Wiscasset Schools: EMPLOYEE SPOTLIGHT!
BECKY HALLOWELL – Nature based educator at Wiscasset Elementary School
“Responsive to the interest and needs of all students”
The students filing into Mrs. Hallowell’s room know they’re in for something unique and special each day. Becky Hallowell has been teaching in Wiscasset since 2011, with the exception of a short hiatus, returning “home” in her words, in 2018. There is an ever-present excitement in her teaching as she highlights real world examples. Mrs. Hallowell and her students load up backpacks, dry erase boards, clipboards, pens etc. for outdoor investigation right outside Wiscasset Elementary School on the banks of the Sheepscot River. She knows how important hands-on education is. The student’s energy is channeled into exploring their immediate surroundings behind and around the school.
During covid when students were learning in hybrid and online scenarios, Becky and colleague Mr. Kaden Pendleton, discovered an untapped resource right outside their doors. They explored the grounds of the school and located a perfect spot for an experiential learning outdoor classroom. They created the OWL (Outdoor Wonderful Learning) space! Mrs. Hallowell wrote a Donors Choose grant and was able to get a deck box for storage and table to use in the space. The students also made bookmarks and sold them to purchase buckets for seating in their outdoor classroom. Mrs. Hallowell said she has not had one parent complain about their child coming home from school a bit dirty from learning in the outdoor classroom and with the support of a Maine Environmental Educators Association grant, she has an abundant supply of outdoor gear for students to use.
Thanks to the combined efforts of teachers and students alike, there is now a unique outdoor classroom where Wiscasset students get to apply learning to authentic life situations. Mrs. Hallowell wants her students to know how to take risks; she works with them to assess a risk and ask themselves if it is worth the reward. Practicing taking risks and learning how to deal with the end results at this age makes students more equipped to make sound judgment calls in the future.
Before the growing trend of outdoor learning began, Becky had always tried to get her students outside. When she was teaching kindergarten, she would have her students learn to count by fives using dandelion heads. Mrs. Hallowell was chosen as one out of 45 educators in the country piloting scientific research called ‘Place Based Education Science Sense Making.’ She is the teacher they come and record and she presented at the Rise conference in Orono last summer to talk about the work they are doing. This work helps remove barriers, such as having appropriate outdoor gear. Creating a natural environment for kids to learn is a goal. The students created a legislative branch for OWL and presented it to Mrs. Bayha, the principal of WES, for her review. One initiative of the students’ legislation is to make sure that tree climbing is accessible and equitable for all students regardless of their abilities.
“We can do the same things outside as inside,” Mrs. Hallowell said, and that instead of learning about nature, they are learning with nature as their guide. Other adventures include a trip to the Ecology School for a two night learning adventure that students will remember for years to come. The students in Mrs. Hallowell’s class utilize a monthly field trip to Hidden Valley Nature Center in nearby Jefferson. Midcoast Conservancy (protecting land on a scale that matters), naturalists work with the 4th grade students on a new lesson each month with a different focus. Last year, the kids wrote legislation about protecting clean water and they sent it off to their State Senator and State Representative and the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife. This work has greatly empowered the young students and helps to prepare them for their roles as future citizens.
In addition to the outdoor resources utilized by Mrs. Hallowell, she also taps into the rich, historical landscape the town of Wiscasset offers its young learners. Lea Wait’s Stopping to Home, a historical-fiction novel set in Wiscasset in the 1800’s, is a spring-board for place-based learning here. After Mrs. Hallowell’s students completed the novel, they did a walking tour following the same roads the characters in the book walked. History, literature, science and math all in one walking lesson. Weathered gravestones in the Ancient Cemetery were transformed into science and math lessons as students tried to figure out why some stones are harder to read than others; they discussed how lichen, wind, and rain can impact the rock. Considering the dates on the headstones was an interesting math lesson as students imagined the lives of those people who had once lived and walked so long ago in their town. Students also toured the historic Nichols-Sortwell House, bringing the past alive once again.
Becky’s enthusiasm for expeditionary learning is contagious and all of the Wiscasset School Department benefits! Using the rich resources right outside our doors, Mrs. Hallowell is helping to lead the way for Wiscasset Schools to be the greatest public school for expeditionary learning in the State of Maine. Wiscasset has it all right here and Mrs. Hallowell is connecting the dots. That is why she is our Wiscasset Schools Staff Spotlight for the month of January, 2024! Thank you, Becky, for enriching our students' lives with experiential learning that they will always remember and for helping them to discover their important place in our world, one captivating lesson at a time.