WINTERSET, Iowa — Frustrating. Exhausting. Scary.
Those are just some of the words used by teachers to describe the past 12 months. Their worlds were turned upside down in a matter of days, forcing them to learn new technology and navigate new avenues to reach their students.
"I think I've used the analogy this year that it feels like we're in a broken batting cage and you're just swinging at everything that comes at you, hoping not to get hit with the ball," said Meredith McCay, an English teacher at Winterset High School.
McCay had been teaching for a few years before the coronavirus pandemic upended her lesson plans. The hardest thing about the past year for her was all the little issues piling on at once.
"The policy changes, the technology issues, the kids wearing masks, the quarantine," McCay said. "It wasn't just one thing, it was how it all collectively made you feel."
Joel Imel echoed the sentiment.
He's a second-year teacher of second graders in Winterset. Imel said it was tough navigating all of the policy changes throughout the year.
"We kept up with CDC guidelines, but it was a lot to handle," he said.
He described his role of reminding students to keep their masks on, writing down where each student sat and having to reconfigure the seating chart if a student didn't get along with someone.
"I think that was one of the biggest challenges," Imel said. "To keep their safety in mind, but also make it fun."
Both teachers learned a lot about themselves during the pandemic, including their persistence and patience.
"Friends joke and say 'Oh, you must be the most patient person in the world,' and this year, you had to," McCay added. "You had to let go and some of the things you had to let go so you could hang on to the most important pieces of learning."
McCay and Imel are choosing to see the positives from teaching during a pandemic as well.
"The silver lining in all of this is they got to grow as a family within their own classroom," Imel said of his second-grade students. "You were in your classroom the whole time and you learned to get along with each other."
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