Chapter 12: Teacher Advisories- A Proposal for Change

This chapter explained how an advisory teacher would work with his or her students. A teacher would have a group of 12-15 students to meet with as a group. Some schools have it set up where the teacher works with the group for about 20 minutes once a week. Other schools have full day experiences or field trips, small group lunches, and/or individual meetings with each student a couple times throughout the year. The story the author told at the beginning of the chapter is an example of an all day excursion. The end of the chapter lists different types of activities that can be done with advisory groups.

This chapter really cleared up some of the questions I had about the idea after I read about it in Turning Points 2000. I had originally thought that it would just be a series of interviews one on one with the student and advisor. That situation could be weird especially at first when neither really knows the other one that well. I remember how awkward meetings with my guidance counselor were at first. Not only do these small groups help the students connect with the advisor but it helps them connect with each other. This seems like it would have much more impact than just individual meetings with students. Plus any middle school student would love activities, especially fun ones.