Monday marks an historic back-to-school day for many San Diego County children.
For over a year, tens of thousands of kids here have been learning through a computer screen and getting to know their teachers and classmates virtually. To get a glimpse of what teaching students online has been like, we asked a high school teacher to record an audio diary for a week.
Tristan McCoy teaches tenth grade social science at Rancho Bernardo High School. McCoy shared what it is like to teach a class online over Zoom, how it makes connecting with students and encouraging them to connect with one another much harder, how many students have not been engaged in the online learning environment and what vaccinations mean to teachers like him.
"I am really excited about the vaccination, not just for me, but that means more and more educators are going to be getting the vaccination and more and more of the vulnerable population is going to be getting the vaccination. And that means we can get back to business and reopen our schools and get these kids on campus, where they belong. It's been a long time coming," McCoy said.
McCoy said students are now allowed on campus, but only about 20% of students have opted to come back to campus so far. Which means he's continuing to teach virtually, while also teaching in person.
On Monday you can hear more stories like this. Join Midday Edition for a special marking the first day back to in-person instruction for many San Diego students.
