EDGECOMB, Maine — The morning meeting is a tradition at the Center for Teaching and Learning in Edgecomb. The school day begins with students in kindergarten through eighth grade putting on slippers, cuddling together on pillows, singing songs and reciting poems to start the day in a joyful way.
The ritual is just one of the unique features of the nonprofit school that earned school founder Nancie Atwell international recognition as winner of the 2015 Global Teacher Prize.
On Friday, media outlets, community members, former students, parents, representatives from the offices of U.S. Sens. Susan Collins and Angus King, and representatives from Heinemann, the company that published Atwell’s seminal book “In the Middle,” joined the Center for Teaching and Learning for its morning meeting to welcome Atwell home.
Atwell described her trip to Dubai, United Arab Emirates, for the Global Education and Skills Forum and the bombardment of interviews and media attention as “a whirlwind.”
In the morning meeting, attended by more than 100 extra guests, Atwell focused her attention on the students.
She told them about the “over the top” architecture of Dubai — home to the world’s largest skyscraper, the warm weather, the sea shells she brought back from the Persian Gulf for a student’s collection and commented on how thin Bill Clinton, formerly the butt of jokes for being overweight, had become.
She received tulips, hugs and homemade signs from students. One student updated Atwell about her cat that ate all the cat food in her bowl.
Students, staff and attendants recited the poem “The Teacher,” written by a former student, and sang “The Nancie Song,” written by Ted DeMille who teaches first and second grade at the school.
Songs and poetry are a part of every morning meeting at the Center for Teaching and Learning.
“Nancie started the school day with singing so we can raise our voices every morning,” DeMille said before leading the audience in song.
“We’ll tell you a story about Nancie Atwell,” they sang. “She started a school called CTL. Then many years later she went to Dubai. And came back with the Global Teacher Prize … So while the world is watching and the cameras roll. We wanna tell Nancie we love her so.”
A montage of former students, many who went on to become teachers, sent their congratulations to Atwell. Many thanked her for helping them become the people they are today.
The winner of the Global Teacher Prize was a closely guarded secret, Atwell said, and only five people knew the identity. Code names were developed for the 10 finalists so as not to give away the secret. Atwell was referred to as “Bob” and “Dumbledore,” the Harry Potter character.
Atwell said she didn’t realize her name was called when Sunny Varkey of the Varkey GEMS Foundation, sponsor of the Global Teacher Prize, announced the winner. It was not until Kiran Bir Sethi, the Global Teacher Prize finalist from India, leaned over and hugged her that Atwell realized she was the winner.
Atwell’s daughter, Ann Atwell-McLeod, a seventh- and eighth-grade reading and writing teacher at the Center for Teaching and Learning, accompanied Atwell to Dubai for the ceremony. One of the greatest moments of the Global Teacher Prize ceremony, Atwell-McLeod said, was seeing the footage of Center for Teaching and Learning students.
“There was a gorgeous ceremony. We were sitting there in this incredibly loaded moment,” Atwell-McLeod said. “Then we saw the film of our kids halfway across the world. We were both sobbing. It made us remember what we were there for.”
During a news conference following the morning meeting, Atwell said she hopes to use her new platform on the international stage to challenge Common Core standards and what she said is the negative effect they have had on the teaching profession.
According to Atwell, teachers are being scapegoated for problems in the educational system. The new educational standards are not allowing educators to teach children in developmentally appropriate ways and engage them in the learning process, she said.