BY: JESSICA BEUKER

There is a school in the rural town of Edgecomb, Maine that is unlike any other. Every classroom has a library, there are no standardized tests, and every religious and cultural holiday is not only respected, but also celebrated. Classes are small and the students pick the material they write about and the books that they read – about 40 per year, which is well above the national average. The school is thriving and it’s all because of the world’s best teacher, Nancie Atwell.

In this school every classroom has a library, there are no standardized tests, and every religious and cultural holiday is not only respected, but also celebrated.

Atwell has been changing what it means to be a teacher for 25 years, ever since she created the Center for Teaching and Learning (CTL). Based upon her philosophy of “give kids choices,” the school lets students and teachers learn alongside each other, and encourages creativity. She believes that students will invest in their learning if they can find real curiosity and passion.

The school lets students and teachers learn alongside each other, and encourages creativity.

According to the Guardian, earlier this year Atwell received the first ever Global Teacher Prize, which is dubbed the Nobel Prize of teaching. The money she received from the award – a hefty $1 million – she put directly into CTL. “We will have a very healthy book-buying fund,” Atwell told the Guardian. “It’s the thing we never have enough of.”

Earlier this year Atwell received the first ever Global Teacher Prize, which is dubbed the Nobel Prize of teaching.

Atwell founded CTL after discovering that her students weren’t becoming hooked on the books or writing prompts she assigned them. She began a search for inspiration, according to the Guardian, and stumbled across the work of Donald Graves, a professor of early childhood education and the pioneer of the “Writing Workshop.” Writing Workshop is a teaching framework that focuses on student choice and self-expression.

Atwell founded CTL after discovering that her students weren’t becoming hooked on the books or writing prompts she assigned them.

With that framework as the backbone of her classroom, Atwell takes the standard curriculum but approaches it differently. Students are encouraged to research what they find interesting in each course. They advance at their own pace and spend a lot of one-on-one time with teachers. Teachers assess the students’ progress daily and students keep portfolios of their work throughout the year. Currently there are about 75 students in her school from kindergarten to grade eight.

Students are encouraged to research what they find interesting in each course. They advance at their own pace and spend a lot of one-on-one time with teachers.

But students aren’t the only ones benefitting from the program. According to GoodNewsNetwork, teachers from around the world are offered four-day internships to spend alongside the students and learn from Atwell’s methods. She hopes they will integrate the Writing Workshop method into their own classrooms. “Teachers are being essentially asked to be technicians, to read a script, and the script is not valid,” Atwell said to the Guardian. “[Test scores] are all that counts right now. It’s all data analysis, metrics and accountability. It’s a business model that has no business being applied to the craft of teaching or the science of learning.”

Atwell also says that the new method works well in diverse classrooms and with students from all different backgrounds. She even makes a point to expose the students to as many cultures as possible. “We celebrate the Chinese New Year, the Day of the Dead, the start of Lent, the end of Ramadan,” she told the Guardian. “I want them to have a knowledge of and passion for the whole of society, and not just the tiny little slice they’re exposed to here in rural Maine.” Atwell’s teaching methods have already branded her world’s best teacher, a title that she will continue to live up to as she inspires and ignites the minds of the future.

“We celebrate the Chinese New Year, the Day of the Dead, the start of Lent, the end of Ramadan,” she told the Guardian. “I want them to have a knowledge of and passion for the whole of society, and not just the tiny little slice they’re exposed to here in rural Maine.”

Image sources: west-info.eu,  globalteacherprize.org,  timeinc.net,  patch.com,  globalteacherprize.org,  varkeyfoundation.org