At the beginning of his superintendent's report to the board, Dr. Aaron Espolt introduced Keely Tolin, SMS Principal. Ms. Tolin described to board members the experiences her students and teachers have with Guided Inquiry Design, a framework for teaching and learning through inquiry.
Tolin then introduced Carol Jones, SMS librarian, who described Guided Inquiry Design and listed the state and national awards the school has received because of students' experience with the framework.
Tolin then introduced Jayme Hutchcraft, literature teacher, who described how 7th graders used Guided Inquiry Design last year in a cross-curricular unit involving geography, English, and literature courses. Hutchcraft then called on Sammy Thomas, Khloe Tungate, Alisha Patel, and Noah Bass, SMS students, who each gave a brief summary of the topics they researched using Guided Inquiry Design. They also described podcasts they each created and how they all felt like they were experts in their chosen topics.
Espolt said, "We keep asking ourselves what makes Shawnee Schools different and what makes us at the top of our game. This presentation shows what makes us different." He said Tolin, along with assistant principals Levi Dobrinski and Hannah Holland, do an outstanding job, and he praised the district leadership of Dr. Teresa Wilkerson and Jackie Noble. He said he was proud to watch these students come forward to speak about their work.
