New principal of Hanna/Elk Mountain/Medicine Bow (HEM) high school, Stephen Priest, wants to create a fun, hands on experience for students. "If we can get kids going home saying 'Oh, we did the coolest thing in social studies,' ... that's what we want," Priest said.
Priest attended Ohio State University for agricultural education, later going back to become certified in science education. It was then that he moved out to Wyoming, teaching science before taking on the position of tech facilitator last year while working on his administration certification. Priest has been in education for 13 years.
Priest learned his passion for education when he had an internship at Dupont doing research and an internship teaching, doing both to see what he really enjoyed. "After being in the classroom with a teacher, I realized that I really did like the education part. So, I switched my major to ag ed." Last year, according to Priest, he was still putting his agricultural education background to use, helping students participating in Future Farmers of America.
"I'm a pretty hands on person, and I think it comes from my background in vocational education and career tech education. I like hands on stuff and real life application," Priest said. "So that's my philosophy ... I think kids learn the abstract concepts when they can apply it to real life."
Priest points to "Teach Like a Pirate," a book by Dave Burgess, as a source of inspiration for his career as an educator. Priest would like to hold a "Teach Like a Pirate" day, where teachers organize an educational activity based on the philosophy that learning should be fun, which the students sign up for optionally. "The theory behind it is 'How many students will be there if they don't have to be there?'" Priest said.
"I'm kind of a tech geek, I guess. I like technology. I'll help our staff get used to the technology," Priest said of new technological changes within the district. "It'll be a slow process at first. We'll get our fast adopters using and then have them help the people who are slow adopters."
"That's all I ask of the staff, is to try it," Priest said.
"Down the road, the implementation of a Genius Hour type thing, where kids and teachers will work in groups on something they're interested in. It's not like a class, just something they're interested in to further their learning," Priest said of new efforts he's making for the school. "They work on something that they're interested in, whether it's robotics or whether it's programming ... the sky's the limit on what they're interested in."
"Learning happens all the time," Priest said of the idea for the Genius Hour. "and it doesn't have to be 'I'm learning to take a test' or 'I'm learning to get a grade.' [It can be] 'I'm learning because I'm interested in something,' 'I'm learning to have fun.'"
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