By Asa Holdeman
Panther Press
With first semester coming to an end this Friday, the Panther Press decided to check in with two teachers to get their perspectives on the school year so far. Ashley Hoefker teaches science to students in grades 7 to 12. This is her first year as a teacher and, of course, her first year at NRHEG.
Ms. Hoefker comments that the best part of her job is getting to know her students and being able to say hello to them, not only in her classroom, but in the hallways and around town. She feels that students are friendly and cooperative, but admits that, “They bring me new challenges every day.”
Hoefker’s first love in science is chemistry, which she teaches one class hour a day. She also has three sections of ninth-grade physics, a subject she says she has spent some time reviewing to be sure she could teach it well. She finds herself putting in a lot of time to devise a curriculum which meets her students’ needs. She is also working hard to keep up with the many demands of being sure materials and expectations are prepared each day for the three different types of classes on her schedule. “It seems like there’s never enough time,” she observes.
Duey Ferber has been teaching for NRHEG for more than 30 years. Although he has taught elementary students at different levels, he currently teaches sixth grade, specializing in math. Mr. Ferber says this year has been very difficult.
The complications of the Covid pandemic, which many people hoped would be a thing of the past this school year, are instead “ramping back up.” In addition to ongoing student absences from the current wave, Ferber observes that more than a year of “distance” and “hybrid” learning has hindered students’ academic progress, with many of them well below grade-level achievement. They have not matured socially to the level their ages might usually imply; missing assignments and incomplete work are up by 25% over past years. “We just don’t have the foundations to build on that have been there in the past,” he says.
He also observes that students are highly focused on their electronic devices, whether they have them in their hands or they are deposited in a holder across the room. “Even when we set [the devices] aside, students are worried about what messages they are receiving or what is coming in over their apps,” says Ferber. “It’s like a tide that it’s impossible to swim against. I can see them physically fidgeting because they don’t have their phones.”
NRHEG Education Association president Deb Bently observes that this year is difficult for teachers across the district. “Teachers want their students to keep growing and maturing, so that they can someday become strong capable individuals and citizens,” comments Bently. “Increased absences, reduced levels of maturity and what seems like a diminished emphasis on the value of school and learning are all making our work much more complicated this year than they typically were in the past.
“As always, many students are doing well and moving forward. But we teachers are struggling to help many others see that the work we ask of them is valuable and necessary.”