Using technology to stimulate creativity. Having confidence to try teaching techniques outside the norm. Implementing movement and play in the special ed classroom. These are strategies that three young alumni teachers shared with Heidelberg education majors as part of the 2018 Education Summit this week.
Paige Atterholt, ’16, Allyson Guarino, ’16 (pictured above), and Kryssie Pratt, ’10, took the Ed Summit theme – “Burn the Worksheets: Student Learning in Innovative & Creative Classrooms” – to heart during their breakout session Friday morning.
The summit kicked off Thursday with a dynamic keynote presentation by Brian LaDuca, the executive director of the Institute of Applied Creativity for Transformation at ArtStreet (through the University of Dayton). The Education Department also welcomed California teacher and coach Walter Moody as a guest presenter.
During the breakout sessions, Paige, Allyson and Kryssie met with early childhood education students and their mentor teachers, demonstrating the role creative thinking plays in their classrooms.
Paige explained how she uses games of movement in her 6th- through 8th grade special ed classes at McPherson Middle School in Clyde. Combining games and prizes with some traditional techniques such as flash cards helps her students learn math concepts as well as important social skills.
“My activities are very simple. I know best what my students need and real-world applications in special ed is definitely what they need,” she said.
Allyson, who traveled from Parachute, Colorado, for the Ed Summit, talked about “Projects and Play for the Innovative Classroom.” Her district is fortunate to have 3D printers, which she’s implemented into her K-1st grade classroom. She utilized the technology to help students learn about severe weather.
“It’s important to pay attention to the process. That gets students to think deeper and practice the skills they’re learning,” she said.
Through play, Allyson has found that her students demonstrate “amazing creativity and problem solving.”
“Play can be messy and chaotic, but it’s OK because they know what’s going on. Play has led to some creative storytelling.”
Her advice to the future teachers: “Give your students the chance to think and be creative. When you do that, they’ll come up with some amazing ideas.”
For Kryssie, who teaches third grade in New Albany near Columbus, putting students in the driver’s seat of their learning is key. She implements a Genius Hour that allows students to choose a topic about which they’re passionate, research it and present it. She also uses computer science as a foundation to teach problem solving and computational thinking and a “breakout room,” similar to an escape room, where students learn teamwork, communication and perseverance.
As a seventh-year teacher, Kryssie believes “it’s OK to be different in the classroom.” The bottom line, she says, is that teachers make time for what’s important. “There’s always time to do what’s best for kids, so keep students at the forefront of what you’re doing.”