MISSOULA - This week's One Class at a Time winner is Michele McGuire, a teacher from Target Range School in Missoula.
While most of Ms. McGuire's time is spent teaching middle school students about world cultures, she gets to spend some time helping her students explore their passions.
“I mean when you tell a kid they can make a product about anything - there’s a spark," explained McGuire. "That’s their engine of curiosity that’s going to drive them beyond where they would normally want to go.”
That’s exactly what McGuire’s elective class is all about — passion projects that ignite the spark of learning.
“When we did our passion projects — it gets me a little choked up actually," McGuire shared. "They [her students] came up with this all on their own to go interview a senior and find out how their lives were different.”
Some students have decided to interview one senior at a nursing home once a week and record advice from the elderly for future generations.
Other students have teamed up to build a scooter. With her $250 grant, Ms. McGuire will be able to fund some of the expenses with these projects.
“It’s all them - I didn’t come up with it at all, but it’s a beautiful thing, it really is," McGuire said.
As McGuire works with her students to make their plans & projects doable, she hopes that her students find what they really love.
“I told them this too, I’ll know that you’re working on your passion project cause I won’t have to tell you to work on it - you’re gonna do it cause you love doing it," McGuire said. "So find that thing that you love.”
