-In addition to classwork, students fall into one of several tracks depending on their art 

experience and take classes related to their track in order to develop their skills. The tracks offered at SPCPA include vocal performance, theater, musical theater, dance, and vocal arts.

-As a volunteer, I worked in three different classrooms, primarily as a tutor or a classroom assistant depending on the needs of the space I was in.

From my observation, the general teaching style at SPCPA seemed to be a mixed bag. Teachers were mostly younger, and I learned that because SPCPA is a charter school, educators there cannot be part of the teacher’s union. Even with the energy from the student body, some of the teachers I worked with seemed kind of uninspired. That being said though, there were some teachers that were really incredible. One math teacher I worked with, Mr. Petersen, was really incredible in the way he developed student’s understanding of math concepts by asking students careful questions, something that wouldn’t have been possible without few students and high attention.

For an hour and a half I was in Mr. Petersen’s Advanced Algebra classroom, where I acted as a tutor when I could, but also spent plenty of time just observing. Mr. Petersen is an excellent teacher, who often encouraged me take on a daily challenge for myself, like taking notes on which students spoke the most by demographics or where the most common misunderstandings were. 

The rest of my weekly four hours I spent in a study hall. At SPCPA, each student is required to have a study hall in their schedule, during which they do a weekly self evaluation with a teacher. I would help students in classes they were consistently struggling in, and I got to build relationships with a few students as well as learn how classes at SPCPA generally structured their work. This was by far where I had the most fun, working with students is a blast.