Class has officially been in session out in the portable classrooms for a couple of weeks now. The change of environment has brought forth a set of new challenges for teachers and students alike. Setting up and adapting to the portables has been a process, but the kids and staff have shown great resilience and flexibility.
The first step to moving anywhere is packing. Teachers have had to move boxes full of tools out to the portables and adjust to teaching in a new place.
“We’re only in the portables for this semester, so it feels really temporary,” says English and Language Arts teacher Jacob Belvery. “I can’t really set up and make it my own.”
Moving isn’t the only difficulty for staff and students. Since the portables are outdoors, it’s more challenging to make quick trips inside. It’s been a big change to go from having easy access to the school to so little.
“If you have to go in during the middle of class, you have to go through the front doors,” notes Belvery. “That kind of makes those quick, little trips to the lockers or bathroom longer, which isn’t ideal.”
However, students have handled the change well, and the portables have become the new normal for students. The new environment has brought a new sort of energy to the school day.
“Sometimes February can be a long part of the school year,” quotes Chemistry teacher Steve Vecchio. “Since we have a new room, the positive of being out in the portables might be that it feels kind of like a new start.”
Ultimately, the portable classrooms have been a really big change for everybody, but teachers know that the end result will be worth all of the struggles and time.
“As a science teacher, we’re going to be getting full science labs,” states Vecchio. “We’ll have full-on science labs with all the new equipment that modern college science labs have, so that piece will be exciting.”
“The positive would be that we’re all out there, the four of us teachers,” expresses Belvery. “So there’s a little community with the teachers. I get to see and talk to them a lot more, which has been nice.”
