“Renewal gives us an opportunity to meet our students where they are—and it also gives our students so many opportunities they wouldn’t get in another district. Renewal is the only district where we get to work with students on such a personalized level. From our connections to the community to our classes, it really makes a difference.”
Science instructor Erik Barton was, as he describes himself, a “less-than-average student” in high school, simply because he hated school.
He often found himself bored and ignoring his lessons. Erik credits this experience as one of his biggest motivators as a Renewal teacher. He knows what it feels like to be checked out of school—today, that means he knows what it takes to bring students back in.
Erik started his career working in science labs. When he learned that he could use his expertise to teach at a Renewal school, he changed careers. He fell in love with teaching and hasn’t looked back since. Now, he has his master’s degree in school administration and teaches sixth, seventh and eight grade science courses.
Erik’s philosophy when it comes to teaching is drawing connections for his students. He knows if he reads from a book about diet and nutrition, he’s going to lose the average 12 year old’s attention. However, research shows that if students understand how a topic relates to them, or for many if they can visualize it, the lesson becomes much more relatable. That’s why Erik makes his lessons fun—for example, teaching his students how to read and interpret nutritional labels, so they can “outsmart” the big snack companies by not falling for their advertising tricks. Any of his middle schoolers can now tell you that rice crispy treats are better for you than Nutri-Grain bars!
Erik shares that being a Renewal School System gives teachers like him the opportunity to take risks—they can try new lesson plans and approaches to teaching. He talks about his role as a Renewal teacher, saying:
“One of our big focuses is helping students find and reach their life goals, and we get to show them how our lessons fit into those goals. Things are so different now than they were 5, 10, 15 years ago even. The kids are different, the workforce is different, their experiences are different. Education should be too, and that’s what we get to do here.”
Erik calls Renewal far from traditional—it’s an approach that’s working not just for Renewal teachers, but Renewal students, too.
