A few weeks ago, a friend posed the question, “Can you tell me the number of years you’ve been a teacher without using an actual number?” Her clever response was, “Students born in my first year of teaching will graduate high school this year.” Wow, 18 years, that’s a long time. I thought for a moment about how I would answer that same question.
“I have never taught without a mask on.” That seems very strange doesn’t it? This past September I was given the opportunity to join the 7&8 team as the science teacher. I was nervous, but excited, to bring my love of science into the classrooms at Saint Andrew’s. I thought about all the wonderful teachers I had in elementary and middle school that instilled my love of the subject and what it was they did to make science so interesting to me. I know that school can be hard, especially in middle school, but those teachers I had showed me every day something to be excited about. I think that I was able to see that they were excited about what they were teaching and that made it easy to be excited about what I was learning.
My hope, as the school year started on September 3rd, was to be able to do just a little bit of that. It was soon very clear to me that I didn’t need to be so worried about getting these kids to like science; they already did. Their level of engagement and curiosity about the world around them has not waivered all year. We talk about what we need to learn, but we converse about all sorts of things that go beyond our curriculum. They ask brilliant questions, they listen to the answers and we engage in conversations. This entire mask-filled, crazy, Covid year has renewed my passion for science and I’m so grateful to be able to share it with such amazing students.
Mrs. Reimer is the 7th and 8th grade science teacher. She is also an 8th grade homeroom teacher.