From January thru March, The Leadership School Educator-In-Residence (EIR) program is working with 11 schools from Searsport to Kennebunk. Each educator enters his or her school with an open mind and a set of goals and objectives shaped by the needs of the school community, the goals of the administration and the strengths of the educator. Educators and school mentors develop individualized memorandums of understanding that are diverse and include school specific items such as: support healthy classroom behavior, develop after-school play clubs, provide professional development for staff and help students transition between various life stages. Their work plans share commonalities too: to promote positive interactions amongst students, model inclusive behavior for students, model positive language and redirection for teachers, and disseminate TLS messages and language across grade levels. The EIR program furthers the Kieve-Wavus long range goal of deepening and broadening the impact of our programming on the youth in Maine.
Sam Copland
Wavus Assistant Director Challenge Course 2015-16; Wavus Assistant Director CIT Program 2016; The Leadership School Educator 2014-2017; Bowdoin College Alumna
“I am currently working in the classroom with all the 6th and 7th grade students and the Physical Education classes at King Middle School in Portland, Maine.
My primary responsibility at King is to work with the 6th and 7th grade students on a weekly basis in the classroom. They are in school six days a week and one out of those six days is dedicated to each house. For example, I work with Windsor 7 on day 1, Windsor 6 on day 2, York 7 on day 5 and York 6 on day 6. I rotate through each of their classes so at the end of the 10 weeks, each teacher is only giving up one or two of their days. Instead of having their regular curriculum like math or science, they participate in Kieve-Wavus activities – which ranges from team-building to communication skills and identifying and building healthy relationships. For the 7th graders, I am continue the messages they learned at Kieve-Wavus in the fall on campus. For the 6th graders, I am preparing them for when they will be visiting with us in the upcoming fall.
My favorite part is deepening my impact and connection with both students and staff. During my first year at King, I was only working with the York 6th graders. By having the support of those teachers and advocating for myself, I have been able to expand to the entire 6th and 7th grade. I feel very welcomed and supported by all the teachers in the school. And being able to watch my students learn and grow over the course of the past three winters has been incredible. There is such a difference from when I met the current 8th graders as 6th graders and I am so proud of their growth from when I first worked with them
I hope that I will be able to provide students with the necessary tools to become effective members of the King Community and beyond. I work with them each week on a different topic or theme and hope they take away something each time to add to their toolbox. Whether it is something as simple as quieting themselves down or as challenging as stepping up when someone is being bullied, it is my hope that each week and each activity provides opportunity for the students to learn and grow”.
Will Hackett
Kieve Assistant Tripping Director 2014-16; The Leadership School Educator 2011-17, Kieve Council 2007-13; Kieve Alumnus 1999-2004. Muhlenberg College Alumnus.
“I am working with 6, 7, and 8th graders at Memorial Middle School in South Portland, Maine and helping bridge the language barrier with English Language Learner (ELL) program. I work with a group of just boys and the guidance office staff one day a week on the ELL curriculum. I am also helping students with school work in all subjects and serving as a mentor to build community and see similarities in each other.
I am also working with the principal and assistant principal doing restorative justice with students, which means helping facilitate conversations with kids about being kind and respectful, and finding ways to restore and strengthen relationships among students and teachers. Some restorative circles we do are between any number of students, but also sometimes between students and their teachers. I also do some work with the guidance office; checking in with kids on a variety of topics.
My role is to also be a familiar face of Kieve-Wavus at Memorial Middle School and a positive reminder of all the skills they learned when they visited Kieve-Wavus in the fall. I give a lot of ‘high 5’s’ and regularly checking in with kids about their day-to-day”.