CLAY COUNTY – Teaching already is a challenge, but teaching during the COVID-19 pandemic created the most difficult teaching challenge in modern education history and a feat unto itself.

Wilkinson Elementary social studies teacher, Lorraine Evatt, and Lake Asbury Junior High social studies teacher, Josh Hailey, took it a step further by winning state awards for their work in the classroom.

Evatt won the Dr. Theron Trimble Florida Social Studies Teacher of the Year for Elementary Schools, and Hailey earned Florida’s Recipient Excellence in Teaching History Award.

“I was so surprised,” Hailey said. “As a second-year teacher, of course, I came in and tried to do my best in public education but I was pleasantly surprised when I found out I actually ... won an award. It was so exciting.”

Hailey attended Orange Park Elementary years and years ago and graduating from Orange Park High in 2010. He went to grad school in Arizona, and while he wasn’t necessarily sure he’d be back teaching in Clay County, it was one of the many places he applied to work at post-graduation. The stars aligned and Hailey returned home and now, two years in, he’s an award-winning teacher.

Evatt has been teaching in Clay County, all at Wilkinson. She’s no longer a classroom teacher, but she now works as a literacy coach at the Clay County School District Office. She won the award for her service last year.

Both Evatt and Hailey won different awards at the county level and the school district encouraged them to apply for the state versions.

“I would like to think [I received it] because I try to be as creative as possible in the way that I present historical content to students and we do that through primary sources and eyewitness accounts and pictures to give students a sense of what was really going on during the times that we study,” Hailey said.

“I try to encourage them to use their creativity as well and that includes finding different kinds of mini-projects for them to complete where they can express themselves and engage with the material in a way that suits their learning preference.”

Hailey said he also has to give as much credit as possible to the people he works with at LAJH, both in terms of administration and fellow teachers in the history department. With him being just a teacher two years into the gig, he leaned on his colleagues a lot, he said, and they were always down and willing to help. 

“I’ve always said jokingly (in regards to teaching during a pandemic), I didn’t know any better,” Hailey said. “I came into this job in the middle of all this and I just simply tried to do my best and support the school however I could. There were certainly challenges, but I learned to be flexible and as supportive as possible throughout all of it.”

Clearly what Hailey was doing worked, and the same can be said for his fellow social studies teacher, Evatt. 

“When we went to distance learning when COVID-19 first began, I wanted my students to know more social studies content and I’m good at integrating social studies into English Language Arts so that’s what I did,” Evatt said. “For the following school year, I wanted history to take on a whole new level of reverence for students and I began to teach history and reading because I wanted them to realize it was more of a history class than just a reading class. I wanted them to see my room as an engaging place for a history lesson rather than just an English one.” 

She said it was important for her to create excitement in social studies. Most students, she said, feel that kind of excitement about math and science, but it was always a challenge to get that same reaction out of reading and history. So, she melded the two together and created a new immersive experience for her students. 

“We did thematic units on different periods of history like colonial life, the American Revolution and more,” Evatt said. “With each unit, we did a field day and because we couldn’t have volunteers on campus due to COVID-19, I had to reach out to my colleagues and the district office to help come out and run the field day stations. I wouldn’t have received this award without their help.” 

Evatt said students made colonial dolls, wrote about what they learned using feather pens and ink, wrote essays comparing colonial life to modern life, dressed up like colonials, played colonial-era games and more. 

“I guess you could say it worked,” Evatt said. “We did a pre-assessment before each unit, one midway through it and one at the end and we could see a huge difference between pre and post. Because they had such a good time learning history, they’ll have that background knowledge for when they move on up to seventh grade and beyond.” 

“That’s what teaching is all about.”