Education in the Time of COVID
The COVID-19 pandemic put the entire planet on its heels, but perhaps no realm of our previously “normal” lives was as affected as the world of education. As an educator in public schools for 10 years, I know how difficult the shift to online learning was when the pandemic began. Teachers around the country scrambled to learn their way around online education tools and struggled to figure out how to engage students from any walk of life on Zoom’s often impersonal and tiresome platform. Some exhausted teachers resorted to repetitive, uninspiring lessons and many students simply went through the motions, or even just gave up. Few teachers had the creativity, dedication and intelligence to make online learning an informative, even fun environment. But Nature Links never found itself in that position.
For the past 8 months, Nature Links has been amazingly lucky to have had Maddy Johnson as its lead teacher. Maddy’s dedication to providing engaging, informative content for Nature Links students was immediately apparent when I began to learn about the organization via its website (which she also beautifully designed). From leading a step by step tutorial on fermenting sauerkraut to exploring vernal pools with her mom (a director at the MDI Biological Laboratory) she exploded the usual stereotypes of Zoom-led classes and allowed students to virtually explore ecosystems and ideas in a way that inspired and energized them, a hugely important task during a pandemic when so many of us feel limited in our range of exploration. I’d venture to say that there were very few educators logging into Zoom from their kayak to teach about salt marshes-- but Maddy did. To her, the usual constraints of Zoom were transformed into opportunities for bringing students closer to nature and to each other.
As I take over the lead teacher position at Nature Links, I’m inspired by the work Maddy has done to build relationships with students. The classes she’s created have brought so much energy and creativity to the program. She’s made it easy to pick where she left off because of the positive engagement that students log on with each day. I’m happy to say that we are still graced with Maddy’s teaching presence during a weekly art hour, and I’ll think of her as I plan classes during our current winter session. How would Maddy approach this? In what ways would she inspire learners to explore this topic even more? I’m thrilled to take on the role of lead teacher at Nature Links, especially with a precedent that has been set that online education doesn’t need to be rote and dull. It has the potential to connect diverse learners to the environment, to their communities, and to each other.
-Rene Neuner, Nature Links Teacher
