Empowering students with language-based learning differences
Northern Virginia | High School
Northern Virginia
Overview
The Siena School's high school program focuses on preparing students for admission to college and university programs. Our high school students develop academic skills, self-advocacy, and self-confidence, and they are provided with extensive and individualized college counseling that supports the student and family through the entire college search and application process. Siena encourages students to explore their interests and future career options through its annual high school internship program.
Engaging the Individual
With small classes and regular individualized attention, Siena's high school curriculum uses dialogue between teachers and students as the primary teaching method. Multisensory, hands-on, experiential learning in seminar-style classes with daily discussions form the core of Siena's approach. Teachers use technology extensively (including multimedia), which plays to the students' visual strengths. The high school also incorporates an extensive guest speaker program that bolsters interest in and understanding of core curriculum.
Siena's classes include language-based learning strategies across all subject areas. Special attention is paid to developing skills in:
- Reading (fluency and comprehension)
- Written expression
- Organization and executive functioning/planning
- Specific, structured approaches to assignments, including research
- Supplemental help in reading, writing, and math during daily tutorial periods
Strength-Based Approach
Siena offers a range of electives in arts, music, physical education, and more. As students enter their final year of high school, they are encouraged to explore areas of significant interest through year-long independent projects.
A Collaborative Community
Siena values an integrated curriculum. Courses in history and literature are connected thematically and topically, and other subjects draw on themes and topics covered in the humanities. For example, History 9 begins with a study of the Great Depression while English 9 students read Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck. Concurrently, students might analyze the New Deal photographs of Dorothea Lange, Walker Evans, and others. They may be asked to draw on English or history discussions when crafting stories in Spanish class or studying a particular artist in Art I. Efforts are made to connect math and science courses, both vertically through a student's time at Siena and horizontally through a year's curriculum.
