Assam-origin American makes it to TIME innovative teachers’ list

GUWAHATI: Rachna Nath, an American of Assam origin, has made it to the list of TIME’s 10 “Innovative Teachers” that was out on Wednesday.
Rachna from Chandler Arizona, teaching at ACP-High School, was featured as one the most innovative teachers of the year for her Innovative Program DRIPBL (Dream Research Innovate Problem/Project Based Learning), where she promotes critical thinking, problem solving and research skills to students from 9 th to 12th grade. She also pushes the kids to do patent searches and apply for their first dream companies as early as 9th graders.
“She is a Honey Bee scientist, innovator and entrepreneur that works as an educator for the Chandler Public School District and brings a unique and fresh perspective to teaching high School,” read the press statement by TIME.
After her Presidential Innovation Award in 2019 for Environmental Educators, Rachna continued to persevere in her belief that high school students are a pool of talent that are unexplored. “I identify a group of students that are passionate about the topic of a grant proposal and end up researching on the topic. This includes patent searches and then the students work on an innovative solution that can be potentially patented,” Rachna told TOI over the phone from the US on Thursday.
While compiling the names of the “Innovative Teachers”, TIME reviewed hundreds of nominations from across the country. It selected the teachers who stood out for going above and beyond to improve learning experience for kids. Rachna did her schooling at St Mary’s English High School, Guwahati.