School: Southampton Township School
Location: Southampton Township, NJ
Technology and STEAM Teacher: Ronald N.
Grade Levels: 3 - 8
Throughout his entire career, Southampton Township School STEAM and Technology teacher, Ronald N., has been advocating for students to shift from being passive consumers to creators of content. However, making that shift in a classroom setting, which focuses on teacher-driven instruction and assignments, makes that goal a challenge to bring to fruition.
As such, Ronald’s early finishers in class were often told to read or play an educational game - ie: consume passive content - while waiting for their peers to catch up. It was during a search for something more meaningful to enrich the educational experience for students of every learning level that Ronald found Tract.
Impressed with the built-in ability for students to both take and make learning paths (in a familiar social media format that kids love), Ronald started introducing Tract to his early finishers as something active to do in place of other educational games and activities.
“All of my students have skills and unique talents. Tract offers them a space to share what they’re good at with their peers in a YouTube style format they’re familiar with, with the added benefit of a safe and secure environment to do it.”
- Ronald N., Teacher at Southhampton Township School
Empowering Students to Learn at Their Own Pace
Once students began creating their own learning paths, the hype of the platform “spread like wildfire amongst all of the students,” Ronald said.
Along with empowering early finishers to learn, create, and share on Tract, Ronald began incorporating Tract into his lesson plans by assigning specific learning paths as classwork.
For example, in a recent unit covering plastic pollution in the ocean, instead of giving a lecture, Ronald assigned related learning paths for students to learn about the topic, and was floored by the effort and creative spin they put into their projects on Tract. One student, in particular, went even deeper into a topic by researching charities working to stop ocean pollution to share with his peers.
“Before Tract, I would’ve just assigned research and follow up work after a lecture. Now, I’m able to empower students to work at their own pace, rather than having to try and keep up with the whole class,” Ronald said. “They’re even diving deeper into assignments and researching further - something they didn’t do before.”
Enhancing Student Engagement
Ronald shared that since having his students create on Tract, he’s seen their engagement grow significantly, thanks to the variety of topics and interests available for them to explore.
Southampton Township School students are also staying active and engaged in their education thanks to the opportunity to earn Coins (an experience-based currency exclusive to Tract), which keeps a friendly competition going amongst peers.
A Perfect Fit to Integrate the 4 C’s in Education
When asked if he’d recommend Tract to others, Ronald shared, without hesitation, “yes,” and plans to roll it out to his entire school during their next professional development day.
Ronald noted that the ability to create their own learning paths takes students from being consumers of content to creators of meaning, something he’s advocated for throughout his teaching career. In this process, students get the chance to leverage the 4 C’s (critical thinking, creativity, communication, collaboration) in a fun and engaging way as they think about how they’ll best get their message across.
“If you want your students to practice these critical 21st century skills - which they’ll need to be successful in the workforce - Tract is it.”
- Ronald N., Teacher at Southhampton Township School
