Issue link: http://educator.cta.org/i/1337485
B E F O R E S T U D E N T S R E T U R N E D , our school created a welcome video so they would feel confident and unafraid. It showed how to wear a mask, where to wash their hands, and why there are plastic shields at their desks. I wanted to celebrate the students coming back to school. I had a "wel- come back" bag at each desk filled with goodies. I am happy being back with my students, but I don't let myself get too comfortable. Safety is always on my mind. The kids were happy to come back. They don't care about masks. They don't mind sitting apart from each other. They are so resilient. They are doing better with hybrid learning than distance learning only because they are more engaged in the lesson. The best part for me is having a smaller class with only 17 students. Hybrid instruction is time-consum- ing. I teach two sets of students in person per day, but I differentiate. I prepare the morning group to do the asynchronous lesson in the afternoon based on their morning lesson. I pre- pare my afternoon group to do the next day 's lesson that they will begin asynchronously by themselves the next morning. It took me a long time to figure out how to do this. I'm preparing parent conferences on Zoom, and trying to meet students' social and emotional needs with weekly check-ins. After weeks, I'm finally get- ting into a rhythm. It's the hardest thing I have done in my 30-year career. Special education has different challenges STEVEN SEVERANCE, Garden Grove Education Association, teaches kindergartners and first graders with moderate to severe disabilities at Thomas Paine Elementary School. Half his class, about 10 students, attend in person. He live-streams simultaneously to instruct the rest of his students, whose parents opted for online learning. "I am happy being back with my students, but I don't let myself get too comfortable." 28 cta.org Feature Kathy Adair The hardest time of my career KATHY ADAIR, Saddleback Valley Educators Association, teaches fourth grade at Trabuco Mesa Elementary School in Rancho Santa Margarita. In her class, "hybrid" instruction means teaching two in-person sessions daily, morning and afternoon. When students are not physically in the classroom, they work at home on asynchronous online lessons that she created. This allows for smaller classes and social distancing, without Adair having to teach in-person and online students simultaneously.