A Teacher's Perspective

Aashka Garg

6.23.20

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Due to COVID-19, the entire world is going through a million changes. The education system, in particular, is facing many challenges. One, for students, is motivation, but an angle that we have not considered is that of our teachers. I interviewed one of our teachers to get more insight into their perspective. 

Señorita Brown is one of the Spanish teachers at STEM Academy. She teaches freshmen and juniors. When asked what she considers the most important part of her job she said that to her it's the connection between students and teachers. Due to COVID-19, a large part of that connection is gone. A large part of the process of teaching is lost due to how everything has to be online.  Her goal for students in the upcoming year is to continue to preserve despite the circumstances to learn everything that has to be accomplished by the end of the year. For juniors especially, it can be possible due to IB Exams, if we don't learn everything by the schedule by next year it’ll make life that much harder. 

When asked how she teaches compared to before and after quarantine, she said that she has tried to be as understanding and as empathetic as she could but quarantine has made her more aware of how everyone has something going on at home. One thing, in particular, that really stood out to her was how much she used technology before quarantine, for check-ins and other group activities, now that she has had no choice but to use technology for everything she feels that once we go back to school she will try to make the best of it but keeping more things group orientated and less technological. Her advice for students is to have patience with yourself even when you feel frustrated, to make a schedule and stick to it. She has noticed that the most important problem that students have been having has been motivation.

  When you are home 24 hours a day for all 7 days, then it can get really hard to find the motivation to work on specific things. At school, there is a schedule that we have to follow during the day so it is almost impossible not to do some work at least, but at home, all bets are off. I think that we as students, especially at STEM, sometimes put pressure on ourselves to perform at our best at all times. We feel that it is what is expected of us even when writing an outline or doing a math worksheet is the absolute last thing that we want to do. Sometimes the best thing for us can be to take a break and say it's okay to relax a little bit. Students should utilize their teachers more, they are here to help so when you are stressed or confused just let them know. Chances are they will work with you to help you figure out what is going on and make it less complicated.