Search This Blog

Tuesday, February 8, 2011

Sprint encourages future payoff

by Rachel Ranfeld
In the Sprint program, also known as Talented and Gifted (TAG), Abby Clark aspires to provide her students with opportunities to develop critical and creative thinking as well as communication and technology skills they can use later in life.
“I hope my students will walk away from this class with more open minds,” said Clark. She also quotes Albert Einstein, “You cannot solve a problem from the frame of mind that created the problem in the first place.”
This class is unlike any other offered at Montezuma in the sense that the student is his/her own teacher, much like life itself. It is a challenge, but well worth the payoff if students put their best efforts forward.
Students in grades 7-11 embark on creating the structure of learning with Clark's guidance. Throughout the semester, each student will study in-depth any one topic of his/her interest. They begin by designing a layout of how they will learn the material, a rubric for Clark to grade them and a final product to display at the end of the semester. 
So far, students and their projects are: juniors Natalie Kirton with sign language and Rachel Ranfeld with proofreading; sophomores Katie Benson with medical college research and Alyssa Lyddon with photography; freshmen Colleen Johnston with college research, Elijah Bryan with the successes, failures and consequences of D-Day, Damionn Burk with the impacts of music, Courtney Peterson with college research and Katelyn Gregory with veterinary research; 8th graders Vincent Bushong with the history of warfare, Trevor Moyer with the basics of physics and Morgan Benson with natural disasters; and 7th graders Cole Corbin with camping tools and parks, Trent Salsman with physical education and Tyler Geiger with politics.

No comments: