VISALIA, Calif. (KSEE) – A local teacher at Riverway Elementary School is breaking barriers with her unique teaching style.
Mrs. Mackenzie Noyola at Riverway Elementary School has her hands full this year. When she’s not coaching cheerleading or helping out with student council, she can be found grooming young minds in her sixth-grade classroom.
But the standard learning lectures and teaching models don’t really happen in this classroom. The class of over thirty students learns from Mrs. Noyola in an interactive way and you won’t find Mrs. Noyola sitting at her teacher’s desk very often. She’s constantly walking around and creating interactive activities to get her students going.
Student Celina Martinez has benefited from this style of learning. She’s even made it to honors classes this year.
“Mrs. Noyola made sure to be mindful of how I felt towards her type of learning way and her being mindful of how I receive the ways of her learning has helped me evolve in so many ways,” said Martinez.
If it’s not prepping her students for honors, Mrs. Noyola also gives her students the confidence to learn and make mistakes.
“I was nervous to do presentations but now that I have a good teacher, I want to do it now and I want to come to school now because I didn’t last year, I didn’t want to come to school but now that I have Mrs. Noyola I love coming to school,” says Alyssa Alvarez, a student in Mrs. Noyola’s class.
Mrs. Noyola also added that teaching this new generation of young minds requires a different learning style, and maybe getting away from the traditional homework assignments.
“I give them homework like you need to clean your room, this week you’re gonna cook something and record yourself on a video showing me that you’re cooking something tell me how you’re helping your family,” says Mrs. Noyola.
The biggest lesson of all that Mrs. Noyola wants her students to learn is to rely on themselves.
“Once they get to middle school they’re gonna be going to all these different classes and they need to understand that it’s their responsibility for themselves,” says Mrs. Noyola.
