BAR HARBOR – MDI Drama began principal photography on its 2020 fall musical, “Ruddigore; or The Witch’s Curse,” this weekend in Acadia National Park. Determined to provide an authentic and safe drama experience for students and the community, the staff and senior student representatives of the Mount Desert Island High School’s drama program decided that filming the show would create opportunities for innovation and new learning while adhering, not only to the school’s COVID-19 protocols, but to the state’s regulations on live performances and the MPA’s guidance on co-curricular activities.

The Gilbert and Sullivan operetta, which is in the public domain, has been adapted by director Frank Bachman and music director Anne Leonardi and trimmed to approximately forty minutes. Jeff Zaman, who teaches filmmaking and design thinking classes at the high school, is the director of photography.

MDI Drama staff members were aware throughout the spring and summer that flexibility might be required in order to produce MDIHS’s annual fall musical, particularly after the cancellation of the Maine Drama Festival and the school’s annual two spring plays. They did not want to cancel a fall production if they did not have to. Casey Rush, the director of MDI Drama, began online discussions with the adult staff and senior representatives of student actors and tech crew members in late summer to brainstorm possibilities when it became evident that they would not be able to proceed with the fall season in the usual way. On the basis of the experiences of livestreaming the drama department’s annual Bravo Awards and the high school’s successful drive-in graduation in the spring, and with the support of the school’s administration, the team decided that the most interesting and safest option would be to film the production and present it as a drive-in movie at the high school. 

Filming the musical outdoors on location has enabled the actors to abide by safety protocols while experiencing a different kind of acting. A closed set limits the number of people present, and actors only unmask when they are about to film their scene and are appropriately physically distanced from the crew and other actors. The tech crew is learning about the different creative considerations for sound, lights, and set design in filmmaking while incorporating Covid-19 mitigation protocols as well as the intricacies of creating safe sound recording situations for the singers and “MacGyvering” sound booths in cars, as well as how to use new equipment and computer programs.

Some scenes will be shot indoors on the stage of the MDIHS Higgins-Demas theater, where physical distancing and sanitizing protocols are in place. Group numbers will be created in post-production using footage of individual actors and dancers. Rehearsals are primarily online, with some in-person rehearsals held outdoors, weather permitting. The tech crew meets once a week for physical builds, following the school’s protocols on mask wearing, hand sanitizing and physical distancing, and has online sessions to learn the principles of designing for theatre and the computer-based programs they will have to use.

This story was submitted by Chris Dougherty, Learning Center, Mount Desert Island High School in partnership with Jason Anderson, Maine DOE VPA Specialist as part of the Maine Schools Sharing Success Campaign. To submit a story or an idea email it to Rachel at rachel.paling@maine.gov.

A group of Nokomis High School students known as the “Tech Sherpas” have been around the state, nation, and globe presenting to groups of students, teachers, and experts about the technology they are using in school and beyond. 

Led by Kern Kelley, a long-time teacher at Nokomis High School and district-wide tech integrator, the Tech Sherpas are all part of Mr. Kelley’s and Mr. Brown’s Broadcasting classes which maintain a school TV station, live stream school events, create video tutorials, and dabble in a host of other cool things like robotics, 3D printing, drones, and more. 

A presenter and tech professional development expert himself, Mr. Kelley moonlights as a speaker on a global level, something he has always incorporated with his students and career as an educator. What started out as taking students along to take part in his presentations has evolved into students presenting around the world.

Starting in 2012 on a train ride back from the New York Google Offices at a presentation with Mr. Kelley, the students came up with the idea of taking their skillset on the road more formally and the Tech Sherpas were born. Since then they have grown both in size and knowledge with every passing year and every advance in technology. Pre-COVID-19, the Tech Sherpas had traveled to places like Japan, Ottawa, Hawaii, Pennsylvania, and Chicago presenting to large audiences on topics like Google Slides, Google Meets, Google Classroom, and Flipgrid among others.

After the pandemic forced schools to adapt in the way that education is provided, Mr. Kelley and the Tech Sherpas didn’t miss a beat. What was once in-person presentations all over the world has now become a busy job of booking virtual meetings and presentations to keep up with the ever-changing needs of educators, students, people of all walks of life who need to learn, keep up with, and use technology in their everyday lives.

