Big ideas Innovative Local School Districts

BIG›IDEAS

Innovative Local School Districts Host Leaders from Throughout the Country

Two of Butler County’s most innovative school districts played hosts to hundreds of school leaders and teachers visiting from around the nation, showing off their digitally focused learning programs.

The League members represent 125 districts in 34 states serving more than 3.8 million students, and Middletown and Lakota are among the few area districts to seek and earn digital learning certification to be of the national organization.

For school leaders from Ohio and out of state touring Middletown’s Amanda Elementary, that meant many things, including getting to toss some dodge balls around but not at each other. District officials wanted to show off their “Lu” interactive math projection video game designed to grow both math skills and student athleticism. The virtual reality immersion game, projected onto Amanda’s gym wall, saw the guest educators scrambling like kids to throw the balls at the proper math answers and raking up a winning score as energetic music pumped through speakers.

It left some of the guest players breathless but all of them impressed.

Keith Konyk, assistant superintendent from a Pittsburgh-area school system, said these on-site visits to cutting-edge school systems “is the most powerful part of the League of Innovative Schools is to come and see what other folks are doing.”

“We steal these ideas every time we go on tour and take these things back to our schools. We are really excited about a lot of the ideas we have seen from these meetings,” said Konyk.

“The Lu is really amazing and I loved how it keeps kids active,” he said.

Rebekah Kim, executive director from a Seattle-area school system, said the Middletown schools tour showed her “a lot of student pride in the schools and it’s exciting to see that at a young age.”

“There is a really evident culture of engagement for the teachers

and so you see that show up in the classroom,” said Kim.

“It’s important for us (League members) to share our innovations and learn from others as we go on these annual visits,” she said.

Kim recalled how in recent years Middletown Superintendent Marlon Styles Jr. toured her Seattle-area district’s student aviation career program and now she got a chance to visit Middletown’s version recently created — in partnership with Butler Tech — at the city’s airport.

Elizabeth Beadle, spokeswoman for the 6,300-student Middletown district, said “hosting the Digital Promise League of Innovative Schools members is an exciting moment … especially for our teachers and staff.”

“Not only will our schools showcase their students and share their innovative approaches to teaching with our hundred-plus guests from across the nation, but they will also get to celebrate the hard work of their profession with other educators,” said Beadle.

Matt Miller, superintendent of Lakota Schools, said hosting other educators strengthens a nationwide support network that often leads to local learning innovations.

And including student involvement in the tour hosting and presentations is also a key component of showcasing Lakota, said Miller.

“It was important to us that our students, at all grades, are involved in the building tours. They tell our story best and we hope the members of the league will leave here with ideas that they can take back and implement in their districts.”

“It’s important for us (League members) to share our innovations and learn from others as we go on these annual visits,” Kim said.

[ TEACHER SPOTLIGHT ] Teresa Howe

MIddletown Math Teacher is Committed to the Community BY REID MAUS

Teachers do so much more than just teach. They guide and supplement you through life. At a young age, Teresa Howe realized just how instrumental coaches and instructors were to her life, and wanted to give back the same way.

“I was raised in a broken family and the teachers and coaches were the guidance that I needed,” said Howe.

Before reaching the sixth grade, Howe had lived in 11 homes and went to six different schools. She knew firsthand how important a teacher’s role in developing kids beyond the classroom is.

“I had great role models and that’s why I chose Middletown. I wanted to make sure that I, myself, was giving back at the same capacity,” Howe said.

Howe has been teaching at Middletown for 32 years, serving as a math teacher at the middle school for the vast majority of her time. Her upbringing brought her to the Middies a little over three decades ago, and she hasn’t looked back.

“I wanted to be in a district where I could truly make an impact. Not just educationally, but building rapport and being a supportive role model for students. That was huge for me,” she said. “A lot of different districts offered me jobs. But Middletown is where I wanted to be, and I stayed here. I loved it. I loved knowing that I make a difference for kids.”

Howe grew up in northwest Ohio and made her way to the area when she played basketball at the University of Dayton. She lived in the Dayton suburbs since graduating college, but moved into the Middletown School District recently, furthering her commitment to the community.

Howe has no desire of retiring, as she still feels she has some good to do in her profession.

“Right now, my focus is still on these kids,” she said. “What I enjoy most is when I get to see the accomplishments of former students. When they come to me and share their successes, it is just the greatest feeling. It truly fires me up.”

Over the past two schools years, Howe has had over a dozen students whose parents she also taught– a reminder of how long she has been teaching and how many lives she’s affected. ❑