WINDHAM — In the 23 years middle school teacher Kate Berry has been educating children in Windham and Raymond, this was the first year she built her own classroom.
Berry, acting on a tip on a Facebook community page, started “putting feelers out” to see who would be interested in donating supplies to help her build an outdoor classroom at Windham Middle School.
“The response was overwhelming,” Berry said in a phone interview Oct. 16, and by the second week of the semester, the middle school had an outdoor learning space where teachers and students could more easily follow COVID-19 guidelines.
Berry is one of many teachers across RSU 14 and the state who are participating in a hybrid model, where students and educators engage both in-person and remotely.
Of the 3,300 students or so in the district, 440 have opted to participate in full-time remote learning, said Superintendent Chris Howell.
“One of the challenges with that was instead of having six schools, we now have seven schools,” Howell said, referring to the six brick-and-mortar schools and one online school.
While some districts have contracts with online academies, RSU 14’s virtual school curriculum has almost entirely been created and taught by the 25 teachers and staff members supporting those students, save for a couple of elective courses.
Richey Vickers is one of those educators, now teaching social studies remotely this year as opposed to his previous role in education technology.
Although many kids love to spend time on devices when there isn’t work involved, Vickers said he’s been surprised to find many of them are less interested in using their devices as tools.
But Vickers, who taught seventh and eighth grade in Georgia before moving to Maine six years ago, said his experience teaching students and staff how to integrate technology into their classrooms has been an advantage this year.
“This is kind of my wheelhouse, (it’s) what I went to college for,” he said.
“The most positive (part) is probably going to be that the students are starting to really learn what research is … they’re picking up a lot more watching (my shared screen) that I thought they would. With teaching, we try to be as hands-on as possible (but) students are really jumping in on the research.”
Berry constructed an outdoor classroom like the one above with the help of donations and volunteers. Courtesy of Gary Harriman / RSU 14
Learning objectives aside, Vickers, along with first grade teacher Hannah Bernier, both said they’re concerned about the social and emotional well-being of the students who are totally remote.
“In the classroom, you’re able to give a wink or a smile, a pat on the back or some stickers, and it kind of helps with their internal motivation. In this format, we can do that, but only through digital ways,” said Bernier, who usually teaches at Windham Primary School but is teaching remotely this year.
“I think what we keep focusing on is the resilience that everybody has. It’s a hard situation (and) in a good way, (we’re) seeing everyone stepping up and doing their part to support. And that’s the parents, students, teachers and everyone in the school.”
Berry, the hybrid teacher, said even though she gets to see her kids in person two days a week, “the challenge is really deciding how to teach quality curriculum in the shortened time span we have and trying to meet all the needs of the kids.”
In contrast to the remote teachers, Berry’s outdoor classroom has given her the opportunity to go “old school” in figuring out how to teach an entire lesson outside without technology.
While the dozen or so outdoor classrooms that have popped up at schools around the district are basically “stumps and planks,” Howell said $2.5 million from the second round of federal CARES Act funding will go towards purchasing six pre-fabricated outdoor learning spaces, complete with an overhead covering, heat sources and internet.
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