TAMPA, Fla. — ABC Action News is getting a glimpse inside Florida classrooms before school is set to start later this month.
Teachers have taken to Instagram to show off their creative thinking when it comes to social distancing in the classroom as well as online learning.
“Let's see how we can turn this room into something magical,” Chanique Davis, an art teacher, said in her online video entering her classroom for the first time since the pandemic began in March.
A teacher from the Orlando area, @mackadoo323 on Instagram, posted about his first day back to class on the social media platform, showing himself in an empty classroom with a mask on.
“I have been teaching for almost a decade now, and I can say without absolute certainty this was the weirdest first day of school I’ve ever had.
People keep asking how I’m feeling or how it’s going, so here’s what I can articulate,
As a person who thrives on interpersonal connections, teaching to a screen SUCKS. I thrive on laughter, smiles, body language, and finding unspoken questions in people’s eyes to answer.”
Teachers setting up their students' desks for the first time also took to Facebook to show how impossible it may be to follow CDC guidelines within each setting.
The teachers, who want to remain anonymous, explain only about 10 desks could fit in a large classroom. However, one teacher said she had been assigned 20 face-to-face learners.
ABC Action News asked parents who plan to send their children back to brick-and-mortar schools if this was concerning.
“I am nervous. I think every parent is nervous,” said Lisa Scanlon, about sending her six-year-old son off to first grade this fall. “You have just as much of a chance of getting it at Walmart or SeaWorld or wherever you may be going as you do getting it at school."
For Jennah Miranda, a mother to five, she said she is welcoming the school year back and that her children are prepared.
“We bought a ton of masks straight from the very beginning. We didn’t anticipate this going away anytime soon. We literally I would say have about 75 masks,” she said.
The CDC provided these guidelines to keep in mind when sending children back to class.
