Nancie Atwell founded the Center for Teaching and Learning in 1990 to bring to life the innovative principles of education that she had written about and traveled the country speaking about. Twenty-four years later, the Center for Teaching and Learning has touched thousands of students and tens of thousands of teachers, transforming their lives and their classrooms.
Atwell’s contributions to education earned her a place as one of 50 finalists for the Global Teacher Prize, an award sponsored by the Varkey Foundation to honor “one innovative and caring teacher who has made an inspirational impact on their students and their community”, according to the Global Teacher Prize website.
Five thousand teachers from around the world were nominated. Only 50 finalists were chosen. In mid-February, that number will be whittled down to 10, who will be invited to attend the Global Education and Skills Forum in Dubai, United Arab Emirates in March where the winner will be announced. The prize is a $1 million award.
“I was surprised and delighted,” Atwell said of learning that she was named a finalist. Atwell doesn’t know who nominated her, but she does know it was a former student. Atwell said she is hopeful she will win the prize, so she can turn every penny of it over to the Center for Teaching and Learning and ensure its continued operation.
The Center for Teaching and Learning, which is nestled on Cross Point Road in Edgecomb, looks like a typical house. Inside, staff, students, and teachers operate like a family. Atwell founded the Center for Teaching and Learning to serve as a “demonstration school.”
It was designed to not only provide students with a rich curriculum and supportive environment that would allow them to develop their talents, hone their skills, and succeed socially and academically. The school was also designed to teach teachers innovative educational practices and approaches to bring out the best in their students.
Atwell, a native of upstate New York, became a teacher through serendipity, she said. An English major at Buffalo State University College, Atwell signed up for a student teaching program. She thought it would be a good fall-back job. What Atwell found was her career.
“It felt like home,” she said of her first experience teaching. “It felt like this is what I was meant to do.”
Atwell moved to Lincoln County with her husband in 1975 to teach grade seven and eight English language arts at Boothbay Harbor Elementary School. She took a hiatus from teaching in the classroom when her daughter was born. Her role as an educator, however, never ended.
In 1987, Atwell published her seminal book “In the Middle: New Understanding About Writing, Reading, and Learning.” The book is currently in its third edition and has sold over 500,000 copies. Atwell worked as a consultant and was a sought-after public speaker in her years outside the classroom.
Recognizing the limitation of her role as a talking head, Atwell returned to the classroom. This time, however, the classroom Atwell returned to was of her own design. Through royalties from the sale of her book, Atwell established the Center for Teaching and Learning with the objective of developing and spreading “authentic, rigorous, and joyful methods of teaching,” according to the school’s website.
The Center for Teaching and Learning is a registered nonprofit that serves approximately 70 students in grades K-8. Atwell goes to great lengths to keep tuition for students low so the school can serve a broad cross-section of children. Students, staff, and teachers together create a culture of what Atwell called “kindness and thoughtfulness.”
At the Center for Teaching and Learning, first- and second-graders are grouped together, as are the third and fourth grades, the fifth and sixth grades, and the seventh and eighth grades. According to Atwell, the grouping has the benefit of creating a strong multiyear bond between teachers and students. It also enables older students to become mentors to the younger students.
Atwell said one of the organizational principles of the Center for Teaching and Learning started as a fluke. When the Center for Teaching and Learning first opened, it was a simple cape house. Students transitioned from one room to another for different subjects due to space constraints. The designated rooms for reading, writing, math, and science is something that has stayed with the center.
“There’s so little pent-up energy and antsyness among the students,” Atwell said. “It’s because they make transitions at natural points in the day. When they enter a new room, they take on the affect of that room.”
The rooms at the Center for Teaching and Learning are vibrant, covered with students’ work, and filled with books. The subjects, while distinct, feed into each other. The students’ art projects reinforce what they learn in science. Reading and writing is a critical aspect of every subject.
The family atmosphere that permeates the Center for Teaching and Learning is cultivated through rituals like the morning meeting, where the whole school gathers to sing songs, hear announcements, and start the day in an uplifting way.
Teachers, staff, and students are all on a first-name basis, a practice that was instituted to help communication with parents, Atwell said. “It’s less formal for parents,” Atwell said. “It lets them know that we’re on the same team.”
Atwell said on the first day of school every student is told, “you can’t say you can’t play,” which has created a culture of inclusiveness. “Bullying doesn’t exist here,” Atwell said.
Choice is another critical component of the Center for Teaching and Learning. Students have the ability to choose what they want to read and write, and are free to develop their own research projects for history, science, and math.
Conversation is emphasized and encouraged at the Center for Teaching and Learning. “Students here feel that they have something to say,” Atwell said. “Everyone speaks and everyone is listened to.”
Each year, teachers from around the world flock to the Center for Teaching and Learning. Through weeklong internships, teachers experience firsthand the innovative approach to education that is the everyday routine at the school.
Despite the restraints that common core standards and standardized tests have placed on public school teachers, Atwell said many teachers are able to find creative ways to create some wiggle room and implement some of the principles they observe at the center in their own classrooms.
In addition to the internships, Atwell estimated more than 30,000 teachers have attended seminars hosted by Center for Teaching and Learning educators. Collectively, the educators at the Center for Teaching and Learning have published approximately 13 books, spreading their unique approach to education.
Regardless of whether Atwell is selected to travel to Dubai for the Global Teacher Prize, the Center for Teaching and Learning will be there. The BBC recently spent three days at the school filming every moment of the day. The footage will be presented at the March conference in Dubai.
Despite Atwell’s role as an educator, she said one of the reasons she loves the Center for Teaching and Learning is because she learns when she is there. “This is a joyful place,” she said. “It’s a stimulating place. There’s a lot of laughter and I get to learn. In my seventh decade, I’m still a learner.”
