April 13, 2020

How teachers are adapting to working remotely

English teacher Leigh Perkins isn’t afraid to admit how everyone is feeling: “No one—kids or teachers—is functioning at 100 percent right now, and it’s hard to remember that at times."

An independent boarding school teacher in Massachusetts, Perkins is one of a countless number of teachers who have had no choice but to adapt to working remotely due to the COVID-19 pandemic, often in a matter of days. But the expectation of a smooth transition is mostly overblown. "This isn’t true distance learning, as no one thrown into this situation is trained in that specific type of pedagogy. It can’t be ‘business as usual,’” she says.