Teachers stand by responsibilities amid pandemic
* Unsung Heroes: Finale of a 5-part series
Robbinsville – Among the many institutions upended by the COVID-19 pandemic was the educational system, with educators across the country being required to teach their students virtually.
And even though all Graham County Schools back to face-to face instruction four days a week, teachers are still having to adapt as regulations change and the world learns to live with COVID-19.
But despite the dynamic, changing environment, three Graham County educators agreed that it was good to be back face-to-face with their pupils.
“There was lots of just being flexible; adapting to what was going on just like everybody else has been,” said Robbinsville Elementary School sixth-grade social studies teacher Jessica Wehr.
Robbinsville Middle School history, coding and robotics teacher Bryan Beasley also spoke to the flexibility that the pandemic had required of education, saying that learning to meet the students in the middle was paramount.
“Last year it was ‘rigor, rigor, rigor, rigor,’” Beasley said. “Now we’re more ‘support, support, support, support.’ That flip-flopped to the way it was previous to COVID.”
Both educators also said that technology issues were another challenge.
“You didn’t know that it wasn’t going to be accessible to everybody until kids couldn’t download things, kids couldn’t link in, and you had disconnects and stuff like that that happened because of the internet access,” Wehr said. “You kind of had to continuously evolve and rethink stuff, but there’s a lot of stuff out there. I do a lot of reading in my class, so I could assign articles and stuff like that that the kids were able to use.”
Wehr also said that even before the pandemic, the district had purchased enough devices for the district to be one-to-one with technology.
“I think everyone’s eyes were opened – including myself – to how integral of a role schools play in the community,” Wehr said. “It’s not just a place of education: it is like full support.”
For some teachers, the challenge was even greater due to the hands-on nature of their subject.
Robbinsville High School carpentry teacher Ricky Parham referred to the pandemic as a “whole new learning experience” for him.
“The state of North Carolina has adopted an online course called NCCER (National Center for Construction Education and Research) Connect, and it’s our curriculum all online,” Parham said. “There are some components on it that can’t be taught online.”
He said he replaced some of the hands-on portions with online woodworking videos and segments of the TV show “This Old House.”
Parham added that he was glad to be able to have his students back in class working with their hands.
“It’s been great now, being able to interact with the students and have them complete some nice projects,” Parham said.
He said since students returned, projects ranged from chairs and gun cabinets to a storage building and a dulcimer.
Beasley said that luckily, the time that students were not attending physically was the semester he offered his coding course prior to robotics.
“They’re two different classes, but you have to have the first one to be qualified to take the second one, and most of the coding took place during the time when everything was strict, six feet apart,” Beasley explained. “When everything eased up, we got to the robotics class, and they started working closer together and using some of the Ozobots and using some of the block coding to program the Ozobots.”
All three educators also lauded the county and community for their support, as well as their own colleagues.
“You have to have support – like a team environment – because there’s days that are really, really hard, and they help you not have to reinvent the wheel constantly,” Wehr said.
They also stressed the importance of the relationships built with students.
“When you get those wedding invitations, those baby shower invitations – and it’s been 10 years since they got out of school – you know that you did something,” Beasley said.