SAN ANTONIO — It's a year full of firsts for many students and teachers across San Antonio. For some students who had their first year of elementary school, middle school or high school last year, it's their first year fully in the building; the same goes for some teachers that started teaching or switched schools, but faced a year of fully virtual or hybrid learning.
Lizzie McLain started teaching at East Central ISD's Legacy Middle School last year, but many of her students were learning through remote instruction.
"When they were here and virtual, hybrid, it was like being in a video game – where you move up a level," McLain said. "It felt sometimes like I was playing on a difficulty level that was just a little bit out of my range – but we made it work."
She's looking forward to now teaching all of her students in an in-person setting.
"With COVID and everything, there's anxieties you have to make sure for the students and their parents, you're following safety measures, following the guidelines that have been set," McLain said. "But for the most part, everyone is excited to have some sort of normalcy back where possible."
That includes giving her greater face to face exposure to everything she loves about working with students.
"What don't I love? Their individuality. Every student has their own set of quirks and their own uniqueness they bring to everything they learn. I learn a lot when I'm teaching because they may have a take on it I haven't considered," McLain said. "When we were here and the students weren't it felt like a ghost town, so it's very exciting the idea of coming here and having familial fullness once again, is what I'm most looking forward to."