6 minute read
Back in the Classroom
Teachers and Students Back in the Classroom
Educators share their back-to-school experiences
WRITTEN BY Nicole Zappone
ILLUSTRATED BY Linda Zhao
Now a few months into the return to the school season, teachers have time to reflect on the long-awaited opening, how things are and were, and what can be. On the first day of school, across the country, parking lots filled with buses and cars could be seen as students, parents, and teachers re-entered school buildings that had been empty for months due to the pandemic.
Parents anxiously waited in line to drop off their students for the first week of school, and while some were nervous, others were very excited for some sort of normalcy. Staff members could also be seen rushing into their classrooms for the start of the 2021–2022 school year.
For substitute teachers like me, one could not know what to expect. How would the students react to being back in school—would they be happy, nervous, or simply not sure how to feel?
I remember walking into the building not knowing what to expect. To my surprise, it was business as usual—“Mrs. Zappone,” I could hear down the hallways as I wheeled my backpack into their classroom. With the ongoing pandemic, it would be hard to know what the new school year would be like. It was bittersweet returning with all the kids back in the building, with the “new norm”—masks.
I miss the days of seeing the faces of the students throughout the school and all the high-fives given out, but due to the pandemic, these things have been put on hold. I am optimistic that one day, things will get back.
For me, it was a relief to have the students back because it was almost a feeling of returning to normal, but not 100 percent. Masks can make interactions difficult at times. There are new protocols in place: designated walking areas, plexiglass in the offices, and sanitizing stations around every corner. When I go to school, I love to see the kids and their wonderful smiles when they see me in the hallways. Sometimes, it’s hard to tell if they are smiling or just grinning and bearing it.
The obstacles aside, for myself and my colleagues it is a pleasure to be back in person with the students—to see them running in the halls and not just as a 2D image on a computer screen.
Excited To Be Back
For Mysti Keller, an English teacher, there is excitement that the new school year is here. Keller, a graduate from Southern Connecticut University and now a teacher for eight years, was very excited for the students to return this year in-person.
“Teaching has been so much better this year than last year, but that’s no surprise,” said Keller.
“I also feel as though I have an advantage because I’ve been anticipating the challenges our students will be dealing with after a year and a half of distance learning,” Keller added.
Keller says that she has some students who are a little rusty with their social skills and need a bit of guidance on how they assimilate back to school, as well as a handful of students who struggled to learn virtually and have more foundational skills to catch up on.
One silver lining was the push to districts to catch up technologically. “For all of the struggles and headaches that teaching during the pandemic has brought, it really pushed my district to launch the one-to-one technology initiative that they’d been trying to get off the ground for years,” said Keller.
In her district, the struggle for technology can be a real challenge for some. However, during the pandemic, there were several grants given to the district that provided every single student a Chromebook to get them through last year. Local businesses also stepped in, like Comcast, which gave out vouchers to families who had financial difficulties to help get families connected to the internet at little to no cost.
“I’ve always been a major proponent in technological inclusion and innovation in the classroom,” said Keller.
Keller said that with all her students having Chromebooks, she is seeing a difference in their typing, navigation, and other computing skills, which are steadily improving.
With the students returned, Keller can tell that they are happy to be back. She has overheard them saying that they (students) didn’t realize how much they missed being in school.
“What blows my mind is that some of my students had literally never been in the building until seventh grade, so this is a big new building for them, and there’s plenty to see and do,” said Keller.
Keller finds one of the funniest things that keeps happening to her is that students will come up and say hello to her by name. Due to the requirement of masks in the school and previously being virtual, she must ask who they are because she never got to see their faces.
Hands-On Science
For science teacher Chelsea Slade, the biggest challenge for her during the
pandemic was having to learn technology that she never had to use before.
In the 11 years of her teaching, she never had to use Google Classroom. During the last school year, most of the students went completely virtual. Teachers were forced to learn Google Classroom and go on a live Google Meet every period.
“For the beginning of the year and the end of the year, we did have students in person, which I thought was the hardest because we had to teach students in our room and those on the computer screen simultaneously,” said Slade.
It was from November 2020 to March 2021 that all students were home, and teachers were live on their computer screens, which Slade describes as a different way of teaching with no in-person interaction. This challenge was especially difficult for a science teacher where hands-on activities are often a focal point of lesson plans.
“Teaching so far this year with all the students back in the building feels much more normal,” said Slade.
Slade can do most of the things that she always did, except now students have access to every period on their Chromebooks. All the work is still posted to their Google Classrooms, which makes for a much smoother transition for completing and grading.
“I think making this upgrade for the students was great to bring our students closer to what other schools have been doing for years, while also cutting down on the copying for teachers, and reduces shared materials between individuals,” said Slade.
The only real additions to the classroom, since the beginning of the pandemic, were making sure students wear masks and socially distance, and cleaning surfaces and materials frequently.
“I think it’s great to be able to do labs and group work with the kids again,” said Slade.
Although not what we have been used to for years, no one can argue that it has been great to be able to have students and teachers reconnect not in 2D but in the classroom that we have all missed so much. •
