She has turned STEAM Night into SCREAM Night, swapping in computers for the activities centered around science, technology, engineering, the arts, and mathematics and giving the event a feel that suits Halloween. As they reach trick-or-treat destinations, students have to answer different math, science, and reading questions along the way.
“Her events are legendary,” said Oakside Prep Principal Amy Tansel. “From our whole school carnival to our SCREAM Night and everything in between, she makes magic happen for our students and families.”
The various parties and carnivals are probably the most fun for Holtzclaw, but she also has developed programs and activities that have become common practice among several National Heritage Academies (NHA) schools. From 2008-20 she worked alongside Tansel at Walton Charter Academy, where they started a fluency program aimed at achieving automaticity, helping students access math lessons more easily when solving more advanced problems.
The program started with multiplication facts and later added a general knowledge component to drill into students’ minds things such as conversions between different units of measurement.
“The goal was just to get them to have these little pieces,” Holtzclaw said. “We teach them these things, but we don't always come back and make sure that they know it and remember it. We don't want them to always have to be looking that stuff up, so that grew, and some other schools started doing similar things.”
The response was positive throughout grade levels at Walton. Holtzclaw hopes for the same effect in implementing those same programs at Oakside, which is ranked the No. 1 school in Pontiac.
“We got to the point where we could confidently say that over 90% of our kids were fluent in multiplication from third to eighth grade,” she said. “It happens over years, but we were able to make it.”
Holtzclaw always has been in the vicinity to hear students have those “aha” moments, going back to her father’s teaching days. She tries to incorporate games and incentives to help them find those initial successes that make what was once an impossible task, become doable.
“You don’t always love the idea of a teacher having to add something tangible but sometimes it's just necessary,” she said. “If that little Starburst is going to be the thing that gets a kid to do some math problems, then you know what? I’m giving them a Starburst.”
Keep up the excellent work, Mrs. Holtzclaw!
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About Oakside Prep Academy
Oakside Prep Academy is a tuition-free, public charter school in Waterford, Michigan, serving students in kindergarten through twelfth grade. It is part of the National Heritage Academies network, which includes more than 100 tuition-free, public charter schools serving more than 65,000 students in kindergarten through 12th grade across nine states. For more information, visit nhaschools.com.
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