TUCSON, Arizona (KOLD News 13) – Many teachers are preparing for the upcoming school year and heading back to the classroom.
A new program, the Tucson Regional Educator Collaborative (TREC), has been developed to support educators in southern Arizona and foster professional development.
Xochitl Macias teaches second and third graders at the Desert Sky Community School. She is looking forward to personally starting the 2021 school year. She said that even simple tasks became a great challenge when students were from a distance.
“It’s very hard to help them with some things as simple as turning the right page in a workbook,” said Macias.
Ryan Carle-Ogren, a band and orchestra teacher for the Sahuarita Unified School District, said that virtual learning is not ideal, but it does allow students to receive individual attention.
“We were able to build a strong foundation as individual students. When we got back together, our product was even better than before, ”he said.
Distance learning gave teachers more insight into their students’ lives outside the classroom walls and found better ways to support them.
“To understand more of what they experience on a daily basis, be it family life, mental or physical health problems or the like,” he said.
Teachers in the Tucson area are also getting more support. The University of Arizona College of Education officially launched TREC on Friday. It’s a program that helps educators network and share ideas.
“Just give that extra momentum to help teachers be successful,” said Dustin Williams, superintendent of Pima County.
The teachers said the program couldn’t have come at a better time.
“Given the difficulties over the past year, TREC has been the group I have relied on for this emotional support and midnight text when you are looking for some sort of guide to something that happens in the classroom,” Macias said.
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