At Noble Academy, students learn more than just the classroom content. They learn how to learn, and how to advocate for themselves when they need support. This is what makes Noble Academy one of the best schools available to students with learning differences.
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ANGELA:
Self advocacy, even though it has been something that I've heard about at other schools, I see it the most here. It seems to be something that's very much part of the fabric of the school.
Gayle:
That was Angela. When she and her husband realized they wanted more for their son than what they were getting at his previous school, they started searching for a place where students with learning differences could be treated with respect and kindness, and where self-advocacy would be encouraged. At the time that they started searching for the right school, they were living in Georgia,
My son, when he is doing his homework, is sitting at his computer in the early evening. And once or twice, I will just pop in and say, do you need anything? And he always says, well, if I do, I'll just email my teacher. And he says it as if it's the most normal thing in the world, And I love that. And he has done that several times, and he has gotten a response. And that is a beautiful thing
GAYLE:
Like many Noble parents I have spoken with, Angela didn’t just want her son to learn to read and write and do math, she also wanted him to develop self advocacy. For students with learning differences, it is a life-changing skill. And like I’ve said before, the proof is in the lived experiences of our alumni.
JAYLON:
I think one thing that often sometimes I over forget or sometimes seems simple is that, a lot of the main skill that Noble gave me was the school for advocacy. Main thing they always advocated from when I was going to college was always, like, be aware of what you need and always ask for that. And that was really helpful for me when I was at UNC because I could go to the resource office and be like, this is what I need to succeed.
And that was simply because I was able to remember from Noble how to advocate for myself and get those skills I needed.
My name is Jaylon Smallwood. I graduated from Noble in 2015.
RYAN:
My name is Ryan Taube and I came to Noble Academy in 8th grade and I stayed through my senior year of high school and I graduated in 2010.
I had a learning disability in math and so I really struggled with math hw, completing math tests in the time I was given in the classroom and it took me a lot longer to complete homework than a student without a disability.
Noble really helped me by allowing me to have extra time on those tests, exams
It really helped me with strategies for advocating for myself and also the smaller class size so I felt more comfortable to get assignments done and I felt a lot less stress.
Noble really helped me learn how to advocate for myself and Noble really helped me to gain confidence that I could do the math assignments that I needed to get done, especially transitioning from middle to high school, Noble really helped me that I could earn a good grade in math.
ERIC:
When I was at my other schools before Noble, a lot of the difficulties I ran into were more of a because of a hands off approach, I'd say, or more of a hands off approach from the teachers, kind of expecting me to figure it out on my own a little bit when I didn't have a good idea of what to do and I kept losing focus. At Noble, teachers were using proximity. They were working with me more 1 on 1 because of the smaller class sizes. And they gave me some strategies to help me regain my focus and most importantly to advocate for myself when I realized that I had lost focus.
My name is Eric Gal. I graduated from Noble in 2005.
HOST:
So, how does Noble Academy instill these self-advocacy skills that so many alums have talked about? I asked Susan Hughes, who taught here for 29 years, starting when Noble was Guilford Day School.
Susan:
We have, in all of my years here, we have a time in the morning with our advisory group where we do advocacy skills and, you know, we come up with ways they have to go around and practice their advocacy with another teacher maybe in the elementary school that they don't know or, you know, we talk about it. We show it. We encourage them to do it.
We call them out if they're not advocating in our class like they should be. So, it's something we kind of drill into them. And I just wanna tell you there is nothing more satisfying than seeing our kids be successful. And when we have so many colleges that have gotten back to us and said, “We have never had a student with learning issues who understands them as well as your student and who knows how to advocate for success.” We hear this from college admissions people and faculty members. They don't have to call us up or email us to tell us that. That's how strong it is for some of our kids that we have people actually letting us know: whatever you taught them, it's working.
GAYLE:
Self-advocacy can also look like speaking up about what DOES NOT work for you, and that can include college. Past parent Michelle Malloy credits Noble with helping her son build the confidence to choose a career path over a university.
Michelle:
When Zachary realized the trade avenue was probably a much better fit for him in terms of not only his learning style, but we're really thinking about a career and what would be exciting to him, what would be engaging, where he could see himself having a long-term future. It was definitely more in the trades vocation space.
He went to college for one year and said, “Yeah, this is probably not a good fit for me.” And so that's where we had to kind of let go of our own stuff, if you will, while he kind of sorted it out and figured it out. And, when he did, he made up his mind that he wanted to go and get a plumbing certificate. It was funny because we never knew, like, where did plumbing come from? But he just seemed to be super passionate about it, and so he went and got a plumbing certificate. He's been working for a plumbing company for a number of years now and, you know, doing all the apprenticeship that's required. And, he seems really happy. And I think he seems not only happy, but I think he sees, again, a long term future in the field. I think he sees that there's potential.
Gayle:
Eric Gal, that last alum we heard from, benefited so much from his Noble experience that he came back after college to teach English, History, and Theater. Before him, Ryan Taube went on to study special education, and now he works for Elon University, in their career center within the school of communications. And at the start of the episode we hear from Jaylon Smallwood, an urban planner, who now serves on our Board of Trustees. I just want to note that some of the alums I spoke with for other episodes also stressed how much value they got from learning self-advocacy skills at Noble, whether they went on to college, or straight to career. You can go back and listen to episode 7 if you missed that one about Noble pathways. You also can hear more from Angela and her family’s relocation to be near Noble back in episode 5.
As we wrap up this episode of the Blue and Gold Chat, I want to thank our alumni again, including Jaylon, Colby, and Ryan. I also want to thank past parent and past trustee Michelle Malloy, and retired, beloved, and still just as dedicated English teacher Susan Hughes. Listen for all of their voices again in upcoming episodes, because this is part of an ongoing series about Noble Academy’s alums.
If you once attended Noble, or know someone who did who would like to share their story, please let me know.
And a huge shoutout of gratitude to Efren Renteria, a current parent in our High School who produces this show.
Thanks to the whole Guilford Day School and Noble community.
We are proud to be Noble.
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