Innovative learning: New Tech High prepares students for future

Now in its third year, Bogalusa New Tech High School is getting students “ready for the real world” through a different approach to teaching called project-based learning, according to Principal Don McDaniel.

“I truly believe that the project-based learning method is the teaching method of the future,” he said.

New Tech, which currently has an enrollment of 103 students, is housed on the second floor of Bogalusa High School.
Students Rodneshea Davis, front, and Ashley Dyson work on a project at Bogalusa New Tech High School. DAILY NEWS PHOTO/Lucy Parker

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All of New Tech’s students have computers, and they use technology to complete group projects in each class, McDaniel said. Instruction at the school, which is on a four-by-four block schedule, also includes lectures, with problem-based learning in math so students can pick up the basics of that subject, he said. Additionally, there is a computer lab where students complete Louisiana Virtual School classes entirely by computer in a variety of subjects such as chemistry and foreign languages, he said.

“Students learn on different levels” and in different ways, McDaniel said, and the teaching model used at New Tech prepares its students for life after high school.

“I’ve been in different schools through the years,” he said. “I’ve never seen students who are happier than students who are here. They like being here. We give them a safe environment. They’re challenged in every subject that they take, and they enjoy that.”