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Facing shrinking enrollment and in danger of closing its doors, in 2007, the Newton (KS) School District reestablished Newton as a public charter school. Bolstered by Charter School Program funds from the U.S. Department of Education, the Walton 21st Century Rural Life Center became the first public school in the nation to completely incorporate agriculture into its elementary classrooms and curricula.

Today's school curriculum presents students with assignments that lack a real-world context and activities that lead to uninspired projects and end in a letter grade. Many students either learn to do just enough to get by or they lose interest and drop out. In this interconnected world, with ubiquitous access to powerful technology and access to a worldwide community, new models of teaching and learning are possible.

When we talk about teaching, we are never just talking about a profession, but a passion. Unfortunately, while dodging the bullets of criticism and shielding ourselves behind the mediocrity of the standardization movement, we have found our eagerness to teach being chipped away. Educator Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach challenges us to rediscover our own passion for teaching by helping our students become passionate seekers of knowledge and understanding.