Professional Title: 2nd Grade Teacher

Class Year: 2010

Major: Elementary Education

Location: Burlington, NC

Education Experience: 11 years

Please share your experience working with students during the pandemic?

Our school year began on Plan C which is fully virtual. We meet on Zoom daily from 9am-12pm, and then from 1:40pm-3pm. The students have specials from 1:00-1:40. At the elementary level we are using Google Classroom and Class Dojo as our primary platforms. I instruct my students through Google Slides which is a way to add all subject area tasks, videos, and links in one place. Our district provided us with curriculum resources that we could use for our online classes, but as the year took off, I began to create my own resources to best fit the needs of my students. We spent the first weeks learning computer skills such as sharing our screen, muting and unmuting, copy and paste, drag and drop, highlighting, inserting text boxes, changing the text color, and more. Spending time on those skills has been so beneficial for our learning. The students are provided with quality instruction that is engaging and rigorous. We use YouTube, FlipGrid, Prodigy, and Epic for ways to add fun to our lessons.  There are challenges with internet connection which causes myself and students to sound glitchy at times or even get kicked off of Zoom. However, the overall experience has been positive.

Outside of teaching much of my stress comes from the decisions made by the district. Our district does not keep the well -being of teachers and staff in mind as they constantly make changes without the true desire for our honest feedback. After fighting with the district for permission, up to this point I have been able to work from home, since students were learning from home. Now we are about to transition to Plan B which is a hybrid model where students will be able to come to school as an A/B cohort, or continue remotely as an A/B cohort. However, all teachers will be required to work from the building regardless of the needs of their family. If we choose not to work in the building, we have to take leave, resign, or retire. The highlight is definitely my students. Their smiles, laughs, lunch conversations, and encouraging words are what makes this time special. We love each other, even though a computer screen. If not for them I don’t know what mental state I would be in.

What advice would you give to people during this pandemic?

I would tell everyone to remember that this is a pandemic. There are no answers. There is not a vaccine, and no cure. Respect the needs of others by wearing a mask in public, staying 6 feet away, and hand washing. I want everyone to understand that this pandemic is not the same for everyone and we have to be empathetic, patient, and kind.