Science Specialist at the Epicenter
Ms. Ramirez teaches lower elementary science at a school in urban New York. In a typical year, classes would come to her dedicated science lab twice a week for hands-on activities and experiments, but that changed abruptly in early 2020 when New York became one of the earliest epicenters of the COVID outbreak in the United States. Her school quickly closed its doors and switched to virtual-only instruction. As a science specialist, Ms. Ramirez was not expected to hold live, synchronous sessions with the students. Instead, she planned to record videos of herself doing experiments and encourage students to send back videos of themselves doing the experiment at home. She tried to find experiments that would use household materials, but the pandemic was causing major shortages, even of things that used to be commonplace.
So many of my labs would have something I never would’ve thought about before. . . . One of the first labs I do is leaf chromatography with the little kids, and you need rubbing alcohol. . . . But, for love nor money, you could not get rubbing alcohol.
Ms. Ramirez did eventually come up with several lessons students could successfully do from home, which she continued to use in 2020–21 when the school adopted a hybrid model of instruction where some students came to school in person and others continued to learn virtually. Ms. Ramirez mailed kits of supplies to her virtual students every two weeks to ensure they could participate in class activities. She also made an effort to interact with online students at the same time she was teaching students in person. But despite her best efforts, she was not satisfied with online teaching.
It was just horrible not to be in the same room with them so we could talk, laugh together, ask questions—all the things that you become a teacher to do because you enjoy the actual physical presence of being with the kids. Going over this stuff and seeing their excitement and pleasure as they figure stuff out—all that was lost. . . . When you’re teaching lower school science, everything should be hands-on, and you’ve got to be present so you can anticipate questions and then answer the ones you don’t anticipate. There’s no substitute. You’re lying if you say you can do that over Zoom or online. You cannot.
Teaching in person came with its own set of challenges. Her school needed space for students to maintain social distance, so Ms. Ramirez’s lab classroom was converted to an overflow classroom. Instead of having students come to her, Ms. Ramirez was given a cart to transport her lab materials to the various classrooms. She reflected on how logistically tricky it was to pack up everything she would need from her lab each morning, and how physically tricky it was moving through the multi-story building with a cart precariously
packed with supplies.
It really was difficult to sit there and think, “Okay, so my class is building plankton. I’m going to need 15 cups of water. How am I going to get all this?” You get really creative and plan 20 steps ahead, and still you’ve forgotten something—like, “The pipe cleaners are on the seventh floor!” I got hyper-organized. I had three shelves in my cart, and on one I’d have massive supplies of general stuff that I could always use in a pinch. And I got unbelievably great about pushing around carts that had 15 things of water. . . . I’m taking the elevator everywhere, so I got very clever about just being very, very calm as I pushed on and off the elevator.
Still, Ms. Ramirez enjoyed interacting with her students in person so much that it was worth the inconvenience, and far preferable to virtual.
The bright point was that I could go into the students’ classrooms. Even though we were all masked and the children had to sit at their desks behind dividers, . . . I would just make double the number of kits, and they’d all do it at their desks. And surprisingly, a ton of it was super fun. It was so great to be in a room with them that you overlooked some of the petty annoyances.
In spring of 2021, Ms. Ramirez’s optimism surged when teachers in New York became some of the first in the country eligible for the newly released COVID vaccine—not because of what it meant for her but because of what it meant for her students.
I remember we were all tearing up when New York opened up the vaccine lottery to teachers. . . . It was incredible to be able to get those first shots and just think, “Oh my God, at some point soon, this is going to be available to [the kids], and we’re going to be able to have regular classes and regular experiences again.”
Fortunately, life did begin to return to normal, and all students were required to return to school in person in the fall of 2021. Ms. Ramirez got her lab classroom back, and she no longer had to worry about preparing lessons and materials for online students. In January of 2022, all students had the opportunity to get vaccinated, and Ms. Ramirez was overjoyed to see the school lift its mask requirement.
From January on, it was pure bliss. Absolutely fantastic. You could barely tell the difference between the end of the school year and another regular school year. . . . All of us are just so thrilled that this seems to be tapering off and that there’s a return to some sort of normalcy.
Ms. Ramirez reflected that her experience teaching during the pandemic should illustrate to society what she already knew—schools and good teachers are indispensable.
The role of school in our society has been highlighted. It is critically important that we have schools that are open and teachers that are excited to be there and see that their mission in life is to work with children and to be in the classroom with them, pushing them to succeed.
