Mid-South Gifted Academy is a full-time private school that provides a personalized, multi-age, project-based learning environment to challenge and inspire gifted learners.
Mission
The mission of Mid-South Gifted Academy is to develop innovators and world changers by creating educational and enrichment opportunities for children to discover and use their gifts, talents, and passions.
Our Beliefs
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We believe that every child deserves a joyful learning environment that fosters a sense of belonging, significance, and fun.
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We believe that children should have the opportunity to learn and advance at their own pace.
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We believe that children’s social and emotional well-being are of equal importance to their academic success.
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We believe that children’s natural wonder and curiosity will take them on many adventures, near and far.
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We believe that our children’s ability to create and innovate will determine their success in their future careers.
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We believe that schools should be designed with children in mind, not standardized tests.
Our Promise
At Mid-South Gifted Academy, students will:
- Be loved
- Experience joy and purpose in their schoolwork and learning
- Look forward to attending school each day
- Have a sense of belonging as part of a collaborative learning community
- Learn how to learn and how to ask the right questions
- Have time to wonder, dream, think, and create
- Become voracious readers
- Pursue passions and interests without apology
- Become critical thinkers and creative problem solvers
- Be fully engaged in active learning
- Be appropriately challenged and understand that failure is essential for growth
- Develop grit and resilience by taking healthy risks
- Build confidence and self-efficacy
- Develop lasting friendships
- Understand that they are the writers of their own story
- Discover their gifts and talents and use them to make the world a better place
- Understand that a loving, kind, and caring spirit trumps everything
Our Academic Focus
The academic focus of Mid-South Gifted Academy is the incorporation of standard school subjects (language arts, reading, mathematics, science and social studies) into project-based learning opportunities. Our students use the latest adaptive technologies for personalized learning at their own pace. These include programs such as Khan Academy, IXL, and Duolingo.
Methods such as reading and writing workshops, student blogs, personal goal-setting, academic choice, and Socratic discussion reinforce key concepts and allow for demonstration of mastery. Projects ask students to solve real-world problems incorporating aspects of past and future innovation and discoveries to help students understand that solutions happen within a social framework based on society’s needs.
Utilizing the concept of journeys, students work on specific projects in 3 to 6 week blocks. Each academic quarter, students complete a project presentation in front of parents and community members to demonstrate their learning. The project-based curriculum follows a historical progression of innovation and discovery beginning in the ancient world all the way to the modern world in a four-year plan found in the classical curriculum, Story of the World by Susan Wise Bauer.
For example, year one: Students will study historical figures and innovations of the ancient world in the context of how those discoveries impact us today as well as in the future. Students choose from a variety of methods during each project to fit their academic need. Projects also involve community leaders, innovators, scientists, and real-world practitioners where appropriate. This reinforces the need for discovery and how it applies in solving problems in people’s daily lives.
Mid-South Gifted Academy uses the Responsive Classroom approach to classroom management. Please follow the link to learn more.