Outdoor educators who inspire: Tacoma Online
Assistant Principal Ruth Schlattmann on why it's vital for all kids to have the opportunity to experience community, set goals and stretch their comfort zones with outdoor experiences, even when they go to school in a largely online environment.
by Erin McQuin
At WTA, we collaborate with a community of educators who have included outdoor education and programming with their students. The Outdoor Leadership Training program supports these educators and their schools with gear and training.
We recently connected with a few educators we admire to learn more about how they are building better futures for their students.
Tacoma Online offers K-12 students in the Tacoma School District an alternative way to learn. Students enroll in classes online and are connected to counselors, specialists and peers to help support their individualized learning plans online or in-person. WTA first partnered with Tacoma Online in 2023. We provided gear to support their first outdoor learning opportunity for their fifth and sixth-grade students. We look forward to providing gear again this year to help their students go on a camping trip.
We connected with Assistant Principal Ruth Schlattmann to learn more about Tacoma Online.
Students with Tacoma Online learning to canoe at Camp Seymour. Photo courtesy Ruth Schlattmann
Can you tell us about Tacoma Online's goals for outdoor programs?
Tacoma Online is an alternative learning environment; we don’t operate like most schools. Our students do most of their learning from their homes. Families choose our school for various reasons. Some families have unique schedules due to work, travel, athletics or healthcare needs. The flexibility of Tacoma Online allows them to take care of their priorities and needs at home while still participating in our free, public school. We offer frequent in-person learning opportunities to allow students to learn and connect with school staff and peers. These learning opportunities include science labs, art projects, PE meetups and more. We also offer virtual, hybrid and in-person clubs after school.
Alongside these regular academic and extracurricular opportunities, Tacoma Online’s goal is to provide an outdoor learning experience for each grade level, each year. We recognize the importance of teaching students to understand, appreciate and conserve the beautiful environment we live in. We strive to educate the whole learner, which means supporting both academic and social-emotional learning. Getting kids outside can help with both of those! Many of our students thrive in an outdoor setting; these opportunities allow students to discover and pursue new learning in the outdoors.
What inspired you to start leading outdoor programs with Tacoma Online?
I personally love camping. As a child, I attended day and overnight camps around Washington. As an adult, my family takes several camping trips a year. It is one of our favorite pastimes as a family! I think it is vital for all kids to have the opportunity to experience community and learning in the outdoors. When I was a student, I attended sixth-grade camp and it was one of the most memorable experiences from my school days. I’ve made it part of my personal mission to ensure that Tacoma Online fifth and sixth graders have the opportunity to experience camping!
Why are outdoor programs so important?
Being outside can enhance mental and physical health, it instills a strong sense of duty to conserve and protect our beautiful environment. I want our kids at Tacoma Online to experience all of that! Plus, it’s good for us to unplug and leave our screens behind from time to time. It’s important to strike a balance with screen time for all kids, not just Tacoma Online students.
How do you uplift the students you serve?
At Tacoma Online we uplift students in as many ways as we can. We teach about character traits and support monthly assemblies that highlight individual students and classes for their accomplishments. We focus a lot on setting manageable goals and celebrating when we achieve them; personal growth is a big part of the personalized learning offered at Tacoma Online.
Similarly, at Camp Seymour, we helped students set goals for their time there. For some students, sleeping in a cabin away from home was a first. We talked through what the overnights would look like, who they could go to for support, and strategies to help them overcome their fears. For other students, the night hike we took presented a personal challenge. The physical feat of hiking coupled with the extra characteristic of it being in the dark stretched many students outside of their comfort zone. We helped students through this by setting small goals like taking a day hike first and navigating the campground at night. Through all of these new and sometimes scary experiences, we coached students to set small goals, ask for help when they needed it, and have positive self-talk. We would take time between activities to reflect; many students shared during our reflections how great it felt to meet their goal and overcome a challenge.
At the end of their campout with Camp Seymour, all students received personalized certificates recognizing something they learned, excelled at, or overcame.
How do you encourage your students to become outdoor leaders?
Working with the staff at Camp Seymour, we were able to encourage students to take risks, advocate for themselves and be learners. We talked a lot about how those camp skills can translate to and impact our everyday lives. We also encouraged students to share their experiences. Our current fifth and sixth graders are presenting photos and memories from camp to the rising classes to encourage them to attend future campouts.
Are there any projects you’re excited about right now?
I’m really excited about next year’s overnight camp experience. We are working on including high school counselors from Tacoma Online high school.
Many of our high school students may have been to fifth or sixth-grade camp as an elementary student. For them, returning as a counselor can be a way to share their enthusiasm for the outdoors with younger learners. Our Tacoma Online high schoolers can serve as near-peer mentors for our younger students. As a K-12 school, we are uniquely positioned to create opportunities for leadership for our high schoolers within our elementary and middle schools. Additionally, supporting Tacoma Online’s campout provides a chance for high schoolers to learn about jobs and careers that are in the outdoors and/or work with kids. As our high schoolers move closer to graduating, we want them to have a wide range of experiences to draw upon as they make big life decisions.
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