--- title: Washington Teacher of the Year Is Revolutionizing Education description: Camille Jones, Washington's Teacher of the Year 2017, has a teaching approach that highlights the connections between disciplines. canonical: https://time.com/5087378/how-one-teacher-is-revolutionizing-the-way-her-students-learn/ author: Sarah Begley article:opinion: true article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-01-04T11:16:40.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T18:44:31.606Z article:section: Ideas og:title: Washington Teacher of the Year Is Revolutionizing Education og:description: Camille Jones, Washington's Teacher of the Year 2017, has a teaching approach that highlights the connections between disciplines. og:url: https://time.com/5087378/how-one-teacher-is-revolutionizing-the-way-her-students-learn/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt63360022196de920/6988f65b0a4a2249cc9d1318/optimist-issue-c-jones.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: optimist-issue-C-Jones og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Washington Teacher of the Year Is Revolutionizing Education twitter:description: Camille Jones, Washington's Teacher of the Year 2017, has a teaching approach that highlights the connections between disciplines. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt63360022196de920/6988f65b0a4a2249cc9d1318/optimist-issue-c-jones.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # How One Teacher Is Revolutionizing the Way Her Students Learn by [Sarah Begley](https://time.com/author/sarah-begley/) ## Sarah Begley Jan 4, 2018 11:16 AM UTC  Camille Jones, Washington State 2017 Teacher of the Year. Camille Jones, Washington State 2017 Teacher of the Year. by [Sarah Begley](https://time.com/author/sarah-begley/) ## Sarah Begley Jan 4, 2018 11:16 AM UTC At Pioneer Elementary, a K-3 school in Quincy, Wash., a rural district 150 miles from Seattle, all 450 students visit Jones every other week for classes in what she calls STEAM. It’s a play on STEM–which stands for science, technology, engineering and math–but with an A thrown in, for the arts. “The process that an engineer goes through is the exact same process that a writer uses,” she says. “You start with an idea and you develop a plan, and then you go back and revise it. They have the same core goal, which is preparing kids to be successful in the world.” Jones, 31, says she and her colleagues are attuned to the idea of being inclusive. Her students are mostly poor and Hispanic, and many are still learning English, so she and her colleagues look for alternative ways to spot talent and potential. “Traditional assessments typically leave out students from diverse backgrounds,” she says. Jones’ approach is all about highlighting connections between disciplines. “We’ve created at school these baskets of different subject areas, but those are kind of fictional,” Jones says. “All the skills they’re learning will relate and help them as they get older, no matter where they go.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"OpinionNewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5087378/how-one-teacher-is-revolutionizing-the-way-her-students-learn/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5087378/how-one-teacher-is-revolutionizing-the-way-her-students-learn/"},"headline":"How One Teacher Is Revolutionizing the Way Her Students Learn","datePublished":"2018-01-04T11:16:40.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T18:44:31.606Z","description":"Washington State 2017 teacher of the Year","url":"https://time.com/5087378/how-one-teacher-is-revolutionizing-the-way-her-students-learn/","keywords":["Optimist"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt63360022196de920/6988f65b0a4a2249cc9d1318/optimist-issue-c-jones.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Sarah Begley","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/sarah-begley/"}],"articleSection":"Ideas","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt63360022196de920/6988f65b0a4a2249cc9d1318/optimist-issue-c-jones.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"optimist-issue-C-Jones","caption":"Camille Jones, Washington State 2017 Teacher of the Year.","creditText":"","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/ideas/","name":"Ideas"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/optimist/","name":"Optimist"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5087378/how-one-teacher-is-revolutionizing-the-way-her-students-learn/","name":"How One Teacher Is Revolutionizing the Way Her Students Learn"}}]}] ```