By Christian Talbot, President of MSA-CESS

Consider these COVID-19 stories from two teachers. Both work at schools with similar profiles, within 10 miles of each other.

The first teacher—let’s call him James—worried about the amount of curriculum his students would miss because of virtual learning. To make the most of teaching on Zoom, James converted his lecture notes into visually engaging slide decks that students would also be able to access outside of class. It took a ton of work, but James felt like he had successfully climbed a mountain.

The second person—an English teacher we’ll call Rebecca—had been looking for a better way to teach writing. In the early phase of the pandemic, Rebecca attended an online workshop on mastery based assessments. Essay by essay, she converted all of her writing assignments to mastery based assessments. It took a ton of work, but Rebecca felt like she had successfully climbed a mountain.

Rebecca responded to the pandemic as an opportunity. James responded to it as a threat.