Local educators meet the challenges of teaching during a pandemic

SOUTHERN ILLINOIS - The COVID-19 pandemic has presented challenges for people from all walks of life, but one group of people has met these challenges head on for the betterment of the next generation.

Teachers are used to being flexible and adaptable. They have taught on different schedules, prepared students for endless tests, taught learners with different abilities, and often make do with limited resources.

However, this is the first time in history that public school teachers have had to teach without students in the classroom. Once again teachers have shown that they will rise to any challenge set before them. Megan Thompson teaches second grade at Marion's Washington Elementary School, a position she's held for eight years. She is finding herself meeting challenges as she navigates remote teaching.

"The balance of planning instruction for your remote learners to be the same, or almost the same as your in person learners has been a huge challenge," she said. "As a teacher, I want my remote students to be able to have access to the same education as my in person learners and I don't want their education to suffer because they aren't here."

While nothing will be as beneficial for remote students as being in class with their teachers, Thompson has come up with a crafty solution to ensure they still get the same education.

"My remote learners do the exact same things as my in-person learners," she said. "I have converted everything to a digital resource for them. If I want my in-person learners to read a story to an adult for homework, I have that assigned for my remote learners as well. If I am reading a story to my students that are in class, I will record that story for my remote students."

Teaching remotely means navigating new online teaching programs that many teachers have never used before.

One of the positive aspects that may come out of teaching during a pandemic is learning the applications of teaching programs that could be used daily at school in the future, "I've never used Google Classroom before this year," said Thompson. "Last year I tried to make a classroom but it never went past that. It has been especially useful this year because I believe that the structure of the program is very beneficial to remote students. I can see myself continuing to use it in the years to come."

COVID-19 has completely altered the dynamic of the classroom. Everyone must stay socially distant and touching has become a thing of the past. Thompson explains what she misses most about the way things used to be.

"I miss hugging my students all the time," she said, "I really do. You just have that connection with your students and I feel like this year it's hard to build those relationships."

Overall, Thompson is proud of how resilient her students have been this school year and she believes that they can handle things like wearing masks and staying socially distant, much better than she and others previously thought.

Amanda Morris teaches senior English and Advanced Placement English at Murphysboro High School, like she has for the past 24 years.

Murphysboro has just recently gone full remote so her struggles with teaching remotely are slightly different.

"It's much harder to build relationships with your students when you don't see them," she said. "I'm an older teacher so I had much to learn about programs like Google Classroom and Screen Castify."

Morris has found a positive in the situation, though.

"I believe this was good for me in the long run," she said, "but it was still a challenge nonetheless."

With the curriculum that Morris teaches, it is much harder to discuss readings with students. Normally, there would be an open conversation involving herself and all the students but now, students can only ask questions through emails. Morris then answers the questions that students ask and discusses the stories in a video she posts for students to watch. When asked what Morris misses most about the prior year, she said, "I miss the laughter and the energy of my students. I also miss pep rallies, sports and the library being full of students every morning. I miss the life of the school. I also miss talking to my students about their lives and their plans for the future."

Many teachers like Morris, have never used online programs and were forced to learn a new system of teaching. While some teachers like the online programs, many do not. Morris explains her thoughts on Google Classroom and programs like it.

"I believe that face-to-face instruction is vastly superior to online instruction," she said. "While Google Classroom is necessary for this year, I don't believe that I will be continuing to use it after the pandemic is over."

While Morris misses the way her school used to be, she is hopeful for what the future will bring.

As the teachers at all levels, of all ages, and all subjects have adapted to alternative teaching methods, they have shown their students what it means to be resilient.