Back to School!
In 2020, unprecedented is now commonplace, and teachers like Adena Campbell are facing a school year where the only constant is changeBy
a year where the unprecedented has become commonplace, returning to the class- room this fall is, well, unprecedented.
For many parents, students, and teachers, facing a school year during a pandemic has them peeking through their fingers and hoping for the best while preparing for the worst.
Which is the case for Adena Campbell of Spanish Fork, who begins her 20th year of teaching with more than a little trepida- tion. Campbell teach- es English, creative writing, psychology, and general wellness at Spanish Fork High School, and while every year comes with its challenges, 2020 is a whirlwind of conflict- ing emotions and fears.
Sitting at a student’s desk in her empty classroom, Campbell is reflective on being back to school once again.
“It’s been such a roller coaster. This summer I got anxious about coming back, al- most angry. I thought they were asking a lot of us. Teaching is only a small part of what we are asked to do already and add onto that all the COVID things. I spent a long time being anxious, but it is what it is,” she said.
Campbell said a lot of the anxiety stemmed from the fact that for a long time no one knew exactly what they were going to do to safely start the school year. “We didn’t know until a couple of weeks before school started what the pro- tocols were going to be because the school district didn’t know because the state didn’t know.”
Two weeks into the new school year, 90 percent of students in the Nebo School Dis- trict have returned to the classroom, with the other 10 percent taking advantage of distance learning. So, far, things have gone well, and Campbell said she is proud of her students.
“Things are going really smoothly. Ev- eryone is wearing their masks and adjusting. The kids are amazing. It’s a pain, but you deal with it,” she said.
Dealing with things the way they are comes with its challenges, especially when the way things are change, creating unexpected scenarios and causing unexpected problems. For Campbell, one of those is the reality of wearing a mask while trying to teach.
“I do have frustration with the masks. I have a hard time hearing my students when they comment in class. A lot of students have a hard time speaking up anyway.”
Additionally, Camp- bell said she has stu- dents that are hard of hearing, so the masks make it even more difficult. When she has a student in class with a hearing impairment, she has taken to swap- ping out the mask for a face shield and found that it helps.
A day in the life of a teacher is often long and stressful and the pandemic has only added to the stress and the workload. While teaching in-person classes, teachers must also now adjust their
live curriculum to keep distance-learning stu- dents on pace with the rest of their class.
While Campbell said she does not know any teachers that have chosen to retire or leave the classroom,
she understands it is occurring.
“I know it’s happen- ing. I myself consid- ered it,” she said. “I’ve been teaching a really long time and burnout