WILMINGTON, N.C. – In this untraditional school year, teachers had no choice but to become students as they learned a whole new instructional model and struggled against the learning curve. Even months later, the system still isn't perfect and teachers say they know they may have to adapt every day.

Many of the changes that Chad Goins, a high school history teacher, faces are students bouncing between virtual and in-person learning. Because of the many layers to the pandemic, he never knows how many students he'll have in class, which makes solidifying lesson plans a challenge.

“There are some days when I think there should be 15 students face to face and I come to find out there are half of them,” says Goins. “That sometimes changes on a day-to-day basis. I oftentimes will get an email from a student the night before, 'Hey I'm not going to be at school tomorrow or for the next two weeks.'”

The constant changes in his classroom seemed daunting at first, but now he says he thinks you can make anything work if you're willing to be flexible and adapt.

“Our growth has been dramatic in how we approach teaching these students and how we can work together to make sure they're staying engaged,” says Goins.

One of the other challenges for him has been making sure that his online students don't feel isolated.

Amber Adams deals with this same issue at the middle school level in her math classes, where she does whatever she has to in order to keep her remote students engaged in what's happening in the classroom.

“It is very difficult to reach them and get to know them on a more personal level,” says Adams. “I try to involve them as much as possible, having them answer questions.”

Inclusivity is her goal and she says with middle schoolers, you have to meet them on their level and if that means joking around or playing games to get their attention, she's willing to do it.

“It's a lot of being silly and knowing that I'm there for them and that we're all going through this together and just taking it day by day because that's all we can do right now,” says Adams.

They say that learning is all part of the job and they'll keep working to discover what's best for their students everyday.