ZANESVILLE, Ohio — Patience, structure and compassion are keys to one intervention teacher’s formula for making a difference for those who need it.

Chris Hannahs of Barnesville, an intervention specialist with the Belmont County Alternative Program partnered with the East Central Ohio Educational Service Center, was recognized last Wednesday by the Coalition of Rural and Appalachian Schools as an “Outstanding Middle School Teacher” during its meeting and awards ceremony in Zanesville.

Hannahs has been teaching for about 10 years at BCAP, having begun after working 12 years with Children Services and the Department of Job and Family Services. He teaches middle school students in fourth through seventh grades from all of Belmont County’s schools.

“All these kids are sent here from their schools for their behaviors. All have negative behaviors that impact their learning,” he said. “They have their academics, and they also have an hour-and-a-half of mental health counseling and they get 45 minutes of social skills training.”

He teaches up to 10 students in his classroom at a time. The overall goal is to improve students’ behavior and transfer them back to their schools.

“I actually love it. They are fantastic,” he said.

Hannahs values the chance to make a difference. He said many of his students have difficult home lives and are recovering from trauma suffered at an early age.

“They’re trying to overcome a bunch of obstacles.”

Hannahs said optimally the students will return to their schools the next year.

“Every day is a challenge,” Hannahs said, adding he has experience in the U.S. Army and Navy and can apply that mindset to create a stable learning environment. “My kids do well with structure. They do the same thing every day.”

He also noted the importance of personalizing adaptability.

“I’ll always ask them how their night went, because if they had a horrible night, I don’t want to push any buttons early,” he said.

Hannahs’ curriculum includes teaching language arts, math, social studies and science, as well as some exercise and sports activities outside.

“It can be kind of challenging sometimes because if you have a fourth-grader and a seventh-grader in the same room, academically they’re going to be different so I have to tailor my teaching to meet each of their individual needs, which can be challenging,” Hannahs said.

He also commented on students’ progress during and after disruptions in routines and early learning patterns during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“When the pandemic first hit and these students were learning from home, a lot of them didn’t have laptops so … I would try to send them actual written materials,” he said. “It was hard. It was really, really hard because they didn’t have a lot of technology at home and it was hard to communicate. A lot of them got used to staying home, so at first it made it hard for a lot of them to want to come back. I had a lot of absences in the beginning. It was hard getting them back on a routine where they were coming to school regularly again, but in the past year I haven’t had that.”

Since then, BCAP has more tools to work with. Chromebooks are now available for the students to take home.

Hannahs continues to try to both challenge his students and keep them engaged. He spoke about some of the qualities called for by the job.

“Everyone’s different. Every child’s different. Every teacher’s different. Anyone coming into teaching now, if I could give them any advice … you just need to have a lot of patience. Every child is different and you need to touch base with those students individually. If you have a ton of patience and you have the mindset where they all can learn, they learn differently,” he said. “Keep it interesting and challenging, but not too challenging where they get frustrated. Just stay with it. Consistency and decency and empathy, that goes a long way with teaching.”

He is also an assistant football coach for Barnesville High School.

Jane Kalonick, president and manager of alternative education for ECOESC, said Hannahs is a valued member of the team.

“We’re really proud of him because he’s a very humble teacher,” she said. “He’s early, he’s ready to go with all of our students, and really he’s a compassionate teacher. We have students who come in pretty frequently with a lot of mental health and behavioral issues. It’s amazing his level of competency.”

She added that a total of 55 teachers received the award.