Lucinda Dreschler is the latest in a column for exceptional teachers at Regional School Unit 9. Dreschler said she is passionate about collaborative problem solving, finding unique ways to educate, and making students smile. Submitted photo

EDITOR’S NOTE: Exceptional teachers is a column highlighting the educators and staff at RSU9 that have overcome challenges and found innovative ways to educate, keeping RSU 9 running over the last few years.

WILTON — Lucinda Dreschler believes teaching is like performing on a stage, and she loves it.

Dreschler is a fifth grade teacher at Academy Hill School in Wilton, part of Regional School Unit 9. She’s been with RSU 9 for quite some time as a “veteran teacher” at Academy Hill.

Dreschler went to the University of Maine at Farmington and then acquired a master’s degree from the University of Southern Maine.

It seems Dreschler has her finger in countless pots at RSU 9 – she’s served on the Strategic Planning committee, the Academy Hill Leadership Team, the Educational Advisory Committee, works as a mentor to new teachers and organizes the Academy Hill School Food Drive for the Wilton Food Pantry.

She also teaches every subject but science to fifth graders.

Dreschler said she became an educator because of the “great teachers I had when I was growing up.”

“It’s great and fun to see when the light bulb goes off in a child like, ‘I get it,'” Dreschler said. “Or they’re excited or enthusiastic about what they’re learning about.”

Since the beginning of her career, Dreschler said that “because I enjoy teaching so much, I think things come easy to me.”

She loves the performance of it all, helping children understand the lesson with unique strategies and methods.

Just recently Dreschler said Superintendent Chris Elkington witnessed one of those unique strategies – teaching a lesson by way of M&M’s.

“I want to make things as engaging as possible, knowing that we’re confined,” she said. ” I’m always looking for new and innovative ideas to implement into my classroom.”

Additionally, it’s important to Dreschler to collaborate closely with the Academy Hill team.

“[It’s important to] use everybody in the school to help you. It’s just not one teacher. It’s the team that pulls us through and having other people to talk with. It just makes it easy to bounce ideas off with,” she said. “We problem solve together.”

She also feels passionate about mentoring younger teachers new to the district.

Together, her team has found other innovative ways to educate.

Amid the constraints of the pandemic, such as the inability to go on field trips, students have had the opportunity to tie-dye T-shirts and have an end-of-year drive-by to graduate fifth grade.

Dreschler said she even went with other teachers to the homes of students that weren’t able to attend the ceremony so they could give them certificates and wish them luck in middle school.

“They needed that just to have that little connection and piece of closure at the end of the year,” Dreschler said.

And the collaboration goes beyond the Academy Hill staff – Dreschler said she collaborates with the students, as well.

The COVID-19 pandemic has been a challenge for all, but especially so for educators. Research indicates children are less engaged in school and have fallen behind in academics due to unique challenges posed in the last year.

In order to keep her students engaged, Dreschler said she’s worked hard to include the students in decisions, have them “brainstorm ideas” for lessons, topics and assignments.

“I tried to give them voice and choice. I just wanted their voice to be heard, because you wanted school to be fun for them during a pandemic that none of us have ever lived through,” Dreschler said. “I just felt like getting the kids really involved in making decisions in the classroom was very helpful to making it a successful experience for them.”

When asked why she thought she was nominated by RSU 9 administration for this profile, Dreschler said despite the difficulties, she tries her best to “persevere through it all, making school as fun as possible for kids.”

Drescher said she also loves to see the students persevere.

“I love seeing their smile, when the light bulb goes off and they’ve persevered through a math problem, or something difficult, and they know that they’ve got it and they love it,” she said. “I believe the rapport that a teacher has with the kids is probably the most important thing … encouragement is what they need.”

A student this year even thanked Dreschler for “the encouraging words that I give him.”

“Those simple things go a long ways with kids,” she said.

And as a cherry-on-top of the sundae, Dreschler said she loves teaching students whose parents were past students in her class.

“I have a strong community connection,” she said.