Excellence in Teaching: COVID cast shadow on honor but educators’ love of teaching endures

Viangie Sanchez Gibson, Thomas Jenkins, Taci Jones and Lotus Smith will receive that in-person recognition Monday during a meeting of the Springfield Rotary.

Each recipient will be introduced and will give a short presentation on what teaching has meant to them and the importance of being a teacher. Recipients will also receive a $1,000 check, a recognition plaque, a glass apple, and proclamations from the Ohio House of Representatives and the Ohio Senate. The awards program is sponsored by the Springfield Rotary Club, Ohio Edison, The Springfield Foundation and The Chamber of Greater Springfield.

As their day of honor approached, the teachers reflected on how the pandemic affected them and their students.

Lotus Smith was a fourth grade English and Science teacher at Lagonda Elementary in the Springfield City School District before she retired at the end of the last school year.

“There have been big changes in my life as a teacher, as I retired at the end of the 2020-21 school year,” she said.

Smith taught the last 24 years in the Springfield City School District. She started working in human resources after receiving her bachelor of science degree in business communications from Ohio University, earned her bachelor of science degree in elementary education from Urbana University and took graduate classes at the University of Dayton and Wittenberg University.

“The day the article on my teaching award was published in the Springfield News-Sun, was the same day we learned schools would be closed due to COVID. I remember feeling torn about my excitement for the awards, but apprehensive about this new virus and what it might mean. At school, my colleagues and I predicted how long we might be out of school: two or three weeks? Little did we know how impactful this would be on our schools and world-wide,” Smith said.

She said teaching during a pandemic was “ever changing.”

“In March 2020, when we first shutdown, we quickly pivoted to remote instruction. This was completely different than having students physically in the classroom. We worried about our students, not only those who were not logging onto their technology and missing valuable instruction time, but also their emotional well-being. Our families worked hard with their children, often in multiple grades, tackling new curriculum through remote learning.

“This past school year teachers managed in-person learning and online classes, often in the very same day. Quarantine required many students to be out of the building throughout the year, further challenging educators to meet the academic and emotional needs of each student,” Smith said.

Smith added that educators have been both flexible and resilient during a year of COVID-19.

“I am proud of our profession and the work we do every single day to keep our students safe and engaged in their learning. The Lagonda teaching community rallied together to provide support to one another and helped our school year be successful for students and our community,” Smith said.

Thomas Jenkins, who teaches 8th grade Science/STEM at Greenon Middle School, said he went through a “whirlwind of emotions” after winning this award and then being forced to deal with COVID.

“I found the pandemic to be the toughest challenge of my career. It forced a huge shift in the way that I taught my students. Not only did I have to find new tools for class interaction, but I had to learn new methods of instruction that would allow me to engage my students in a meaningful way... I am very thankful that I had several very talented colleagues to lean on over the past couple of years to help me navigate through the numerous challenges,” Jenkins said.

Jenkins has been teaching for 23 years, 20 in the Greenon Local Schools District. He earned his master’s degree in science teaching from Wright State University.

Jenkins said teaching through COVID “went about as well as one could expect.”

“I thought I did a solid job. It was both physically and emotionally exhausting as I was teaching students in-person, virtual as well as hybrid (sometimes these were going on at the same times with different groups of students). It forced me to grow as an educator as I learned new ways to reach my students. It forced my students to grow as well. I believe that the modern classroom will have more flexibility and utilize more tools as a consequence - one positive side effect from all of the turmoil,” he said.

When schools reopened, Jenkins said it was great to see his kids again because they are why he teaches. He also noted how students were willing to adapt to COVID protocols.

“Teaching wasn’t nearly as fulfilling without those daily interactions. I was so proud of the resiliency of my students,” he said. “Many people were worried that students wearing masks would be an issue, especially since Greenon didn’t have air conditioning. It turned out that the students wanted to be in school, so they accepted that wearing masks made us safer and allowed us to learn in person. I heard very few complaints and rarely had to ‘fight’ it. Despite what many may think, most of my eighth graders actually liked being in school and were more than willing to adapt to make that possible.”

Taci Jones said she felt everything happened so fast when the pandemic hit that she didn’t have time to process the honor she’d just received.

“Everything happened so fast that I didn’t have time to process me winning the award. I just remember getting the email about winning and then school was shutting down. I was in total shock. I didn’t have time to really digest everything. The most difficult thing was not being able to finish out the school year in person with that sixth grade class,” she said.

Jones is an instructional coach for fourth, fifth and sixthgrades at Perrin Woods Elementary. She previously taught sixth grade English at Kenwood Elementary., All three schools are in the Springfield City School District where she has taught for the last eight years. She earned her master’s of education in middle childhood education from Antioch University Midwest.

“Teaching during COVID was a life changing experience. I had to make changes to my teaching that would still engage my students while still being safe during COVID. It was a challenge in more ways than one. We also had challenges outside of COVID that impacted the students, colleagues and the community. It definitely made me realize how dedicated my colleagues were to make sure the students were receiving the best education during such a trying time,” Jones said.

Jones said she learned how to engage her students virtually, how to teach in a mask, and how to make learning fun while keeping students safe.

“Since COVID, I learned that I can persevere through any challenge by giving myself grace and collaborating with my team,” she said. “If you taught through COVID, you can teach through anything.”

Viangie Sanchez Gibson teaches Spanish to grades nine through 12 at Kenton Ridge High School in the Northeastern Local School District.

“It was devastating to go from packing to take 30 students abroad to Costa Rica for spring break, to having to tell them that our trip was canceled after they worked so hard for this once in a lifetime opportunity. The tears and their disappointment broke my heart. In the classroom, having to say goodbye to my students and not knowing if we would be able to finish out the year together, in person, was terrifying,” Gibson said.

Gibson has been teaching for the last 14 years. She earned her master’s degree in education from the University of Dayton.

Gibson said she never imagined teaching through a pandemic, but that she was determined to teach her students.

“I never imagined what it would be like to go from our normal routines to reinvent our teaching, recreate a learning environment, and adjust to the technology world. At the beginning, the hardest part was to lose our structure and routine. Many students didn’t have the support needed to learn at home and I was determined not to lose sight of my desire to each every student,” she said.

Teaching through COVID, Gibson said she did things differently as no one was prepared for the pandemic.

“This was something completely different and out of our hands. Nobody was prepared, there were no lesson plans in place, the administrators didn’t have a secret weapon, and students were left with having to figure out a way to manage their schoolwork at home,” she said. “I needed new wisdom to support my students’ needs in different ways...My passion gave me the strength to show them (students) that I was there for them at all times, together we found a way to get through the year and together we will continue to make it work.”

Although this time going through a pandemic has been challenging, these four teachers, as well as many others, continue to grow, adapt and teach their students the best way they can while keeping them safe.