Nancie Atwell, a resident of Southport and founder of Edgecomb’s Center for Teaching and Learning, received an Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from the University of New Hampshire May 21. Atwell, who is considered a national leader and visionary in the area of literacy instruction, said she was “dumbfounded” when she learned of the honor.
“This may have been one of the only times in my life that I was speechless,” she said. “I don’t even have a master’s degree.”
Atwell was nominated for the honor by the UNH Department of English and selected by the Honorary Degrees and Awards Committee, comprised of faculty, staff, and students. The letter of nomination calls Atwell a “passionate and articulate proponent of offering students choice and support so they might become truly engaged readers and writers… She continually raises the ante showing students the way forward, giving them an idea of the readers and writers they might become. Her book “In the Middle” is an indisputable classic and arguably one of the most significant books on teaching in the 20th century.”
According to CTL’s website, the book has sold over a half a million copies and the royalties were used underwrite the initial construction of CTL in 1990. Atwell, who taught at Boothbay Elementary for 12 years, said the idea for the school came while she was on the lecture circuit after her daughter was born.
“I realized there were severe limits on what I could show people about good teaching as just a talking head,’ said Atwell. “So I started to play with the idea of starting a school and in 1990, CTL was born.”
The CTL, which Atwell calls a laboratory school without a university, attracts teachers from across the country that come to study their innovative teaching methods. The school has even caught the interest of Gov. Paul LePage who recently toured CTL’s Edgecomb campus during his “Capital For A Day” initiative in Lincoln County on May 20.
“Because we’re a demonstration school we seek regular kids,” said Atwell. “Because who couldn’t teach the children of wealthy college educated parents?”
The school currently has 80 students from 23 different communities with a variety of socio-economic backgrounds. As a testament to the schools emphasis on literacy, Atwell said the students will read, on average, 53 books a school year. For the K-8 history and science curricula, the school offers paired concepts such as ancient civilizations and systems and the first Americans and water.
Atwell said public schools could learn from the methods of the CTL to try and “engage kids differently.”
“We’re trying to show what can be done, within what the state requires, with education,” said Atwell. “I have serious qualms with charter schools because I think they will suck the life out of public schools. Maine has suffered since standardized testing robbed teachers of their autonomy. Smart thinking teachers are being driven out of the profession, this is a problem.”
