TEACHING DURING A PANDEMIC
Gaynor Teachers Are: Brave, Thoughtful, Dedicated, Exhausted, Fulfilled An inside perspective on teaching during the pandemic. This fall at Stephen Gaynor School, the doors opened
In November 2020, we interviewed Gaynor teachers
once again to welcome students back into classrooms.
to get their perspective on what it was really like
While that sentence is easy to write, the work of
to teach onground and remotely during the height
preparing to open schools during a pandemic was difficult and unprecedented. School leaders spent months determining the layers of defense necessary to keep students and staff safe, while teachers and specialists faced many challenges as they got ready for
of the pandemic. These interviews were conducted before vaccines were approved for emergency use in December, when cases in New York were rising steadily before peaking in early January 2021, and before mass vaccinations began to turn the tide toward our collective
a school year like no other.
recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Teaching during a pandemic required educators around
Of course, as this issue goes to press in the summer of
the globe to learn new skills and wear even more hats than they did before, all while facing health and safety concerns in an uncertain world to be there for their students. Gaynor teachers in particular needed to
2021, there are still unknowns — will cases continue to drop, will students under the age of 12 become eligible and begin receiving the vaccine — but there is a feeling of hope that the 2021-2022 school year will feel much
rededicate themselves to fulfilling the school’s mission of
more “normal” with regard to teaching and learning.
providing a “highly individualized educational program”
We thought it was important to capture the thoughts
for each student, and figuring out how they could do
and emotions of Gaynor teachers in the moment,
that under unique and challenging circumstances.
before time and perspective dulled their memories and perceptions of the challenges to being a teacher during the pandemic.
24 GAYNOR GAZETTE
