Teaching a class can be more than just writing on a board. It can be interactive. It can involve movement throughout the classroom.

This is why Staples is now one of various schools across the country chosen to participate in the Public Broadcasting Service’s (PBS) newest project: The Teaching Channel.

“The aim of this program is to share great teaching practice,” PBS producer Beth Newell said. “This way, teachers around the country can access new lesson ideas and teaching styles.”

This program, which is accompanied by a website, is the latest addition to a line of PBS programs praising and sharing the work of teachers across the country.

But why Staples? As the No. 1 high school in the state according to Connecticut Magazine, Staples was an “obvious pick” as a “great school,” Newell said.

The lessons being filmed at Staples will be conducted by teachers from the English, mathematics, and science departments, featured in a series called “Great Lesson Ideas.” This will include five-minute segments showing the lesson plans, as well as a brief interview with the teacher of that class. This gives insight on how certain teachers teach effectively, as well as offering new lesson plans.

“It’s about teachers being celebrated and refreshing ideas,” Newell said.

Honored to participate, the department chairs sent out an email to all of the teachers within their departments looking for interesting lesson plans, emphasizing the importance of  “technique and strategy” within them. Various teachers then submitted their lesson plans to PBS, to be selected for the program that would help give teachers new and creative ideas to hold students interest and could be work in any school.

“They were looking for something that could be easily replicated,” English teacher, Krisitin Veenema said. Many schools do not have the advantages in technology and other various resources, but these new lesson clips may help them teach to the best of their abilities no matter the social or economic circumstance.

In Veenema’s English class, PBS filmed her “Text Rendering” lesson. In this activity, the students extracted significant words and phrases from original text and use them to create a new text. Through this process, she gets the class to interpret the original text through their rendering, further understanding the piece of literature.

“It wasn’t the most fluid lesson,” Veenema said, “but the results were still great.” Although she tried to get the best results from her lesson, the producer saying, “Wait, can you say that again?” frequently interrupted the flow of the class.

Even with the visible cameras and the choppiness of the class, the students acted “normally” Veenema said. She felt they understood the purpose of this program and were very cooperative during filming. In Veenema’s class, the results were even more surprising than she would find in a regular class. “Students more quiet in the class really came alive,” said Veenema. “It was an awesome unintended positive.”

English teacher, Mary Elizabeth Fulco, had a “Silent Tea Party” for her filmed lesson plan.

“It fits what they’re looking for,” Fulco said. In her class, her sophomores had just started reading Catcher in theRye, by JD Salinger. In this lesson plan, the students received a strip of paper with quotes from the novel and without talking, were obligated to interact with other students to piece together the main character: Holden.

With a small class of just 15 student’s, the PBS program was able to capture the silent interaction at a more intimate level. Every student was filmed multiple times from shaking hand after switching quotes to giving their own analysis during full class discussions.

A huge part of the program was showing how someone could teach a class while incorporating the idea of movement; in Fulco’s case, exploring quotes nonverbally.  The end result was impressive. The class had an open discussion about the main point of the quotes and ultimately figured out what the main point of the quotes was, guided by pure student eagerness to participate with one another and fueled by Fulco’s encouragement and praise.

Fulco’s innovative teaching is just one example of how Staples is a top school. This is why PBS ultimately decided to film Staples teachers for their new program.

“This is a great school with fantastic teachers,” Newell said.