By Emily Vetne

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Annie Kaplan and Sam Keenan faced extraordinary challenges during the past two years of teaching during COVID-19: not only were they both new to the field, but they both teach students who require heightened levels of care and attention. Annie’s a high-school US Social Studies teacher to refugee students learning English as a second language and Sam’s students all have either physical or emotional special needs, so pivoting to online or hybrid teaching presented more than the expected difficulties. But as they look back over these years, both Annie and Sam say that they’ve learned to roll with the punches, learned that they’re capable of more than they thought, and come to appreciate the ways their Jewish values ripple through the work they do.

COVID started during the spring of Annie’s first year teaching, and “got lumped into the chaos of being a first-year teacher,” she said. When fall 2020 rolled around and she had to teach virtually, she grappled with creating US History lessons for students who only knew of America from the movies and teaching them in Spanish, all while learning new classroom-management techniques. At the end of her third year of teaching now, Annie says “I’ve grown a tremendous amount because I should have had some of these experiences as a first-year teacher and didn’t. This is my first time doing the end-of-year craziness in-person.” 

Sam graduated with her teaching degree and said that one of the oddest things she experienced was having to interview for and accept her job virtually, “without ever having seen my school. I got lucky, but some friends of mine didn’t.” Like Annie, Sam overcame multiple difficulties specific to her students—many of her learners are non-verbal, so she imagined creative ways to keep them engaged and responsive over a video camera. Additionally, many of her students relied on her for stability in their lives, as their parents were at work while they attended school remotely, inspiring Sam to make mindful connections and broaden her horizons.

Jewish values intertwine with lessons in Annie and Sam’s classrooms. No, they don’t read Torah or teach Hebrew, but the ways they create their lesson plans and interact with students are shaped by their Jewish identities. Annie says she makes conscious efforts to teach about diverse stories from history and current events, in part because she remembers only learning about the Holocaust in school and never any stories where Jewish culture was celebrated. And for Sam, drawing on her traditions helps her with “’asset-based thinking,’ which is where we look at what people can do instead of what they can’t.” 

Sam and Annie practice their Jewish values outside of their schools, too. Both women are active members of NEXTGen and are known for always having a smile and kind word for newcomers. Heading into next school year, Sam will be teaching at a new school and Annie will once again have students brand-new to America, but their commitment to instructing and caring for their students will be just as strong.