A second school in the Plymouth School Corporation has been named a demonstration site by the New Tech Network (NTN). NTN sites focus on teaching students “how to learn” as opposed to “what to learn” by incorporating projects and presentations into the curriculum.
The Innovation Academy at Riverside Intermediate is now a demonstration site approved to give tours to national, state and local schools on the newest technology methods. The WSOI (Weidner School of Inquiry (Plymouth High School) was named a demonstration site earlier this year.
Riverside Principal Jeni Hirchy and Instructional Coach Lauren Cooper completed the application for the honor in April of this year.
Cooper said, “It’s great for our teachers to be able to showcase their work along with their student’s success, as they open the doors for other schools to visit and learn about NTN and possibly becoming part of the network community.”
Amy Gerard, director of project based learning, said, “Rigorous student centered learning that includes an abundant amount of reading, writing, and discussing prepares our learners for the future.”
Riverside students Chloe Garner and Makala Wilson had positive things to say about the project-based classes. Garner said, “We aren’t just reading out of a textbook. We are researching and learning everything we can about subjects.” Wilson said, “We get to learn by using technology and we have guest speakers come in and talk about subjects we are learning about.” She added,” We are graded by agency, collaboration, knowledge and thinking, oral communication, and written communication instead of traditional grades.”
Superintendent Daniel Tyree said the demonstrations are helpful for both Plymouth teachers and students. Tyree said,” As a demonstration site, we have to be prepared for visitors in our schools watching what we do and to answer their questions.” He added, “That helps our teachers and our students in NTN to be working with fidelity to the process. In other words, it makes us better at what we do.” Tyree said they hope that other Plymouth NTN schools will also become demonstration sites next year.
Carol Anders Correspondent