Nokomis High School Senior Rachel Wilcox has been a Tech Sherpa since she set foot in the Nokomis Warrior Broadcasting class her freshman year. Now a senior and finishing her final year of high school during a pandemic, Rachel is the project manager working behind the scenes to coordinate the Tech Sherpas’ virtual presentations.

“I like it,” said Rachel in a virtual interview. “I want to go to college for business management, so this is a good step in that direction,” she added. Rachel is in charge of organizing the Tech Sherpas into groups in terms of their readiness to present with the technology they feel most comfortable teaching others. She also works with outside organizations to schedule the presentations, lines up the students to present, coordinates the practice sessions, and participates in the actual event by doing a pre-event tech check, and helping to host the meeting. During the event, Rachel is usually working with a moderator who watches the meeting chat during the presentation, in addition to the presenters.

One of their most recent endeavors was a student-led presentation at the Virtual End of Summer Fest for the Google Waterloo Engineers. It was an opportunity for Google engineers to see creative uses of their tools by ‘real’ people. The topic was using Google Slides to Create Animations, like this one. The Tech Sherpas worked with EdTechTeam Canada for the event which featured the skills of Tech Sherpa, Kaiden Kelley who also happens to be Mr. Kelley’s son.

“When presenting, I’m there to share my skills with the teachers,” Kaiden said of his experiences presenting with the Tech Sherpas. In the event with Google engineers, he shared the skills, tips, and tricks that he learned from using Google Slides on various projects over the years. Be began working with the tool in 2012 and has experienced a myriad of changes and upgrades from Google that he has been able to navigate and use in his everyday work. 

A pro at presenting, Kaiden said he doesn’t get nervous anymore during presentations and that the most memorable part of the presentation to Google was seeing everyone “come in” to the virtual meeting from all over the world. The successful presentation has led to further talks with Google Canada about more presentations by the Tech Sherpas.

 “We are in a world now that everybody has experienced video conferencing,” said Mr. Kelley. “We will never again live in a world where that has not happened.” Mr. Kelley hopes to give his students as much experience as possible doing video conferencing knowing that when they graduate from high school they will need to be ready with skill sets that allow them to compete for jobs and post-secondary opportunities all over the country, and potentially enabling them to work and learn from right here in Maine.

While Mr. Kelley is excited about the incredible opportunities his students have experienced during the pandemic, he is quick to explain that using video conferencing is not necessarily better education for students, “it is a tool that we can use to keep providing opportunities for kids.”

Other ongoing projects of the team include helping Mr. Kelley on professional learning opportunities for teachers in Maine. One is an opportunity for educators in any part of the State to explore distance learning tools for students and teachers with the help of the United Technologies Center Adult Education and the Tech Sherpas (Learn more about this opportunity here).

Another is a similar “adopt a teacher” project at Nokomis where the students help resident educators with any technology needs they may be having as they navigate hybrid and remote teaching this year. It not only helps boost technology opportunities for students at Nokomis, but also bolsters relationship building, presenting, and teaching skills for the students. Their hope is to expand on these efforts to expand these types of opportunities for students and teachers state-wide

By Jonathan Simonoff, Visual and Performing Arts Chair for Ashland Community School

The Ashland District School (MSAD 32) music program tried really hard to keep a positive outlook during these difficult times. Instead of thinking “It’s too bad we can’t do this,” we tried to frame it as, “How great is it that we get to do this now?” We looked at our goals for each part of our Pre-K – 12 curriculum and tried to identify ways to still reach these goals in a safe but engaging environment. For some classes those changes were minimal but other parts of the program had a drastic overhaul.

For example, the youngest elementary grades have not changed much but some parts of instruction are being recorded so that vocal and instrumental songs can still be shown to the students. Those classes are also being taught in each grade’s homeroom now.

In the past, 4th grade students would use recorders as part of pre-band lessons. This year we are using ukuleles to try to hit upon these concepts. Each student has a ukulele they get to use in class that is sanitized after.

