This school year is very different from other years including how schools are working during this difficult time. Teachers are a big part of school and Saint Patrick High School has welcomed new teachers to teach this 2020-2021 school year. 

I was very glad to be able to interview the new teachers. We are going to start with Dr. Daniels. Dr. Daniels is a science teacher and is also the moderator of the Robotics Team. She talked about how different it is to work at an all boys school and the challenges that she has due to the hybrid and all-remote learning. 

This is her twelfth year teaching but her first year at Saint Patrick High School. Before St. Pat’s, she worked at an all-girls school but now is the opposite which is something different in her career as a teacher. “I like St. Pat’s. It is interesting working with all boys but once you get used to it, it is really quite nice.” She thinks that St. Pat’s teachers are doing an excellent job with the students. The students are very respectful to her at all times. “You guys are really good so I enjoy it,.” she said. “I think St. Pat’s teachers are doing a good job with the students and the students are very respectful so I like it.”  

Some of the challenges that she has teaching in-person, remote, and full-time remote students each day is that students are having a hard time learning the material. Dr. Daniels thinks students are having trouble focusing during her class. “Sometimes I am moving along with the lesson but they are not paying attention so they are only getting the lesson half way.” she said. She thinks teachers are having a hard time knowing if their students are understanding the lesson each day. Also, most of the boys will not always tell you if they are struggling understanding the material. “I think it is difficult because if we were in person I could watch that and make sure that all students know their material. Right now it is very difficult to find out who does and doesn’t know the material because boys don’t tell you all the time when they need help and they certainly won’t tell you in front of anybody else.”

Dr. Daniels also talks about how she deals with teaching online classes and at the same time teaching in the classroom. She doesn’t consider teaching a profession of sitting down for long hours but it is difficult for her because she has students in class and at the same time students online. “By not moving around, you don’t really know what students are doing. Generally, I’m moving around the room and I always know what students are working on so I find it very challenging.” Students at Saint Patrick High School use IPads all the time and the only purpose is to make their learning experience easier but the real question is, Are they really working on their assignment or doing something else? Dr. Daniels doesn’t have an answer as she states, “I feel like I’m stuck to my desk. Also, I don’t like the split. I think we may do better all remote or all in the classroom. Of course, I prefer to have all the kids in school instead of all remote. ”

Dr. Daniels is a good teacher but sometimes she feels her students are not understanding the material she teaches every single day. As she states, “I am finding that they are not and this is the first time this has happened to me so I’ve tried to adjust.” She even took a step back in one of the units during her class so students could have a clear understanding of the material. However, she wants students to take responsibility for their work especially this school year, “Some of the stuff is not on the teacher, some of it is on the kids and if they don’t want to do their online learning, then they are not learning. They have to take ownership, some of them are and some of them are not.”

Dr. Daniels prefers to grade all her assignments, quizzes, and tests on paper because it is easy but it is impossible this school year since we are using IPads or computers to learn. As I said before, this school year is very different from the other school years, So, do teachers have the same amount of work to grade compared to a normal school year? Dr. Daniels states, “It is not that I am giving more work but many of the things we are doing are on computers. I don’t think it was meant for us to be doing what we are doing.” She also explains that some assignments take her a long time to grade due to her computers that grinds and grinds, “So now something that would take me two hours will take me six hours to do due to the computer. It is not more work, it is just more time consuming.”