In mid-May a special group of students hit Charlie’s Challenge on the Mission’s Downeast Campus. From the outside, this seems like any other group of Downeast kids, but their experience is a little different. These students live on Maine’s unbridged islands and attend one- and two-room schoolhouses from Casco Bay to Frenchman Bay. They come together this spring as part of the Teaching & Learning Collaborative (TLC). All the students get together just twice a year, but if you were to see them interact, you would never guess. They cheer each other on, chase each other around the playground, and dance together to music.
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Many of the Mission’s programs focus on partnerships, between communities, between organizations, and between people, and partnership is just as vital in the TLC. The program relies on teachers, students, parents, and whole island communities, as well as other supporting organizations to come together to support island schools. This year’s spring field trip brings island teachers, students, and parents together for three-days and two-nights of events on the Downeast Campus.
The students see the trips as a fun time with their friends. Flynn from Isle au Haut and Erza from Great Cranberry both say that the best part of the trips is they get to hang out with friends from other islands. They quickly list the islands their friends are from: Chebeague, Cliff, Great Cranberry, Isle au Haut, Islesford, Matinicus, and Monhegan.
These friendships are fostered by partnerships between island teachers; they get students together for book groups, weekly exercise classes, and special celebrations on Zoom. Teachers also collaborate on different classes and experiences working together to offer their students various experiences.
Another important partner in this equation is Island Readers & Writers (IRW). Every spring, IRW brings an author or illustrator to discuss a book students read during their weekly book groups. This year, author Padma Venkatraman talked about her books including “Safe Harbor,” which focuses on the connection between a young girl and an orphaned seal pup. Darlene Sumner, an Ed-Tech at the Longfellow School on Great Cranberry and a TLC parent, shares that this part of the field trip is inspiring for many of the students. “They get so excited that they get their book signed and that they have met an author. And then I will see them starting to write,” she says.
IRW has partnered with TLC for around 15 years, according to Allison Johnson, Director of School Programs for IRW. The mission of IRW is to inspire a passion for reading and learning amongst kids in remote communities. During the day, IRW offered opportunities to both teachers and parents. This includes Padma leading a writing workshop for teachers and IRW staff providing a workshop on visual literacy. In addition, IRW has brought authors out on the Sunbeam and has partnered with the Mission to offer community programs as well. Allison shares that the partnership with the TLC has helped them offer tailored programming for island students, “They act as a liaison for us and help us understand what those island communities need and what the teachers are looking for. And it just really makes it a lot easier for us to partner with them.”
For teachers, TLC gives students opportunities but also helps them navigate the challenges and opportunities that come from teaching in such unique situations. Laney Frager is a first-year teacher on Cliff Island, and she has two students in her school this year. She says the TLC and Sunbeam Education Coordinator Yvonne Thomas have supported her during her transition into teaching. “I am very new to this world, and they have given me so many tips and tricks and how to handle tricky situations, and it has been an incredibly welcoming community,” she shares. She adds how special it is to teach in a small community, but shares there are also challenges that come from being the only teacher in the school. The other teachers have given her tips, supported her, and shared their experiences.
While the Cliff Island students are on the younger side of the TLC, as a kindergartener and first grader, they slowly opened up and recognized the faces they often see on Zoom. Audrey, a fifth grader from Cranberry, has been going on TLC field trips since she was a baby. Now she is one of the older students, and she shares that the TLC brought her out of her shell. She now makes sure to include younger students so they can experience what she identifies as an important part of her life. She calls the TLC “one big family” and shares “it’s awesome to meet other people who experience the same things you do.”
When the TLC was started 15+ years ago, it began to make sure these special schools thrive. And they have, because of the continued support and partnership of everyone involved. Learn more about the TLC on the Mission’s website.