Teachers Balance In-Person, Virtual Classes

Danny Jones staff had to balance teaching in-person and online this year.

Seventh-grade ELA teacher Courtney Brunicardi said that online school isn’t the same and requires a lot of brain power.

Brunicardi also stated that it is hard to tell when a student is struggling since she can’t see them in person along with many other challenges and many other positive things about teaching online.

“In some ways it is easier,” she said. “Students know what they’re doing.”

Seventh-grade ELA teacher Tinesha Ladson said it was challenging at first but she’s gotten used to it. There are still some challenges with the internet and other things. 

“One challenge that there is, is when kids use the same excuses that they hear from the others, like my internet went down or it wouldn’t  pop up,” she said. “Sometimes kids just don’t log on.”.

Overall online has some difficulties but also keeps students safe.

Shifting to online school was a new thing for students and teachers, and it’s added to an already stressful year.

Skills for Living teacher Bethanne Williams said that at first she wasn’t thrilled with the idea of virtual classes because it was something new, but once she got used to and made a habit of it, it got pretty easy.

She also said sometimes it gets hard to manage home stuff and work stuff because she gets more emails and she has to grade more papers.

One thing she said that she enjoys about online school is the flexibility, and that students have the capability to communicate with her at all times.

Social distancing is a big thing, and everyone should take precautions, according to Williams.

“Everybody is wearing masks, and occasionally I’ll see a student with their mask under their nose and I’ll tell them to put it on,” she said. “As far as social distancing we’re doing our best to keep as much distance as possible.”