Our beginning band students have also seen a significant change. Since we are not starting any students on traditional band instruments, we have made use of keyboards and drum pads. The class has been put into groups and each student in 5th grade gets a weekly small group lesson on keyboards for note reading skills and drum pads for extra rhythm reinforcement. We are in week 3 of these lessons and so far, every kid is reading and playing very well. I do remind them that they will get a chance to try the band instrument they want but these skills will help them later.

Last year our middle school students usually would have the option of signing up for middle school guitar class or middle school band. This year the guitar class is still an option and the other class they can sign up for is middle school percussion, which focuses on reading and playing rhythms on a variety of traditional and non-traditional percussion instruments.

Perhaps the groups that have changed the most this year are my high school classes. Normally high school students would have the option of taking guitar class or high school band. The guitar class is still running as normal but high school band has changed significantly.

My ed. tech and I have developed an alternating multi-course option for my high school students. We rotate courses every other day and students were able to sign up for one course each day. The courses offered as follows – Piano Class, Percussion Class, Strings Class, Rock Band, Independent Study, or 1 study hall. For example, a student could take piano one day and strings the other day and they follow that schedule for at least a semester before potentially changing their courses.

The classes are pretty self-explanatory.  Piano class (a very popular choice) is like a group piano lab. Percussion class has students spending time practicing rhythms and working on drum set techniques. Strings class is teaching students violin. Rock band (another popular choice) has students working with guitar, bass guitar, piano, and drum set to play modern music and independent study allows students to set up and achieve their own musical goals with check-ins with me to track their progress and give advice. For example, I have a few students working on playing the ukulele and using online guides to help them. I also have some students working on creating their own compositions. Study hall is a chance for students catch up on their other academics.

This set up comes with the understanding that students need to be self-motivated and disciplined since some of the time in class they are expected to work independently while myself or my ed. tech are working with other students. It has been very rewarding both for students and teachers to see progress being made and finding new ways to connect with and learn about music.

It also has been a lot of work to set up in terms of making sure we have enough keyboards and violins. We also are writing some of the music out by ear for students (particularly the Rock Band) to perform. But now that we are a month into school, things seem to be moving along nicely and I am very happy with how this year is shaping up!

This story was submitted by Jonathan Simonoff, Visual and Performing Arts Chair for Ashland Community School in collaboration with Jason Anderson, Visual and Performing Arts Specialist for the Maine DOE as part of the Maine Schools Sharing Success Campaign. To submit a story or an idea email it to Rachel at rachel.paling@maine.gov.

Camden-Rockport Middle School: Over the past 20 years, 7th grade students at the Camden-Rockport Middle School have designed hand-crafted tiles to decorate the front entry way of their school during art class. The new school year, however, will take place in a new school building, leaving these tiles, and big piece of the school history, behind.

When Maria Libby, superintendent of MSAD 28 (Appleton, Camden, Hope, Lincolnville and Rockport) and former student at, and principal of, the old middle school building heard that the school was scheduled to be demolished in June, she knew something had to be done to preserve the legacy of the tiles. She says that her “attachment to that place inspired me to document every student tile that had been installed over the past 19 years.” Maria could not let them be destroyed without saving a piece of the history.

While the past 7 years of tiles have been saved for the new school, and will be displayed for the incoming classes of Middle Schoolers at CRMS, 13 years worth of tiles, of history, and of community, were scheduled to be demolished along with the old school building. Maria Libby took matters into her owns hands, and photographed all 1,400 tiles adorning the front entry of the old middle school.

All of the photographed tiles have been uploaded and indexed on the Schooner Tile Project website as a way to preserve the legacy of the school, students, and community. Approximately 1,400 tiles are available to view and download from this site. To find a tile, click on the letter of the artist’s last name in the banner above. View the archived tiles here!

Read Maria Libby’s personal account of the experience here.

This article was written by Maine DOE Intern Aidan Sachs in collaboration with staff at Five Town CSD MSAD #28 as part of the Maine Schools Sharing Success Campaign. To submit a story or an idea email Rachel at rachel.paling@maine.gov.