Aubry Ross

“This year has honestly been really good. I think my advantage is that I am new to the building, so many of the professional changes would have impacted me regardless of the pandemic. This year has been mildly stressful. I am most stressed about my students’ wellbeing and health. Keeping everyone safe within the learning environment is a top priority of mine. I feel like I put in enough effort for this year, but I also don’t. I think that I have worked very hard this year, but I also feel that there is always room for improvement! As a whole, I feel that the students of PHS have done an excellent job of mitigating the spread of COVID-19 I’ve never expected teaching to be an easy occupation. However, there are unique challenges that no one could have predicted. Students are not accustomed to learning from home and the integration of Chromebooks is still new to everyone. With time and experience, both teachers and students will overcome these. Sometimes I let myself down and that is OK. I try to grow from those instances, knowing it can be OK to change my expectations but not lower my standards. Teaching, in general, is a difficult occupation but a rewarding one. We are all our own harshest critics, recognizing that, I believe that if you let yourself down, the important thing is to pick yourself back up. I have been quarantined for a short while. I thought it was more difficult to manage my time because of the additional distractions. I think the biggest challenge was not being prepared to work from home. I don’t know if my teaching strategies will be much different as I already incorporate a large amount of technology in my classes. But I do think that my empathy for my students and perspectives will be different.”