Heather Nesler celebrated a major milestone – 11 years of teaching at Jackson Middle School. It takes her a moment to reflect on whether it really was 11 or 10 – or maybe 12. She jokes that the years fly by, but 2020 is certainly a year to remember.
Nesler, who teaches eighth grade math and algebra, says it was difficult to calculate exactly how COVID-19 would affect her classroom early on.
“At the beginning of the week I was thinking, ‘Oh, this is kind of like the flu,’” she says, “and then by the end of the week we’re canceled. It was a whirlwind.”
Nesler quickly began planning for the virtual sessions ahead. When she told her students her plan to continue teaching online, they responded with relief.
“You could see it in them,” she says. “That I’m not going to be alone in this.’”
Algebra class transitioned to Google Meet. Nesler shared her digital white board screen and went through notes just like she would in the traditional classroom. Students had the ability to type in questions with a chat function on the online service and muted their mics so that no one was distracted by background noises at home.
In the afternoon, Nesler also held office hours for students to hop on for help.
“In the beginning, I was trying to do too much,” Nesler says. “You want to do everything you were doing before, but then with them being at home, there’s a new added challenge that they were working virtually for all of their classes.”
A few students actually performed better in online classes than in person.
“Some students that didn’t thrive in the in-person classroom actually blossomed online,” Nesler says. “It was interesting. Some didn’t interact with me a lot, but I could see their work and assignments and they were performing really well.”
The social butterflies of the classroom continued to stay social even through a screen, always hopping on the chat.
Although Nesler made the best of her virtual classroom, there were some obstacles. Not being able to connect with them in person was one of the biggest ones. Email was the main source of feedback – a form of communication that eighth-graders were not accustomed to before the pandemic.
Nesler and fellow teacher Randi Flynn dressed up 80s-style for the school’s Decade Day.
“I just wanted to make sure my students were doing okay,” she says, “which was harder because I couldn’t see their faces and all that.”
Following a turbulent end to the school year, Nesler is ready whether classes return to the classroom or continue online.
“During my eighth grade math class, we got into a good flow,” she says. “I’d create lesson videos and give them a Google form homework. Then I’d give them feedback. We got into a good routine, so if we’re starting this again next year, I’d continue what we were doing in the end.”
She credits South-Western City School District for giving its teachers all the help and resources it could. During the week before their first online lesson, the district set up webinars to showcase all kinds of resources teachers could use.
And just as teachers had to adapt, so did their students. Nesler couldn’t be prouder of how her students adjusted to the abrupt transition.
“I’m so proud of them for how well they did,” she says. “They were engaged, completed their assignments on time and did a really nice job.”
Teachers may lose track of how many years they’ve been teaching or what lesson plans looked like years ago, but we’re confident Nesler will always remember her 11th year.
After all, it’s pretty unforgettable.
Mallory Arnold is an associate editor. Feedback welcome at marnold@cityscenemediagroup.com.
