Creative Teaching Brings District Students Together

Advanced classes require some “out-of-the-box” learning and teaching. Three advanced language arts teachers: Kelli Mauer at Kennedy Community School, Courtney Schumacher at South Junior High School and Morgan Barrett at North Junior High School are the perfect example of how teaching in an unconventional way can spur intentional engagement.

Three years ago, Mauer, Schumacher and Barrett came up with the idea of teaching collaboratively across the district. Their advance language art classes are unique because they are three-year rotating classes in three schools. A student who joins advanced language arts (ALA) in sixth grade will be in that classroom for three years with the same teacher working alongside other sixth, seventh or eighth grade students. Because they are together for that length of time, the curriculum needs to change from year to year.

“When we knew it would be the three of us [teaching advanced language arts], we approached Laura [Steabner, Director of Elementary Curriculum and Gifted/Talented Program],” says Mauer. “It was really important for us that our class had a flow. Even though the class had been taught for a couple of years [by others], we hadn’t really had a say in the curriculum. We felt it was important that we knew what we were teaching and had some say in it.”

Steabner supported the idea and loved their proposal for integrated, project-based learning.

“These three teachers are truly committed to providing a unique experience for their students,” shares Steabner. “This group is consistently looking for meaningful ways to create connections between students and to enhance the learning experience.”

The trio meet weekly to discuss their projects, to make sure the content is relevant, up-to-date, and challenging their gifted and talented students.

One successful project students worked on prior to COVID was a photography and poetry assignment. Students took a photo and then wrote a poem to match. They then shared their projects with students from the other schools at their combined Photography and Poetry Gala. The pieces were on display at Kennedy Community School. Some students even read their poetry for the families in attendance.

The idea behind the photography/poetry project, aside from the curriculum, was to bring the students together. Many will attend high school together while others will interact with each other through different avenues.

“We felt it was really important that they have an overarching assignment that would have all three schools together,” says Schumacher. “A lot of our class is based on student discussion and student collaboration – the kids learning from each other.”

Barrett adds, “It [Gala] also added a lot of validity to the kids. When you have a big event at the end, it gives them more of a reason to do something than to just do it for the points. They are doing it for the experience and to share. … Students spend so much time on these assignments and they just get put in a drawer. Instead, the kids … get to do something that their family got to come see. It’s a moment of validity and reward.”

A favorite assignment among the trio and their students is NaNoWriMo (National Novel in Writing in a Month) where ALA students are challenged to write the beginning of a novel or to complete a short story in one month. Authors and kids participate in NaNoWriMo annually.

“We obviously share [stories] within the class,” says Mauer, “but when we [teachers] got together we were like, ‘Oh, you should see what this kid wrote!’ So, we decided to create a mass ALA course. We have one ALA course for all students [in Schoology] – no matter what school they are at. Essentially, we uploaded all the stories with no names on them. Then, we assigned them random stories to read … with some things to assess. I was amazed how many of my students read more stories than what they were assigned to.”

Many stories were cut to just ten pages for the assignment. However, several students asked for the remaining pages because they loved reading the stories.

“The kids, I think, just really enjoy getting to be creative,” shares Mauer. “When we tell them up front that we are going to share this to the other schools, it puts a little more on them to know other people are going to read it. It gives them more ownership, plus it is a standard – to share and collaborate on an internet platform.”

Director of Technology Ryan Cox is amazed at the collaboration between these teachers and students. He applauds how the teachers are using the SAMR (Substitution, Augmentation, Modification and Redefinition) teaching model that lays out four tiers of online learning. In an online format, teachers usually focus on the first two levels, which means replacing typical materials with digital. In the last two layers of the model, students create their own work across multiple media forms.

“This is exactly the type of opportunity we have been talking about as an example of the highest levels of SAMR using the Four C’s (Create, Communicate, Collaborate and Critical Thinking),” says Cox.

Then and Now

In the first year of collaborative teaching, Mauer, Schumacher and Barrett leaned on each other to teach the curriculum and worried about student collaboration between grade levels. They were pleasantly surprised. Students really took to the class and other students no matter the grade level.

“There is always a concern [in our class] that the sixth-graders would only hang out with the sixth-graders and so on,” explains Barrett. “We work as a team to collaborate across grade levels. The projects that we come up with, just on a daily basis, are so engaging and rigorous that the kids are taking responsibility over their own classroom. I’ve seen a big change in engagement over the years.”

Schumacher describes her classroom as a close-knit family. She says they’ve found kindred spirits within each other.

“As a stranger walking into my classroom,” says Schumacher, “you would not be able to tell who is a sixth-grader and who is an eighth-grader.”

Reflecting back on the last three years has taught the trio a good lesson. When COVID forced schools into distance learning, their teaching style made for an easy transition to collaborate online with students.

“Last year, [despite COVID], it was seriously one of the best ALA years as a teacher with other teachers because we got to meet with each other every week, not only about curriculum but with each other, and how we were doing when we were so apart from everyone else,” shares Schumacher.

The three teachers are excited about this new rotation. Mauer, Schumacher and Barrett are already brainstorming new ideas for the new incoming class. They can’t wait to introduce their new students to each other from across the district.

India Ratha, now a junior at Tech High School, wrote this poem as an eighth grade student at South Junior High in the advanced language arts class.

Wind
Wind

Wind

By: India Ratha

The freedom of a losing team,
The suffering of war.
To live a life that always sings
Of great forbidden lore.

A past life none have ever seen,
That’s held deep in your core.
A future sleeps in mystery,
Fog blows forevermore.

The freshest youth,
The newborn gold,
The fruits that none have bore.

The memories that confuse you,
Match none who’ve ever lived,
You always feel this deja vu,
That floats silently in wind.