It has been 3 years since the start of the COVID outbreak. Hershey High School, like many schools across the American, switched to online schooling during the lockdown.

Monica Breiner has been teaching for 11 years. She had to go through the process of online teaching, and did her best to make sure the kids were learning and passing her class as easily as possible. 

Teaching from home was a challenge for Breiner because she felt like it wasn’t the right environment for her to teach. 

“I felt like when I was teaching I was looking around and thinking that I could be doing something else like laundry, or cleaning the kitchen,” said Breiner. When given the opportunity to come to school and teach, she immediately took that opportunity. 

Breiner felt  it was the right atmosphere, and she felt more confident while teaching. 

However, when Hershey did blended learning, it was a struggle. “I felt like I had to teach the kids online or the kids in person, it was very hard to juggle,” said Breiner.  

A couple things Breiner would change is accountability with students and the teachers. For teachers, making sure students show up and are present in the activity that is being presented is crucial. Students should be actively participating and, “maybe not having their cameras on but somewhat engaging in the lesson,” said Breiner.  

During online teaching, Breiner was definitely more lenient. She also felt like she was constantly making digital work for students to do, but after coming back, she realized that most people liked doing paper and pencil work. 

Breiner loved having her students back in the classroom. Given that Covid was a completely new experience, she believes that the district did their best to bring students back into the school with a smooth transition. Although she noticed that everyone was going through an odd time during the switch back, everything felt right after a few weeks.  

Breiner thinks the online learning showed everyone that students need to be in a classroom environment to learn and make connections.