New way of learning comes to Alberton School

Something that hasn’t changed as dramatically as most everything else over the past 100 years is the process that elementary education is conducted.

Generation after generation, the journey through the 12 years is just about the same. Our primary education structure has not revolutionized which might be one of the reasons young people are graduating with an absence of American history, reading levels of third grade students, and having no idea where Zimbabwe might be.

Jeff Crews has been the Superintendent of Alberton School for less than a year and admits that he came to this position in a roundabout way. He was a science teacher for 9 years in Lolo and LOVED it. He saw himself teaching science for the rest of his life but was bitten by the technology bug and became their Director of Technology for 5 years.

But he missed teaching and the interaction with kids. So, Crews jumped over to the University of Montana as part of a NASA project where their role was to take this world-class technology into the schools and introduce students to this amazing equipment.

After those dollars ran out, Crews acquired his doctorate in Education and along with Dean Phillips, who is now the Superintendent of Drummond School, started a company called Beyond the Chalk. This was teaching technology integration to students around the time Google was quickly growing and apps were being developed overnight.

And then it became more about the transformational learning in schools, meaning, how do we move from the traditional model of education to what education today needs to be.

“Let’s make it that when our students leave, they are competent, capable and good communicators as well as creative and critical thinkers”, he explains.

Alberton School was one of the schools Beyond the Chalkboard were supporting with technology assistance which is where Crews worked with Mica Clarkson, Alberton School Principal, and her visionary goal for the school meshed with Crews futurist targets.

They had several conversations over the time he was there for tech support, and he knew that Clarkson was trying to transform what was going on at Alberton School. So, when the Superintendent position became available, he applied and was hired and between the 2 of them, Project Based Learning became the classroom model.

“We’re trying to figure out the ropes, and again, Mica has been incredibly helpful as she has the institutional history and has established the preliminary work with the concept. It’s not that we (Alberton School) were not moving forward, but how do we continue to move forward with this new model and prepare our kids for the world, now,” he shares.

Clarkson added that many schools have initiated this transition and it’s different for each of them.

“Our roadmap will be unique for our students as we adjust the navigation stream when needed keeping it alive and flexible”, she smiles.

One of the PBL classes is taught by Nick Ehlers who is a Marine and Wildlife Biologist. It’s a yearlong class of in-depth study of the bighorn sheep population that lives in Petty Creek just west of Alberton.

One class is for middle school, and another is for high school students. He has help from Nathan Morris who is the collaborating teacher as well as the shop teacher and a STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) Instructor.

Ken Grinde is an editor with the International Wildlife Film Festival and is a volunteer helping the students. Grinde and Morrison are the instructors for the documentary that they are making while Ehlers is in the mountains with the students tracking, counting and observing their daily life cycles.

The Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks has loaned them two trail cameras as they monitor the 10 radio collared ewes (female sheep). The population depends on ewes and ‘lamb recruitment’ each year.

The largest band they have seen is 37 which is part of a much larger herd. Their field arsenal consists of a first aid kit, binoculars, GPS, receiver for radio signals, directional and Omni antennas, a camera for the video documentary and another one for still shots, laptop computer and an old-fashioned clipboard for notes and record taking with a No. 2 pencil.

Seventh grade student Kaelynn Nelson is very excited. “This is my favorite class because we go out into the field. Being outdoors in nature as I love to hike.” “When a ‘beep’ is heard, it signifies as a life,” said Tater Herman. “It’s a live ewe that we have picked up (on the radio signal). If it’s beeping fast, it means that they have not been moving 6 or 7 hours and has probably died. Or been killed. When it’s beeping slowly, then they are alive.

"We then mark it as one of the live banded sheep. The overall challenge is to mark as many as possible that have lived through the winter and spring and then locate them physically”, he said. “One was hit and killed by a car on Petty Creek, but that is the only loss that I believe that we know of this far”, said Shea Fredette.

Ehlers explains his feeling and theory of the newly adapted approach to education.

“Our whole goal in doing PBL is to eliminate that question that students ask; ‘Why do I need to do this? What good is this going to do for me in life? Why does it matter?’ Where our answer is ‘This is in your backyard. These animals. These places. It’s a part of your life so let’s discover how you relate and it’s meaning to you and our community’”.

All grades, PK -12 recently, held a Student Learning Exhibition Night which celebrated the projects they are working on or completed. Another one will be held in the spring as this is for parents to come and see what their children are working on. But the entire community is invited to the Alberton School Winter Concert and Art Exhibition Night which includes a visit from Santa on Dec. 15.