Dubai: Nancie Atwell’s out-of-the-box approach to education is what makes her a million-dollar teacher.
Not only does she gift her students freedom of thought, Atwell also encourages other teachers around the world to follow her lead.
Atwell was awarded the $1 million Global Teacher Prize on Sunday at the Global Education and Skills Forum 2015, an award that aims to shine the spotlight on the role teachers play in education.
The 63-year-old teacher from the US who started teaching in 1973, realised early in life that innovative teaching methods were the only way to ensure education achieved its highest goals.
This line of thinking inspired Atwell to open the Centre for Teaching and Learning in 1990, a kindergarten to Grade 8 non-profit school.
“The new methods focus on the belief that children need to choose the books and ideas they want to read and write about. I can’t say enough about the power of a story in aiding learning and the need for children to choose what they want to learn,” she told Gulf News.
These precepts may seem simple, but Atwell says they are really not — because every student’s learning interests have to be accounted for. “You have to have conversations with each of the 25 students in the class to find out what they want to write and read about, as opposed to just giving one course to the whole class,” she said.
Atwell, who teaches English at a writing-reading workshop at her school, raised the average number of books read by her Grade 8 students to 40 per year in 14 genres.
On an average, children in the US read 6-10 books a year.
Many of Atwell’s students have become published authors and 97 per cent of her school’s graduates have been admitted to university.
“My worry about education now is that we are so focused on which programmes and technology to integrate that we have ignored the importance of writing and reading. We have forgotten about what children want to learn. We have missed the goal of what they want to be in the future. We are so focused on programmes that we neglect why and what we want them to learn,” Atwell said.
She also believes that other challenges in education include training and resistance to introducing ideas outside the curriculum.
“I think that like practising doctors, teachers should get continuous training. Other challenges teachers face are transforming methods and theories to practical lessons, especially when there are restrictions and resistance in introducing things outside the curriculum.”
Along with her staff, Atwell publishes books and journals about their research results and educational innovations.
“Hundreds of teachers around the world also visit the schools for a week to learn about the latest practices,” she said.
So far, 600 teachers from across the US and the world have benefited from seminars and visits.
Atwell also actively seeks children from underprivileged families to serve on a student body.
At her school, the approximately 75 pupils (she only accepts up to 80 students a year) benefit from a library in every room, where there are tens of thousands of books to choose from.
Atwell has written nine books on teaching since 1976.
Was she expecting to win the $1 million prize?
Atwell confessed to being shocked at being the winner. “I said: ‘Did he just say my name’!”
Atwell plans to use all her prize money for the Centre for Teaching and Learning to fund tuition, buy books and renovate the school grounds.
Thanks to the prize, for the next 10 years Atwell will not have to worry about a child not being able to join her school.
The other nine finalists included: Kiran Bir Sethi from India, Jacqueline Jumbe-Kahura from Kenya, Naomi Volain from the US, Madenjit Singh from Malaysia, Richard Spencer from the UK and Stephen Ritz from the US, Azizullah Royesh from Afghanistan, Phalla Neang from Cambodia and Guy Etienne from Haiti.
The winners were chosen by a global academy comprising Oscar-winner Kevin Spacey, Carina Wong, Deputy Director of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and others.
