Education Majors Learn Dynamic Classroom Techniques at Ron Clark Academy Conference Monday, October 27, 2025

Imagine a middle school where the students are respectful to one another and every adult they encounter, speaking with confidence, maintaining eye contact and encouraging one another instead of tearing one another down. Sound like a fantasy? 

To be fair, there are (projected) dragons in the sky, but this school actually exists — at the Ron Clark Academy in Atlanta, Ga. In October, five Point Park education majors attended the New Teacher Conference and came back in awe of what a classroom could be. 

"This conference completely inspired me — it honestly blew me away!" said senior Pre-K–Grade 4 major Gabriella Frisco. "It was such an amazing opportunity, and it opened my eyes to how school can be both fun and exciting while still having structure and clear expectations. Seeing the perfect mix of high energy and strong discipline showed me that classrooms can be magical places. I left feeling so motivated and full of ideas for my own future students."

Paige Rennekamp, a senior Pre-K–Grade 4 major, agreed: "This conference has made me even more passionate about teaching; it showed me that teaching can be different and fun instead of boring and repetitive. I want to take what I have learned and apply that to my classroom, because the methods work and are beneficial for the students. I feel like I have more tools in my box to be the best teacher that I can be for my future students." 

The Ron Clark Academy is a grade 4–8 non-profit school that only admits students in 4th grade. The tuition is a sliding scale, allowing some families to pay as little as $45 a month for a top-notch education with impressive outcomes. Ron Clark built the school of his dreams after his book, "The Essential 55," was featured on "The Oprah Winfrey Show" and subsequently became a bestseller. 

"The Essential 55" informs the type of place the Ron Clark Academy is, with students being trained not only in academics, but life skills such as respect and confidence. Opening in 2007, the school of roughly 140 students combines high-energy instruction with character development. 

Since then, Clark has hosted conferences to share his unique pedagogy with educators everywhere. Point Park University education students study Ron Clark in Dr. Christal Edmund's "Educational Theories and Practices" class, which looks at influential educators in history. 

"I was proud to lead five future educators to the Ron Clark Academy New Teacher Conference, where we spent two inspiring days immersed in workshops and classroom observations that bridged both historical and contemporary 'best practices' of teaching," said Edmunds. "This opportunity reinforced my commitment to exposing my students to engaging, high-impact teaching methods that will prepare them to lead with excellence in their future classrooms."

Rennekamp approached Edmunds about opportunities to learn from Clark directly and was instrumental in making the trip happen. The experience was as eye-opening as the students had hoped.

"The most surprising thing I saw at RCA was how professional the students were," Frisco said. "They had incredible manners and showed so much respect for each other’s opinions. I was in awe of how well they had it together! They could get loud and cheer with so much energy, but then bring it right back down in just a few seconds to focus on instruction. The students were so supportive of one another, too — if someone didn’t know an answer, the rest of the class would cheer them on and say, 'You got this!' At RCA, it was all about a we mentality instead of a me mentality, and that really stood out to me."

But if you can't teach at RCA, how can you bring these ideas into a classroom at a typical school? 

"One thing that I took away from RCA was the call and responses in the classroom," Rennekamp said. "The teachers would use call and responses to get attention or to keep the students engaged in lessons. For example, the teacher might say, 'Eyes up,' and the students respond, 'Pencils down.' We got to observe classes and see these calls and responses in action, and they work. The students know when they are said, they need to respond to the teacher. I will for sure be using some of the ones we saw in my classroom."

Techniques Frisco learned that she'll use in her future classroom are "tracking" and hand signals.  

"When someone is speaking, everyone’s eyes are on that person, whether it’s a student or a teacher," Frisco said. "It builds focus and respect. Another strategy I loved was the use of hand signals. Students could silently signal if they agreed or disagreed, which kept the flow of conversation going without interruptions."  

Rennekamp, president of the Future Educators of America Club, wants to be sure other students get to experience the same thing and has already started fundraising to send more students next year. The first fundraiser — selling coffee and pastries between classes — was a success, and more will certainly follow. 

"After attending the conference, I feel like every education student should have the chance to attend," Rennekamp said. "I will do what I have to, talk to who I have to, for this conference trip to live on for future educators." 

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