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No distance too great: Teachers bridging the gaps through COVID


KELLEN TANIGUCHI


Whether it be in person or in the virtual classroom, teachers have been working on the frontlines of the COVID-19 pandemic. Teachers have been put into quarantine, asked to create an online learning environment and have been there for their students throughout it all.


Ashley Durbeniuk, a Grade 8 and 9 math teacher at Alexandra Middle School, says there has been a lot of change and adjusting for teachers, but she says it’s important to continue teaching regardless of the platform. She adds more students have bought in to the online learning environment this year.


Durbeniuk says a teacher’s role doesn’t stop when they leave the classroom. She says she makes sure she is wearing a mask, social distancing and following all COVID-19 guidelines at all times. She says it’s important to do so because teachers act as role models.


My job is to teach math and the


curriculum but I do think a big part of what we do in schools is build good humans and teach them good habits.


“It is vital … it’s essential that we get to continue this time online with our students,” she said. “Math specifically, so much of the content builds from year to year and missing a chunk of time causes you to fall a little bit further behind in the following year and that creates gaps that are larger than they need to be, so students engaging every day with their teacher is super important even when they’re at home.”


“Even when they see us in public that we’re still doing that when they see us as well it’s such a huge piece for them to know that we believe this is important and when you model that kids are more willing to buy in and agree with the process,” said Durbeniuk.


Durbeniuk says teachers are essential workers because they don’t just teach the curriculum, their work goes beyond that.


“My job is to teach math and the curriculum but I do


think a big part of what we do in schools is build good humans and teach them good habits and I don’t know that every kid is going to be a mathematician when they leave my classroom, but I hope they leave being better people, so I think that’s a huge part of education and even a bigger part now when we’re in the middle of all this,” she said.


MAY 2021 - 3


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