MIDLAND, Texas — Midland Independent School District starts school Wednesday, remotely. While some are getting used to the new way of learning, others are getting used to teaching in the first place.
Lucky for them, these new teachers with MISD do not know any different. But that does not mean it has not been a steep, steep learning curve.
The district has over 200 new teachers this year, coming from all kinds of different backgrounds.
“I worked an office job before this in the oil and gas industry," Chloe Snell, a 2nd grade teacher at Bonham Elementary said. "I had been working with Unlock Ministries and those kiddos just made me realize it was my calling.”
As for 3rd grade teacher at Bonham Elementary, Andrea Goecks, she decided to move to Midland because teachers get paid more than in her home state.
“I’m from New Mexico and the pay wasn’t really good so we had some friends that said Midland was in need of teachers," Goecks said. "I had the degree and I thought it was time to use it.”
While school might start this week for students, these new teachers have been learning all summer.
“Having to learn how to do schedules, lesson plans, and then Google Classroom and making it interesting for the kids has been overwhelming," Goecks said. "It has just been a huge amount of learning things every single day.”
Snell and Goecks have been getting their classrooms ready for in-person and remote learning. Even though they will start teaching remotely, they are hoping to experience an in-person classroom during their first year.
“Hopefully this pandemic is just a short season and we get back into the classroom quicker than we know it," Snell said.
The district is planning on doing remote learning the first 4 weeks, and then they are hoping to transition to in-person classes.
But like most things surrounding COVID-19, that decision is still up in the air.