Ashoka
Voyager Academy Elementary School’s curriculum envisions the creation of nurturing and respectful classrooms full of learning, where children care about the world around them, embrace and value diversity, and inspire curiosity beyond the school day. Voyager’s core values are Confidence, Curiosity, Empathy, Reflection, and Integrity. The school creates a community where kids feel heard, safe, and accepted through daily morning meetings that set a positive tone. From this foundation, the school approaches every child as though he or she has questions and ideas worthy of investigation that is far beyond what is gleaned from a textbook. From an early age, students are taught to be observant, critical thinkers, and team players.
Leslie Paynter
Leslie’s philosophy has evolved over the 24 years that she has been an educator. Leslie is still a behaviorist in many contexts. Leslie knows that a student’s behavior can be modeled and shaped by using appropriate behavior modification. However, in the last 12 years, she has also become a constructivist. Her “transformative moment” has happened over time, but has been equally as powerful as one moment. Learners construct their own knowledge by interacting with their environment. This is the belief that each person must build or construct a framework of knowledge based on what they already know prior to anything new being useful to them. It also embraces the idea that how one thinks is more important than the mere accumulation and regurgitation of information. Thinking is a process, which must be practiced through hands-on demonstrations, scenarios, role-playing, simulations, team-learning, as well as more traditional methodology, until the mind becomes dynamic and flexible enough to handle any problem that might come along. Leslie wants Voyager Academy students to learn how to care for themselves, their peers, their community, and their work. Leslie believes the need to establish an on-going curriculum that fosters self- control, respect, trust, and empathy.