrollment, counseling, Exceptional Student Services (ESS) and instructional staff that strengthen and offer opportunity to all young people in Arizona. ESS is the new name for what was formerly known as Special Education. We highly value these students with “special needs,” and today in education, the changes associated with students who have Individualized Education Plans (IEPs) and other students with conditions that require a “504” (for health or other situations other than IEP) are more “hands-on” and open-minded accounting for a successful education.
We offer a safe environment for the bullied, a respite for the students who have medical challenges and opportunities for the working students to finish and earn a diploma. It’s an inspiring environment for the young mothers and fathers, yet offers a challenging, rigorous curriculum for all students, teaching them maturity and discipline.
Primavera gives back to Arizona by keeping students away from future failure. From the way our guidance team listens to the needs of every student, preparing them for a better future in the Arizona workplace to our instructors and all administrators reaching out to each student in a unique and caring way. We absolutely care! We give back one hundred-fold.
Q: Anything else you’d like to share about your experience teaching at Primavera?
A: As a dual enrollment instructor for the past seven years, I have had the opportunity to write numerous letters of recommendation and respond to individual websites that gather academic information about students desiring to further their education. What makes Primavera unique is the challenge of the six-week term. Students who proactively pursue educational achievement in our online environment build character and discipline.
As online teachers, certainly, we encourage our students to complete courses in conversations and messages that “cheer them on.” However, those who complete highly challenging and rigorous classes like English 12A and English 12B Honors for dual credit, experience a type of discipline and determination that makes them more attractive to their potential higher education institutions.
Online is here to stay – it’s the future of education. Higher education embraces it as well. What better training ground than a challenging Primavera course load to augment a traditional academic program, or get kids across the finish line?
While I’ve focused a lot on our at-risk students and those who need to make up credits, we also help several academic super-stars achieve their goals, both for high school and higher education.
Special thanks to Steve and to the entire Primavera faculty and staff for making such a positive impact in the lives of Arizona students.
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